Noise Levels in Riverside, Spokane, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
64 dBA
Average noise across Riverside
Busy restaurant
2,461
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
90% of Riverside residents
80 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Riverside 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 2,461 Riverside residents, or 90.1%, live above that level. By land area, 82.5% of Riverside is above 55 dBA.
17.5% below 55 dBA
82.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Riverside compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Riverside
Average noise levels for Riverside residents, grouped by direction from the center of Riverside. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Riverside; the lowest is in western Riverside, where just 79% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Riverside
70.8 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Central Riverside
68.2 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Northeastern Riverside
68.2 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Western Riverside
67.4 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
To the human ear, noise in eastern Riverside sounds about 27% louder than in western Riverside, a 3.4 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 US Hwy 395 do you need to be?
US Hwy 395 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
49 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 2% of Riverside sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most neighborhoods) and roughly 86% 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 Riverside. 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.
Airport Noise
Spokane International (GEG) sits southwest of Riverside. 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 55 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Riverside, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Riverside
The bar chart below shows the share of Riverside residents in each noise band. About 7% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 81% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Riverside Compares
Riverside sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Riverside's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Minnehaha, brownes-addition-spokane-wa, Manitocannon Hill, and town-and-country-spokane-wa.
Average noise level (dBA)
Riverside's 64.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Riverside because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 90.1% of Riverside 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, 82.5% of Riverside'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 Riverside
- 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 US Hwy 395 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 2% of Riverside is under tree cover (much lighter than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is high-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. Spokane International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
