Noise Levels in Salunga, PA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
49 dBA
Average noise across Salunga
Quiet office
40
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
10% of Salunga residents
77 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Salunga 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 40 Salunga residents, or 10.4%, live above that level. By land area, 16.3% of Salunga is above 55 dBA.
83.7% below 55 dBA
16.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Salunga compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Salunga
Average noise levels for Salunga residents, grouped by direction from the center of Salunga. Eastern Salunga carries the highest population-weighted average; Western Salunga carries the lowest. Just 6% of residents in Western Salunga live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Eastern Salunga.
Central Salunga
48.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Salunga
64.8 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northern Salunga
57.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Salunga
48.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Salunga
46.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Salunga sounds about 251% louder than Western Salunga to the human ear, a 18.1 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 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 quiet suburban street at night.
At source
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
43 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 0% of Salunga sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 8% 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 Salunga. 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 Salunga
The bar chart below shows the share of Salunga residents in each noise band. About 92% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 7% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Salunga Compares
Salunga sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Salunga's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Timber Hills, Bellaire, Refton, and Shenks Ferry.
Average noise level (dBA)
Salunga's 49.4 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Pennsylvania as a whole averages 52.9 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Salunga because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 10.4% of Salunga 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, 16.3% of Salunga's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Pennsylvania average of 33.5% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Salunga
- 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 Salunga 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.
