# 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.

## Facts

- Published by: Defra
- Level of detail: Middle area
- Updates: Once
- History: Since 2021
- Licence: Open Government Licence 3.0
- Method: Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas
- Levels: United Kingdom, Nation, Region, Council, Constituency, Postcode area, Postcode district, Town, Ward, Middle area

## How it is worked out

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.

## Periods

| Level | First | Latest | Periods |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| United Kingdom | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Nation | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Region | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Council | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Constituency | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Postcode area | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Postcode district | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Town | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Ward | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |
| Middle area | 2021 | 2021 | 1 |

## Coverage

| Nation | Areas | With a figure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| England | 6856 | 6856 |
| Wales | 408 | 0 |
| Scotland | 1334 | 0 |
| Northern Ireland | 850 | 0 |

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.

## Gaps

- Northern Ireland's noise maps are not in Open Index yet: 850 (Dunsilly A, Dunsilly B, Dunsilly C, Dunsilly D, Dunsilly E, Dunsilly F)
- Scotland's noise maps say they are not suitable for property enquiries, so Open Index does not show them: 150 (Culter, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber West, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber East, Cults, Bieldside and Milltimber Central, Garthdee, Braeside, Mannofield, Broomhill and Seafield East)

## Caveats

- 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.

## Example: 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.

https://openindex.co.uk/hackney

## Sources

### Strategic noise mapping, Round 4 (England)

- Publisher: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Licence: [Open Government Licence 3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/)
- Edition: Strategic noise mapping Round 4 (2021), Lden
- Published: 8 December 2023
- Fetched: 19 October 2026
- Updates: one-off
- Credit: © Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs copyright and/or database right 2023. All rights reserved. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Publisher's page: https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/562c9d56-7c2d-4d42-83bb-578d6e97a517

## Use it

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/loud-transport-noise)
- [Ranking](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/loud-transport-noise/england)
- Download (Middle area): https://data.openindex.co.uk/s/2026.10.9/downloads/layers/noise-loud-share/middle_area.csv
- API: https://openindex.co.uk/v1/layers/noise-loud-share

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/sources/loud-transport-noise.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

- © Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs copyright and/or database right 2023. All rights reserved. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Worked out by Open Index from Defra's strategic noise maps and census output areas.

Snapshot 2026.10.9. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/sources/loud-transport-noise