Topton, PA Noise Levels
Is Topton, PA noisy?
Topton, PA'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 figure is sampled at one coordinate, the Census Bureau's own internal point for Topton, not a street-by-street survey of the whole place.
Topton'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 Topton ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Topton ranks 234, loudest first. About 2,063 people live there, making it the 7,567th largest place in this dataset.
Your street may differ from Topton's reading
This page describes Topton as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind Topton's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how Topton's reading was built from BTS's tile data. Since rail traffic is what's driving this reading, the guide to what actually cuts each kind of noise covers the fix that fits.