Noise Levels in Western Hills Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
54 dBA
Average noise across Western Hills Fort Worth
Quiet office to normal conversation
11,719
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
41% of Western Hills Fort Worth residents
80 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Western Hills Fort Worth 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 11,719 Western Hills Fort Worth residents, or 41.2%, live above that level. By land area, 43.3% of Western Hills Fort Worth is above 55 dBA.
56.7% below 55 dBA
43.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Western Hills Fort Worth compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Western Hills Fort Worth
Average noise levels for Western Hills Fort Worth residents, grouped by direction from the center of Western Hills Fort Worth. The highest population-weighted average is in northeastern Western Hills Fort Worth; the lowest is in eastern Western Hills Fort Worth, where just 23% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Northeastern Western Hills Fort Worth
59.9 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southwestern Western Hills Fort Worth
58.9 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Western Hills Fort Worth
57.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Central Western Hills Fort Worth
54.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Western Hills Fort Worth
53.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in northeastern Western Hills Fort Worth sounds about 54% louder than in eastern Western Hills Fort Worth, a 6.2 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 I-30 do you need to be?
I-30 produces an estimated 78 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
78 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
41 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 12% of Western Hills Fort Worth sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 56% 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 Western Hills Fort Worth. 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.
Airport Noise
Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW) sits northeast of Western Hills Fort Worth. 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 Western Hills Fort Worth, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Western Hills Fort Worth
The bar chart below shows the share of Western Hills Fort Worth residents in each noise band. About 57% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 11% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Western Hills Fort Worth Compares
Western Hills Fort Worth sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Western Hills Fort Worth's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Far West, TCU-West Cliff, Northside, and Far Northwest.
Average noise level (dBA)
Western Hills Fort Worth's 53.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Western Hills Fort Worth because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 41.2% of Western Hills Fort Worth 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, 43.3% of Western Hills Fort Worth's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Western Hills Fort Worth
- 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 I-30 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 12% of Western Hills Fort Worth is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is medium-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. Dallas-Fort Worth International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
