Noise Levels in Olympic Hills, Seattle, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
55 dBA
Average noise across Olympic Hills
Quiet office to normal conversation
3,979
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
38% of Olympic Hills residents
73 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Olympic Hills 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 3,979 Olympic Hills residents, or 38.0%, live above that level. By land area, 38.6% of Olympic Hills is above 55 dBA.
61.4% below 55 dBA
38.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Olympic Hills compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Olympic Hills
Average noise levels for Olympic Hills residents, grouped by direction from the center of Olympic Hills. The highest population-weighted average is in western Olympic Hills; the lowest is in northeastern Olympic Hills, where just 26% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Western Olympic Hills
60.0 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southeastern Olympic Hills
59.4 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northwestern Olympic Hills
55.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Central Olympic Hills
54.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northeastern Olympic Hills
53.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in western Olympic Hills sounds about 55% louder than in northeastern Olympic Hills, a 6.3 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 73 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
73 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
59 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 26% of Olympic Hills sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 49% 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
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) sits south of Olympic Hills. The U.S. Department of Transportation measures aviation noise around this airport directly, 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 45 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Olympic Hills, particularly to the north, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Olympic Hills
The bar chart below shows the share of Olympic Hills residents in each noise band. About 51% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 26% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Olympic Hills Compares
Olympic Hills sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Olympic Hills's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Wedgwood, Maple Leaf, Bitter Lake, and Ballard.
Average noise level (dBA)
Olympic Hills's 55.3 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Olympic Hills because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 38.0% of Olympic Hills 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, 38.6% of Olympic Hills's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Washington average of 27.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Olympic Hills
- 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 26% of Olympic Hills is under tree cover (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.
- Airport noise is directional. Seattle-Tacoma International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the south. Neighborhoods to the north of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
