Noise Levels in Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights, Charlotte, NC | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
Quiet office to normal conversation
843
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
20% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights residents
66 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights 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 843 Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights residents, or 19.5%, live above that level. By land area, 22.6% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights is above 55 dBA.
77.4% below 55 dBA
22.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
Average noise levels for Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights residents, grouped by direction from the center of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights. Eastern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights carries the lowest. Just 15% of residents in Northern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Eastern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights.
Central Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
54.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
50.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
51.8 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights sounds about 26% louder than Northern Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights to the human ear, a 3.3 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 66 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
66 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
660 ft
36 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 32% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 32% 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 Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights. 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
Charlotte/Douglas International (CLT) sits southwest of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights. 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 75 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights, 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 Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
The bar chart below shows the share of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights residents in each noise band. About 93% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights Compares
Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Beatties Ford-Trinity, Slater Park, North Charlotte, and Plaza Midwood.
Average noise level (dBA)
Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights's 51.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest 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 Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 19.5% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 22.6% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights'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 Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights
- 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 32% of Rockwell Park-Hemphill Heights is under tree cover (much heavier than most neighborhoods), 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Charlotte/Douglas International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
