Noise Levels in Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD, Germantown, TN | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
Quiet office
1,099
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
16% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD residents
79 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD 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 1,099 Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD residents, or 16.0%, live above that level. By land area, 17.8% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD is above 55 dBA.
82.2% below 55 dBA
17.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
Average noise levels for Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD residents, grouped by direction from the center of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD. Eastern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD carries the lowest. Just 12% of residents in Northern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Eastern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD.
Eastern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
54.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
49.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
51.1 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD sounds about 39% louder than Northern Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD to the human ear, a 4.8 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 Nonconnah Pkwy do you need to be?
Nonconnah Pkwy produces an estimated 75 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
75 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
61 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
53 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
45 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 29% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 32% 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 Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD. 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 Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
The bar chart below shows the share of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD residents in each noise band. About 86% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 6% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD Compares
Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Windyke-Southwind, Crosstown, River Oaks, and Eads-Fisherville.
Average noise level (dBA)
Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD's 50.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Tennessee as a whole averages 49.2 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 16.0% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD 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, 17.8% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Tennessee average of 18.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD
- 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 Nonconnah Pkwy 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 29% of Walnut Grove - Shelby Farms PD is under tree cover (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.
