Noise Levels in Notre Dame, IN | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
54 dBA
Average noise across Notre Dame
Quiet office to normal conversation
753
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
11% of Notre Dame residents
72 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Notre Dame 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 753 Notre Dame residents, or 10.8%, live above that level. By land area, 9.0% of Notre Dame is above 55 dBA.
91.0% below 55 dBA
9.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Notre Dame compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Notre Dame
Average noise levels for Notre Dame residents, grouped by direction from the center of Notre Dame. Central Notre Dame carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Notre Dame carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Northern Notre Dame live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Central Notre Dame.
Central Notre Dame
57.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern Notre Dame
29.5 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Western Notre Dame
47.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Central Notre Dame sounds about 577% louder than Northern Notre Dame to the human ear, a 27.6 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 far back from do you need to be?
produces an estimated 72 dBA at its loudest centerline points. Noise drops logarithmically with distance, with the exact rate depending on what's between you and the road. Tree cover, walls, terrain, and pavement type all matter. At roughly a quarter mile back, traffic fades into the noise level of a soft rainfall.
At source
72 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
40 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 4% of Notre Dame sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 48% is impervious surface like pavement and rooftops. Both are folded into the per-place decay rate above. Heavier canopy pulls noise down faster with distance; impervious surfaces slow the drop.
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Airport Noise
South Bend International (SBN) sits west of Notre Dame. The U.S. Department of Transportation models aviation noise around this airport from federal traffic data, and the model uses those federal measurements rather than synthetic predictions.
Blocks under the approach and departure paths carry combined road-plus-aviation noise, with some exceeding 50 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Notre Dame, particularly to the east, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Notre Dame
The bar chart below shows the share of Notre Dame residents in each noise band. About 24% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 2% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Notre Dame Compares
Notre Dame sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Notre Dame's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Dunlap, Bremen, New Carlisle, and Walkerton.
Average noise level (dBA)
Notre Dame's 54.1 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Indiana as a whole averages 53.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Notre Dame because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 10.8% of Notre Dame residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 9.0% of Notre Dame's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Indiana average of 37.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Notre Dame
- 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 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 4% of Notre Dame is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is medium-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.
- Airport noise is directional. South Bend International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
