Noise Levels in Riverdale, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
46 dBA
Average noise across Riverdale
Quiet office
460
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
8% of Riverdale residents
74 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Riverdale 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 460 Riverdale residents, or 8.1%, live above that level. By land area, 4.3% of Riverdale is above 55 dBA.
95.7% below 55 dBA
4.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Riverdale compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Riverdale
Average noise levels for Riverdale residents, grouped by direction from the center of Riverdale. Eastern Riverdale carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Riverdale carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Northern Riverdale live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Eastern Riverdale.
Eastern Riverdale
48.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Riverdale
36.5 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Southern Riverdale
42.1 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Riverdale
44.6 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Eastern Riverdale sounds about 131% louder than Northern Riverdale to the human ear, a 12.1 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 74 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
74 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
60 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
53 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
45 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 0% of Riverdale sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 16% 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 Riverdale. 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 Riverdale
The bar chart below shows the share of Riverdale residents in each noise band. About 94% 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 Riverdale Compares
Riverdale sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Riverdale's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Caruthers, Armona, Huron, and Laton.
Average noise level (dBA)
Riverdale's 46.4 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Riverdale because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 8.1% of Riverdale 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, 4.3% of Riverdale's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a California average of 36.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Riverdale
- 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 0% of Riverdale is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is cultivated cropland. 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.
