Portland, OR Noise Levels
Is Portland, OR noisy?
Portland, OR reads 57.5 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. Road traffic drives that number here, not the other two sources. That's the reading at Portland's Census-defined center point, not any one street, BTS's map is a live raster, not a per-address service.
Portland'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
Upgraded windows, door seals and STC-rated glazing meaningfully cut broadband, near-continuous road noise.
Where Portland ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Portland ranks 336, loudest first. Population is about 635,749, 30th largest of the 12,137 places covered here.
Your street may differ from Portland's reading
This page describes Portland as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind Portland's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how Portland's reading was built from BTS's tile data. Since road traffic is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.