This map shows modeled outdoor noise across South Lake Tahoe 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 8,904 South Lake Tahoe residents, or 34.6%, live above that level. By land area, 36.1% of South Lake Tahoe is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in South Lake Tahoe compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of South Lake Tahoe
Average noise levels for South Lake Tahoe residents, grouped by direction from the center of South Lake Tahoe. The highest population-weighted average is in the Tamarack and Gardner Mountain areas (western South Lake Tahoe); the lowest is in southeastern South Lake Tahoe, where just 11% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in the loudest section.
Tamarack & Gardner Mountain
39% of people above 55 dBA
Al Tahoe & Highland Woods
35% of people above 55 dBA
Bijou & Tahoe Sierra
26% of people above 55 dBA
Eastern South Lake Tahoe
11% of people above 55 dBA
Southeastern South Lake Tahoe
11% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in the Tamarack and Gardner Mountain areas (western South Lake Tahoe) sounds about 101% louder than in southeastern South Lake Tahoe, a 10.1 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 Noise Is Distributed Across South Lake Tahoe
The bar chart below shows the share of South Lake Tahoe residents in each noise band. About 69% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How South Lake Tahoe Compares
South Lake Tahoe sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how South Lake Tahoe's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Truckee, Placerville, Auburn, and Cameron Park.
Average noise level (dBA)
South Lake Tahoe's 53.3 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than South Lake Tahoe because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 34.6% of South Lake Tahoe 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, 36.1% of South Lake Tahoe's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a California average of 36.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to South Lake Tahoe
- 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 34% of South Lake Tahoe is under tree cover (about average for cities), and the dominant land cover is low-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.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.