Noise Levels in Paris, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
48 dBA
Average noise across Paris
Quiet office
3,054
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
17% of Paris residents
72 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Paris 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 3,054 Paris residents, or 16.7%, live above that level. By land area, 21.8% of Paris is above 55 dBA.
78.2% below 55 dBA
21.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Paris compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Paris
Average noise levels for Paris residents, grouped by direction from the center of Paris. Western Paris carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Paris carries the lowest. Just 14% of residents in Southern Paris live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Western Paris.
Central Paris
49.5 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Paris
47.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Paris
48.5 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Paris
45.8 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Paris
51.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Western Paris sounds about 43% louder than Southern Paris to the human ear, a 5.2 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 N Main St do you need to be?
N Main St produces an estimated 67 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
67 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
47 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 20% of Paris sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 24% 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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Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Paris. For most blocks the rail-only contribution is small. Combined road-plus-rail noise rarely exceeds road noise on its own. The exceptions are the handful of blocks within roughly a quarter mile of the right-of-way during pass-through hours.
Use the Rail toggle on the map above to isolate rail's contribution from road and aviation.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Paris
The bar chart below shows the share of Paris residents in each noise band. About 81% 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 Paris Compares
Paris sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Paris's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Sulphur Springs, Mount Pleasant, Greenville, and Reno.
Average noise level (dBA)
Paris's 48.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Paris because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 16.7% of Paris 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, 21.8% of Paris's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Paris
- 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 N Main St 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 20% of Paris is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), 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.
