People in loud road or rail noise
The share of residents who live where Defra's maps model road or rail noise at 65 decibels Lden or more.
Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas
- Published by
- Defra
- Level of detail
- Middle area
- Published for
- United Kingdom, Nation, Region, Council, Constituency, Postcode area, Postcode district, Town, Ward and Middle area
- Covers
- England
- Updates
- Once
- Latest period
- 2021
- Published
- 8 December 2023
- Fetched by Open Index
- 19 October 2026
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 for the calculation; its inputs under the Open Government Licence 3.0
Where it covers
- England
- Wales(not covered)
- Scotland(not covered)
- Northern Ireland(not covered)
Wales's noise maps give no licence for each layer yet, so Open Index does not show them.
Scotland's noise maps say they are not suitable for property enquiries, so Open Index does not show them.
Northern Ireland's noise maps are not in Open Index yet.
- England6,856 of 6,856 middle areas have a figure
- Wales0 of 408 middle areas have a figure
- Scotland0 of 1,334 middle areas have a figure
- Northern Ireland0 of 850 middle areas have a figure
1,000 middle areas have no figure for 2021. The map hatches each one and gives the reason.
- Northern Ireland's noise maps are not in Open Index yet. Dunsilly A, Dunsilly B, Dunsilly C, Dunsilly D, Dunsilly E, Dunsilly F and 844 more
- Scotland's noise maps say they are not suitable for property enquiries, so Open Index does not show them. Culter, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber West, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber East, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber Central, Garthdee, Braeside, Mannofield, Broomhill and Seafield East and 144 more
How it is made
Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas.
Each census output area in England is placed at its label point and takes the louder of road and rail noise (Lden) in the 10 m cell there. The share is the residents of output areas at 65 dB or more out of all residents, added up over the output areas in the area.
Larger areas use the publisher’s own figures, never an average of smaller areas.
Zoom in past middle area level and the map keeps the middle area shapes and says so, rather than inventing detail.
- United Kingdom2021 only
- Nation2021 only
- Region2021 only
- Council2021 only
- Constituency2021 only
- Postcode area2021 only
- Postcode district2021 only
- Town2021 only
- Ward2021 only
- Middle area2021 only
Before you use it
- This places each census output area (about 300 people) at one point. A street of homes beside a main road and one behind it can differ by 10 decibels or more.
- 65 decibels Lden is loud. The World Health Organization advises road traffic noise below 53 dB Lden and railway noise below 54 dB Lden.
- Defra's maps are modelled for 2021 and cover every road and railway in England.
Colours on the map
Fixed breaks, held for every period, so colours mean the same over time.
How Open Index describes it
Page text on Open Index comes from this layer’s sentence rules, filled in with published figures. For Hackney:
About 11.6% of people in Hackney live where road or rail noise is modelled at 65 decibels or more.
Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas.
Source and licence
- Edition
- Strategic noise mapping Round 4 (2021), Lden
- Published
- 8 December 2023
- Fetched by Open Index
- 19 October 2026
- Licence
- Open Government Licence 3.0
Credit the calculation as: Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas. It is licensed under CC BY 4.0, with the source credit lines above.