Noise Levels in Princeville, NC | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across Princeville
Quiet office
225
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
19% of Princeville residents
76 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Princeville 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 225 Princeville residents, or 19.0%, live above that level. By land area, 31.5% of Princeville is above 55 dBA.
68.5% below 55 dBA
31.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Princeville compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Princeville
Average noise levels for Princeville residents, grouped by direction from the center of Princeville. Western Princeville carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Princeville carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Southern Princeville live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Western Princeville.
Central Princeville
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Princeville
49.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Princeville
50.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southern Princeville
42.9 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Princeville
51.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Princeville sounds about 87% louder than Southern Princeville to the human ear, a 9.0 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 Nc-111 do you need to be?
Nc-111 produces an estimated 57 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
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
165 ft
43 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
330 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 54% of Princeville sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 12% 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 Princeville. 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 Princeville
The bar chart below shows the share of Princeville residents in each noise band. About 96% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 0% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Princeville Compares
Princeville sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Princeville's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Wiggins Crossroads, Mercer, Old Sparta, and Stokes.
Average noise level (dBA)
Princeville's 50.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. North Carolina as a whole averages 49.7 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Princeville because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 19.0% of Princeville residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's more than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 31.5% of Princeville's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a North Carolina average of 22.6% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Princeville
- 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 Nc-111 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 54% of Princeville is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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.
