Noise Levels in Spaulding, IL | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Spaulding
Quiet office to normal conversation
237
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
20% of Spaulding residents
90 dBA
Loudest residential point
Lawnmower at 1 m
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Spaulding 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 237 Spaulding residents, or 20.2%, live above that level. By land area, 28.2% of Spaulding is above 55 dBA.
71.8% below 55 dBA
28.2% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Spaulding compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Spaulding
Average noise levels for Spaulding residents, grouped by direction from the center of Spaulding. Central Spaulding carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Spaulding carries the lowest. Just 4% of residents in Northern Spaulding live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Central Spaulding.
Central Spaulding
57.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Eastern Spaulding
54.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Spaulding
46.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Spaulding
50.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Western Spaulding
47.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Central Spaulding sounds about 117% louder than Northern Spaulding to the human ear, a 11.2 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 Ch-00 do you need to be?
Ch-00 produces an estimated 54 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
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
330 ft
38 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 43% of Spaulding sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 9% 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 Spaulding. 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 Spaulding
The bar chart below shows the share of Spaulding residents in each noise band. About 67% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 13% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Spaulding Compares
Spaulding sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Spaulding's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Clear Lake, Mechanicsburg, Dawson, and Southern View.
Average noise level (dBA)
Spaulding's 51.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Illinois as a whole averages 52.6 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Spaulding because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 20.2% of Spaulding residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's in the middle of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 28.2% of Spaulding's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Illinois average of 29.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Spaulding
- 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 Ch-00 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 43% of Spaulding is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is pasture / hay. 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.
