Noise Levels in Tam O'shanter, Bellevue, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Tam O'shanter
Quiet office to normal conversation
873
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
27% of Tam O'shanter residents
60 dBA
Loudest residential point
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Tam O'shanter 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 873 Tam O'shanter residents, or 27.0%, live above that level. By land area, 29.5% of Tam O'shanter is above 55 dBA.
70.5% below 55 dBA
29.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Tam O'shanter compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Tam O'shanter
Average noise levels for Tam O'shanter residents, grouped by direction from the center of Tam O'shanter. The highest population-weighted average is in northwestern Tam O'shanter; the lowest is in southeastern Tam O'shanter, where just 3% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Northwestern Tam O'shanter
52.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Tam O'shanter
52.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Tam O'shanter
47.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Tam O'shanter
44.7 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southeastern Tam O'shanter
44.7 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
To the human ear, noise in northwestern Tam O'shanter sounds about 77% louder than in southeastern Tam O'shanter, a 8.2 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 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE do you need to be?
West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE 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
40 dBA
Soft rainfall
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 39% of Tam O'shanter sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 37% 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
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) sits southwest of Tam O'shanter. 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 Tam O'shanter, 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 Tam O'shanter
The bar chart below shows the share of Tam O'shanter residents in each noise band. About 82% 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 Tam O'shanter Compares
Tam O'shanter sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Tam O'shanter's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with West Lake Sammamish, Factoria, Idylwood, and Lake View.
Average noise level (dBA)
Tam O'shanter's 51.6 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Tam O'shanter because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 27.0% of Tam O'shanter 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, 29.5% of Tam O'shanter's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Washington average of 27.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Tam O'shanter
- 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 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE 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 39% of Tam O'shanter is under tree cover (much heavier than most neighborhoods), 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Seattle-Tacoma International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
