Noise Levels in Spring Garden, Philadelphia, PA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
60 dBA
Average noise across Spring Garden
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
7,800
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
89% of Spring Garden residents
78 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Spring Garden 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 7,800 Spring Garden residents, or 89.2%, live above that level. By land area, 86.5% of Spring Garden is above 55 dBA.
13.5% below 55 dBA
86.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Spring Garden compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Spring Garden
Average noise levels for Spring Garden residents, grouped by direction from the center of Spring Garden. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Spring Garden; the lowest is in northeastern Spring Garden, where just 80% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Spring Garden
73.4 dBA · Loud
City bus interior
Western Spring Garden
71.6 dBA · Loud
City bus interior
Eastern Spring Garden
63.1 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Spring Garden
61.7 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northeastern Spring Garden
61.5 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Spring Garden sounds about 128% louder than in northeastern Spring Garden, a 11.9 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 Spring Garden St do you need to be?
Spring Garden St produces an estimated 63 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
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
39 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 3% of Spring Garden sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most neighborhoods) and roughly 74% 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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Airport Noise
Philadelphia International (PHL) sits southwest of Spring Garden. The U.S. Department of Transportation measures aviation noise around this airport directly, 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 75 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Spring Garden, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Spring Garden
The bar chart below shows the share of Spring Garden residents in each noise band. About 8% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 41% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Spring Garden Compares
Spring Garden sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Spring Garden's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Fairmount, Hartranft, Strawberry Mansion, and Grays Ferry.
Average noise level (dBA)
Spring Garden's 59.5 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Pennsylvania as a whole averages 52.9 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Spring Garden because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 89.2% of Spring Garden residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 86.5% of Spring Garden'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 Spring Garden
- 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 Spring Garden St 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 3% of Spring Garden is under tree cover (much lighter than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is high-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.
- Airport noise is directional. Philadelphia International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
