Noise Levels in Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford, Baltimore, MD | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
56 dBA
Average noise across Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
Quiet office to normal conversation
6,405
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
48% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford residents
79 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford 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 6,405 Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford residents, or 48.2%, live above that level. By land area, 52.2% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford is above 55 dBA.
47.8% below 55 dBA
52.2% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
Average noise levels for Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford residents, grouped by direction from the center of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford. Western Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford carries the lowest. Just 32% of residents in Central Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Western Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford.
Central Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
53.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
53.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
56.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
55.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
64.7 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Western Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford sounds about 117% louder than Central Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford to the human ear, a 11.2 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 Jones Falls Expy do you need to be?
Jones Falls Expy produces an estimated 77 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
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 26% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 49% 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 Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford. 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
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) sits south of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford. 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 Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford, particularly to the north, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
The bar chart below shows the share of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford residents in each noise band. About 48% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 18% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford Compares
Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Upper Northwood, Charles Village, Cheswolde, and West Baltimore.
Average noise level (dBA)
Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford's 55.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Maryland as a whole averages 52.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 48.2% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford 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, 52.2% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Maryland average of 32.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford
- 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 Jones Falls Expy 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 26% of Roland Park-Homewood-Guilford is under tree cover (heavier than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is medium-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. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the south. Neighborhoods to the north of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
