Noise Levels in Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map

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 1,705 Salisbury Street residents, or 31.2%, live above that level. By land area, 38.8% of Salisbury Street is above 55 dBA.

See how noise in Salisbury Street compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.

Noise by Part of Salisbury Street

Average noise levels for Salisbury Street residents, grouped by direction from the center of Salisbury Street. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Salisbury Street; the lowest is in northwestern Salisbury Street, where just 24% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in the loudest section.

To the human ear, noise in eastern Salisbury Street sounds about 28% louder than in northwestern Salisbury Street, a 3.6 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 Noise Is Distributed Across Salisbury Street

The bar chart below shows the share of Salisbury Street residents in each noise band. About 61% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 4% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.

How Salisbury Street Compares

Salisbury Street sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Salisbury Street's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Hamilton, Indian Lake East, Hadwen Park, and North Lincoln Street.

Average noise level (dBA)

Salisbury Street's 53.9 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Salisbury Street because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.

Share of residents above 55 dBA

About 31.2% of Salisbury Street 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, 38.8% of Salisbury Street's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Massachusetts average of 40.0% and a national average of 28.1%.

What This Means if You're Moving to Salisbury Street

• 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 50% of Salisbury Street 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.

Sources & Methodology