This map shows modeled outdoor noise across North End at 100-meter resolution, combining road, aviation, and rail sources. Green areas measure below 45 dBA. Orange and red exceed the EPA's 55 dBA outdoor threshold linked to long-term health effects. Use the layer toggles to view each source on its own or all together.
What the numbers sound like
- 30 dBAWhisper
- 40 dBASoft rainfall
- 45 dBAQuiet suburban street at night
- 50 dBAQuiet office
- 55 dBAEPA outdoor threshold: light traffic 100 ft away
- 60 dBANormal conversation an arm's length away
- 65 dBABusy restaurant
- 70 dBAHighway traffic 50 ft away
- 80 dBACity bus interior
Population Above the EPA Outdoor Threshold
The EPA's 55 dBA outdoor reference level is a common benchmark for residential noise exposure, especially for activity interference, annoyance, and long-term community noise concerns. About 4,225 North End residents, or 29.7%, live above that level. By land area, 35.5% of North End is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in North End compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of North End
Average noise levels for North End residents, grouped by direction from the center of North End. The highest population-weighted average is in northern North End; the lowest is in western North End, where just 12% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in the loudest section.
Northern North End
40% of people above 55 dBA
Eastern North End
40% of people above 55 dBA
Northeastern North End
22% of people above 55 dBA
Central North End
21% of people above 55 dBA
Western North End
12% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in northern North End sounds about 83% louder than in western North End, a 8.7 dBA gap. Every 10 dBA roughly doubles perceived loudness. Within any of these directions, two homes a quarter mile apart can still differ by 10 or more dBA depending on how close they sit to a major highway.
How Noise Is Distributed Across North End
The bar chart below shows the share of North End residents in each noise band. About 75% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How North End Compares
North End sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how North End's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Bassickville Historic District, Brooklawn-St. Vincent, East Side-Bridgeport, and Devon-Walnut Beach.
Average noise level (dBA)
North End's 52.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Connecticut as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than North End because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 29.7% of North End residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's in the middle of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 35.5% of North End's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Connecticut average of 27.3% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to North End
- Distance from highways matters more than the neighborhood name. Two homes in the same zip code can differ by 20 dBA if one sits 100 meters from Madison Av and the other 500 meters away. The model captures this at 100-meter resolution, so noise exposure changes block by block.
- Tree canopy can help reduce modeled noise exposure. Roughly 34% of North End is under tree cover (much heavier than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is low-intensity developed land. Both are measured from federal USDA Forest Service and USGS satellite imagery at 30-meter resolution. Streets with 60% or higher canopy show 3 to 5 dBA lower noise than comparable streets with bare ground or pavement, which is why the per-place decay rate above already accounts for it.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.