Washington, DC Noise Levels
Is Washington, DC noisy?
Washington, DC 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. Road 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 Washington, not a street-by-street survey of the whole place.
Washington'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 Washington ranks
Among the 3,622 US places in this dataset with any measurable transportation noise, Washington ranks 783, loudest first. By population, it ranks 24 of the 12,137 places in this dataset, home to about 702,250 people.
Your street may differ from Washington's reading
This page describes Washington as a whole. If one specific address is what matters, BTS publishes the same underlying map for free.
Behind Washington's reading
The methodology guide shows exactly how Washington'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.