Decibel Shield

San Francisco noise map: where the city is loudest

San Francisco ranks eighth in the US: 9.5% of residents live above 60 dB. With no airport inside city limits, this is a pure road-and-rail map — US-101 and I-280 burn through the southeast quadrant while the famously freeway-free west side stays green.

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Census-tract noise map of San Francisco, CA: tracts colored green (few residents above 60 dB transportation noise) to red (half or more residents above 60 dB). The loudest tracts follow the US-101 and I-280 corridors.
Every census tract colored by the share of its residents exposed to ≥60 dB average-day transportation noise — real values per tract from the federal BTS 2020 noise map, no interpolation.
San Francisco noise exposure at a glance
US rank (of 100 largest cities) #8
Residents above 60 dB 9.5%
Residents above 70 dB 2.7%
Residents in the 45–60 dB band 34.9%
Population (ACS 2016–2020) 874,784
Census tracts mapped 242

San Francisco is the control experiment of the top ten: SFO sits ten miles south in San Mateo County, so the city’s exposure is almost entirely roads. US-101 enters along the eastern bayshore and I-280 up the southern spine, and the neighborhoods between them — the Mission, SoMa, Bayview-Hunters Point — absorb most of the city’s red.

The west side tells the other half of the story. The freeway revolts of the 1950s and 60s famously stopped planned highways through Golden Gate Park and the Sunset, and the noise map is the receipt: the entire western half of the city sits in green, a half-century-old planning decision still visible as quiet. Few maps argue as clearly that freeway routing is a choice.

San Francisco noise: the specifics

  • No airport inside city limits — SFO is in San Mateo County — making this a nearly pure road-noise map.
  • The 1950s–60s freeway revolts stopped planned highways through the west side, which remains green on the map today.
  • Exposure concentrates in the southeast quadrant along US-101 and I-280 (Mission, SoMa, Bayview).
  • 9.5% of residents above 60 dB ranks #8 among the 100 largest US cities — see the full measured ranking.

How this map is made

This is a transparent aggregation of federal data, not an estimate: the BTS 2020 National Transportation Noise Map (road + rail + aviation) overlaid with Census ACS 2016–2020 population at tract level, clipped to the city boundary. Full methodology, limitations and the free CSV/JSON are on the US cities noise ranking. Remember what it doesn’t count: sirens, construction, nightlife and neighbors are outside the model.

How loud is your block?

The map shows averages by tract — your street is its own story. Measure it with the free online decibel meter → No install, nothing recorded.

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