Noise Levels in Shorewood Hills, WI | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
58 dBA
Average noise across Shorewood Hills
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
1,595
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
72% of Shorewood Hills residents
71 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Shorewood Hills 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 1,595 Shorewood Hills residents, or 71.6%, live above that level. By land area, 68.7% of Shorewood Hills is above 55 dBA.
31.3% below 55 dBA
68.7% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Shorewood Hills compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Shorewood Hills
Average noise levels for Shorewood Hills residents, grouped by direction from the center of Shorewood Hills. Eastern Shorewood Hills carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Shorewood Hills carries the lowest. Just 64% of residents in Central Shorewood Hills live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in Eastern Shorewood Hills.
Central Shorewood Hills
56.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Eastern Shorewood Hills
60.8 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern Shorewood Hills
57.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Shorewood Hills
57.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Eastern Shorewood Hills sounds about 34% louder than Central Shorewood Hills to the human ear, a 4.2 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 University Bay Dr do you need to be?
University Bay Dr produces an estimated 55 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
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
330 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 34% of Shorewood Hills sits under tree canopy (about average for cities) and roughly 33% 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 Shorewood Hills. 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
Dane County Regional/Truax Field (MSN) sits northeast of Shorewood Hills. 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 Shorewood Hills, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Shorewood Hills
The bar chart below shows the share of Shorewood Hills residents in each noise band. About 16% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 27% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Shorewood Hills Compares
Shorewood Hills sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Shorewood Hills's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Dane, Maple Bluff, Black Earth, and Blue Mounds.
Average noise level (dBA)
Shorewood Hills's 58.1 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Wisconsin as a whole averages 53.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Shorewood Hills because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 71.6% of Shorewood Hills 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, 68.7% of Shorewood Hills's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Wisconsin average of 29.6% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Shorewood Hills
- 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 University Bay Dr 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 34% of Shorewood Hills is under tree cover (about average for cities), 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. Dane County Regional/Truax Field's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
