Californians can’t get any peace and quiet — state ranks almost worst in new noise study

Big state, big noise.

A new analysis naming and shaming the loudest states in the country puts California in third to last place — with one surprising Golden State city called out as the second noisiest of any metro in the entire United States.

Using data pulled from the U.S. National Transportation Noise Map, which measures noise levels from roads, railways and airports, the surplus-of-sound survey showed that residents of the Monterey area are regularly forced to cope with an ear-shattering 70.27 decibels.

Experts say that anything over 70 decibels put you at risk for hearing loss. According to the EPA, anything above 55 decibels in an outdoor setting can be considered an annoyance — while 45 is said to be ideal for indoors.

Living in Los Angeles and Orange Counties puts you perilously close to the limit, too — the region scored 67.27 decibels, according to the research, recently put out by Alpine Hearing Protection.

According to the publicly available noise map used in the study, those numbers can soar well into the 90s at key spots in and around even smaller airports — with neighboring communities at risk of outsized amounts of aural assault. Heavily populated California communities near major airports include many central San Diego neighborhoods and South Bay cities adjacent to LAX.

City-dwelling Californians looking for calm should avoid neighboring Nevada, which ranked worse — the Silver State took a shameful second in the surplus-of-sound survey.

The Las Vegas Valley had the state’s highest city-area reading at 60.79 decibels.

Other Western states — Arizona (No. 6) and Oregon (No. 10) — also cracked the top slots.

Texas took the top spot as the loudest state in the country, with its highest reading reaching 80.65 decibels.

Other states that made it into the top 10 include Illinois (No. 4), Florida (No. 5), New York (No. 7), North Dakota (No. 8), and North Carolina (No. 9).

The east coast is much quieter. Connecticut had the lowest maximum reading at 54.85 decibels, while Vermont’s ceiling was 55 decibels.

But despite all the noise, California has some of the least-stressed cities in the country, according to a 2024 survey from LawnStarter.

Three lucky Bay Area cities made up the top 10 on that lucky list — Sunnyvale at No. 2, Santa Clara at No. 3 and Milpitas at No. 4.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters