New Bedford, MA Noise Levels
Is New Bedford, MA noisy?
New Bedford, MA 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.
New Bedford's reading comes from a single sampled point, not a block-by-block sweep, so a specific address here could genuinely differ.
New Bedford'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 New Bedford ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, New Bedford ranks 1,837, loudest first. Population is about 101,318, 336th largest of the 12,137 places covered here.
Your street may differ from New Bedford's reading
This page describes New Bedford as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind New Bedford's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how New Bedford'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.