Noise Levels in Upper Exeter, PA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
44 dBA
Average noise across Upper Exeter
Quiet suburban street at night
20
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
17% of Upper Exeter residents
63 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Upper Exeter 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 20 Upper Exeter residents, or 17.0%, live above that level. By land area, 12.8% of Upper Exeter is above 55 dBA.
87.2% below 55 dBA
12.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Upper Exeter compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Upper Exeter
Average noise levels for Upper Exeter residents, grouped by direction from the center of Upper Exeter. Southern Upper Exeter carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Upper Exeter carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Northern Upper Exeter live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Southern Upper Exeter.
Northern Upper Exeter
26.2 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Southern Upper Exeter
56.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Upper Exeter
45.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern Upper Exeter sounds about 706% louder than Northern Upper Exeter to the human ear, a 30.1 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 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
49 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
41 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 51% of Upper Exeter sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 16% 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 Upper Exeter. 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 Upper Exeter
The bar chart below shows the share of Upper Exeter residents in each noise band. About 50% 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 Upper Exeter Compares
Upper Exeter sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Upper Exeter's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Harding, Ransom, West Falls, and Stull.
Average noise level (dBA)
Upper Exeter's 44.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Pennsylvania as a whole averages 52.9 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Upper Exeter because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 17.0% of Upper Exeter 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, 12.8% of Upper Exeter'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 Upper Exeter
- 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 51% of Upper Exeter is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), 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.
