Noise exposure data
The hidden cost of traffic noise, county by county
Economists estimate the US traffic-noise externality at $110 billion — capitalized straight into home prices at roughly 0.95% of value per decibel above the quiet threshold (NBER Working Paper 34298, Moretti & Wheeler 2025). Below: exposure and estimated per-home cost for the 30 most-populous US counties, computed from the public US DOT National Transportation Noise Map.
| County | Population | Avg exposure (dB) | Residents above 60 dB | Est. noise cost / resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronx County, NY | 1,427,056 | 53.5 | 9% | $18,348 |
| Queens County, NY | 2,270,976 | 51.8 | 9% | $18,612 |
| New York County, NY | 1,629,153 | 51.3 | 10% | $26,446 |
| Cook County, IL | 5,169,517 | 51 | 9% | $7,656 |
| Philadelphia County, PA | 1,581,531 | 48.9 | 6% | $3,764 |
| Alameda County, CA | 1,661,584 | 48.3 | 8% | $13,654 |
| Nassau County, NY | 1,355,683 | 47.4 | 5% | $6,424 |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 10,040,682 | 47.1 | 9% | $6,932 |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 1,924,379 | 46.8 | 8% | $10,640 |
| Kings County, NY | 2,576,771 | 46.5 | 4% | $5,220 |
| Miami-Dade County, FL | 2,705,528 | 46.4 | 5% | $2,911 |
| Sacramento County, CA | 1,537,948 | 46.4 | 6% | $2,952 |
| King County, WA | 2,225,064 | 45.9 | 5% | $3,045 |
| San Diego County, CA | 3,323,970 | 45.8 | 6% | $2,781 |
| Tarrant County, TX | 2,077,153 | 45.8 | 5% | $1,070 |
| Orange County, CA | 3,170,345 | 45.7 | 8% | $2,780 |
| Dallas County, TX | 2,622,634 | 45.6 | 6% | $754 |
| Harris County, TX | 4,680,609 | 45 | 4% | — |
| Middlesex County, MA | 1,605,899 | 45 | 5% | — |
| San Bernardino County, CA | 2,162,532 | 44.9 | 5% | — |
| Broward County, FL | 1,942,273 | 44.8 | 5% | — |
| Maricopa County, AZ | 4,412,779 | 44.5 | 6% | — |
| Bexar County, TX | 1,978,826 | 44.2 | 4% | — |
| Wayne County, MI | 1,753,059 | 44.2 | 4% | — |
| Orange County, FL | 1,373,784 | 44.1 | 4% | — |
| Clark County, NV | 2,228,866 | 43.8 | 3% | — |
| Palm Beach County, FL | 1,482,057 | 43.8 | 4% | — |
| Suffolk County, NY | 1,481,364 | 43.8 | 3% | — |
| Riverside County, CA | 2,437,864 | 43 | 3% | — |
| Hillsborough County, FL | 1,451,358 | 42.8 | 3% | — |
Per-resident figures are stylized mid-range estimates (per-home capitalization ÷ 2.5 avg household size), grounded in NBER Working Paper 34298 — research-based ranges, not predictions of value change. Exposure: BTS National Transportation Noise Map 2020, tract-level per Seto & Huang (2023), population-weighted.