Charleston, SC Noise Levels
Charleston, SC: what the federal noise map shows
Charleston, SC reads 47.5 dB(A) on BTS's 24-hour average, inside HUD's "Acceptable" noise zone, 65 dB(A) day-night average or below under 24 CFR 51.104, the federal government's own line for building housing with no extra sound attenuation required. Aircraft drives that number here, not the other two sources. That's the reading at Charleston's Census-defined center point, not any one street, BTS's map is a live raster, not a per-address service.
Charleston's noise, by source
Each of the three transportation modes gets its own model from BTS; the combined figure above is what they add up to.
What this means for a house here
Aircraft noise is intermittent and lower-frequency, which is why FAA’s Part 150 program funds whole-envelope sound insulation for homes inside an airport’s own mapped noise contour rather than relying on window replacement alone.
Where Charleston ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Charleston ranks 1,805, loudest first. Population is about 157,665, 173th largest of the 12,137 places covered here.
Your street may differ from Charleston's reading
For a single house or lot in Charleston rather than the town-wide figure above, BTS's own map is the same free source, queried directly.
More on how this number was built
For exactly which federal dataset feeds Charleston's figure, see the methodology guide. Since aircraft is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.