Merriam, KS Noise Levels
Merriam, KS: what the federal noise map shows
Merriam, KS's 60-69.9 dB(A) band spans one of HUD's zone boundaries, so the honest answer is a range: somewhere between "Acceptable" (65 dB(A) or below) and "Normally Unacceptable" (65-75 dB(A)), not one clean verdict. Rail traffic drives that number here, not the other two sources. That's the reading at Merriam's Census-defined center point, not any one street, BTS's map is a live raster, not a per-address service.
Merriam'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
Depending on where in that band the true value sits, it may also clear FHWA's 66 dB(A) residential impact threshold (23 CFR 772, Table 1), the trigger highway agencies use for sound-wall decisions. The same window and door upgrades that work on road noise also cut broadband rail noise, though very low-frequency freight rumble travels through walls, not just glass.
Where Merriam ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Merriam ranks 153, loudest first. Population is about 11,560, 2,885th largest of the 12,137 places covered here.
Your street may differ from Merriam's reading
For a single house or lot in Merriam 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 Merriam's figure, see the methodology guide. Since rail traffic is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.