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The noisiest states in America, by big-city transportation noise
Massachusetts has the noisiest large cities in the country: across its 5 cities of 100,000+ residents, a population-weighted 9.9% live with 60 dB or louder average-day transportation noise, led by Boston at 12.9%. This ranks every US state and DC with a city of 100,000+ residents (45 in all) by measured federal data, so it reflects their cities, not their rural areas.
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Each state's score is the population-weighted mean share of its 100,000+ city residents exposed to ≥60 dB average-day transportation noise, rolled up from the same tract-level federal data behind the national city ranking. Because the data is measured only for cities of that size, this is a ranking of each state's large cities, not the whole state — rural areas, quieter on average, are not in the federal dataset.
| # | State | Cities | Avg ≥60 dB | Loudest city | Its ≥60 dB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | 5 | 9.9% | Boston | 12.9% |
| 2 | Hawaii | 1 | 9.9% | Honolulu | 9.9% |
| 3 | Illinois | 6 | 9.6% | Chicago | 11% |
| 4 | California | 66 | 8.1% | Inglewood | 26.3% |
| 5 | New Jersey | 4 | 7.8% | Elizabeth | 13.8% |
| 6 | New York | 5 | 7.1% | New York | 7.4% |
| 7 | Kentucky | 2 | 6.5% | Louisville | 6.6% |
| 8 | Oregon | 4 | 6.4% | Portland | 7.2% |
| 9 | Arizona | 10 | 6.1% | Tempe | 9.3% |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 3 | 5.9% | Philadelphia | 6.1% |
| 11 | the District of Columbia | 1 | 5.8% | Washington | 5.8% |
| 12 | Minnesota | 2 | 5.7% | Minneapolis | 6.6% |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 3 | 5.5% | Madison | 6.8% |
| 14 | South Carolina | 3 | 5.3% | North Charleston | 9.6% |
| 15 | Texas | 37 | 5.2% | Laredo | 8.9% |
| 16 | Utah | 4 | 5.1% | Provo | 7% |
| 17 | Washington | 7 | 4.9% | Seattle | 5.8% |
| 18 | Michigan | 6 | 4.8% | Detroit | 5% |
| 19 | Alabama | 4 | 4.8% | Birmingham | 6.1% |
| 20 | South Dakota | 1 | 4.8% | Sioux Falls | 4.8% |
| 21 | Ohio | 6 | 4.7% | Cleveland | 6.7% |
| 22 | Tennessee | 6 | 4.7% | Memphis | 5.3% |
| 23 | New Hampshire | 1 | 4.7% | Manchester | 4.7% |
| 24 | Florida | 25 | 4.6% | West Palm Beach | 7.6% |
| 25 | Indiana | 3 | 4.6% | Indianapolis | 5.1% |
| 26 | New Mexico | 1 | 4.6% | Albuquerque | 4.6% |
| 27 | Rhode Island | 1 | 4.6% | Providence | 4.6% |
| 28 | Georgia | 8 | 4.5% | Atlanta | 7.9% |
| 29 | Missouri | 4 | 4.4% | Independence | 4.7% |
| 30 | Connecticut | 5 | 4.1% | Stamford | 5.9% |
| 31 | Iowa | 3 | 4.1% | Cedar Rapids | 4.7% |
| 32 | North Carolina | 9 | 4% | Wilmington | 6.3% |
| 33 | Louisiana | 5 | 4% | Metairie | 4.6% |
| 34 | Arkansas | 1 | 4% | Little Rock | 4% |
| 35 | Virginia | 8 | 3.8% | Alexandria | 6.3% |
| 36 | Maryland | 2 | 3.7% | Baltimore | 3.8% |
| 37 | North Dakota | 1 | 3.7% | Fargo | 3.7% |
| 38 | Nevada | 9 | 3.6% | Paradise | 8.1% |
| 39 | Nebraska | 2 | 3.3% | Lincoln | 3.6% |
| 40 | Colorado | 10 | 3.2% | Denver | 4.1% |
| 41 | Alaska | 1 | 3.2% | Anchorage | 3.2% |
| 42 | Kansas | 5 | 2.9% | Olathe | 4.1% |
| 43 | Oklahoma | 4 | 2.7% | Tulsa | 3.7% |
| 44 | Mississippi | 1 | 2.6% | Jackson | 2.6% |
| 45 | Idaho | 2 | 2% | Boise City | 2.1% |
What drives a state up the list
The noisiest states are the ones whose big cities sit under airport approaches or are sliced by dense freeway and rail networks. Massachusetts leads on Boston (12.9% of residents above 60 dB), and states with several such cities rise fastest because the score is weighted by population. States near the bottom, like Idaho, have large cities whose transportation noise reaches fewer residents.
How this ranking is measured
It aggregates the national ranking of all 297 US cities — the BTS 2020 National Transportation Noise Map (road, rail and aviation) over Census ACS 2016–2020 population at census-tract level, with no estimation by us — up to the state level, weighting each city by its population. It counts transportation noise only: construction, sirens, industry and nightlife are outside the model. Open any state below for its cities ranked against each other, each with a full tract map.
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How to cite this page:
Decibel Shield. "US States Ranked by Big-City Transportation Noise." decibelshield.app, 2026, https://decibelshield.app/sound-map/us/states/. Accessed [date].
License: CC BY 4.0 — Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Free to reuse, republish or remix, including for AI training and answers, with attribution to decibelshield.app.