Noise Levels in Summit, OR | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across Summit
Quiet office
7
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
9% of Summit residents
75 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Summit 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 Summit residents, or 9.1%, live above that level. By land area, 10.4% of Summit is above 55 dBA.
89.6% below 55 dBA
10.4% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Summit compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Summit
Average noise levels for Summit residents, grouped by direction from the center of Summit. Northern Summit carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Summit carries the lowest. Just 5% of residents in Southern Summit live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Northern Summit.
Central Summit
50.6 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Northern Summit
50.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southern Summit
47.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Summit
47.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Summit sounds about 27% louder than Southern Summit to the human ear, a 3.5 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 Oregon Route 180 do you need to be?
Oregon Route 180 produces an estimated 56 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
56 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
43 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 55% of Summit sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 6% 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 Summit. 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 Summit
The bar chart below shows the share of Summit residents in each noise band. About 82% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 18% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Summit Compares
Summit sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Summit's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Lewisville, Dawson, Sidney, and Nashville.
Average noise level (dBA)
Summit's 50.5 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Oregon as a whole averages 52.9 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Summit because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 9.1% of Summit 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, 10.4% of Summit's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Oregon average of 24.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Summit
- 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 Oregon Route 180 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 55% of Summit is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is evergreen forest. 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.
