Noise Levels in Southwood Valley, College Station, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across Southwood Valley
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,340
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
33% of Southwood Valley residents
64 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Southwood Valley 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 1,340 Southwood Valley residents, or 33.4%, live above that level. By land area, 31.3% of Southwood Valley is above 55 dBA.
68.7% below 55 dBA
31.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Southwood Valley compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Southwood Valley
Average noise levels for Southwood Valley residents, grouped by direction from the center of Southwood Valley. Central Southwood Valley carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Southwood Valley carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Southern Southwood Valley live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Central Southwood Valley.
Central Southwood Valley
55.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Southwood Valley
51.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Northern Southwood Valley
52.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Southwood Valley
42.2 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Southwood Valley
54.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Central Southwood Valley sounds about 145% louder than Southern Southwood Valley to the human ear, a 12.9 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 64 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
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
43 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
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 15% of Southwood Valley sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 48% 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 Southwood Valley. 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 Southwood Valley
The bar chart below shows the share of Southwood Valley residents in each noise band. About 59% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 0% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Southwood Valley Compares
Southwood Valley sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Southwood Valley's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Northgate, College Park, Disaster City, and Midway Place.
Average noise level (dBA)
Southwood Valley's 53.2 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Southwood Valley because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 33.4% of Southwood Valley 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, 31.3% of Southwood Valley's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Southwood Valley
- 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 15% of Southwood Valley is under tree cover (about average for 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.
