Memphis, TN Noise Levels
Is Memphis, TN noisy?
Memphis, TN reads 52.5 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 figure is sampled at one coordinate, the Census Bureau's own internal point for Memphis, not a street-by-street survey of the whole place.
Memphis'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 Memphis ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Memphis ranks 784, loudest first. By population, it ranks 31 of the 12,137 places in this dataset, home to about 610,919 people.
Your street may differ from Memphis's reading
This page describes Memphis as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind Memphis's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how Memphis's reading was built from BTS's tile data. Since aircraft is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.