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U.S. Census Report: Noise Is Number One Problem in Neighborhoods Michael Phillip Wright
Norman, Oklahoma
Copyright March 2002
All Rights Reserved
E-mail the author.According to a 1999 U.S. Census report, Americans named noise as the number one problem in neighborhoods. Of 102.8 million reporting households, 11.6 million (11.3%) stated that street or traffic noise was bothersome, and 4.5 million (4.4%) said it was so bad that they wanted to move. For the category "other bothersome conditions," 2.7 million (2.6%) named noise. Additionally, 5.3 million (5.1%) said that they were bothered by building neighbor noise. More Americans are bothered by noise than by crime, odors, and other problems listed under "other bothersome conditions."
This being the case, why is enforcement of noise control ordinances a matter of low priority in many American cities? Why is there not a national policy of zero tolerance against boom cars and loud exhaust pipes?
1 in 7 Poverty Households Plagued by Street Noise
For persons living below poverty levels the problem is worse. Of 14.3 million poverty households reporting, 2 million (13.7%) reported being bothered by street or traffic noise. This is one household in seven plagued by street noise. For 915 thousand households (6.4%) it was bad enough to make them want to move. For the category "other bothersome conditions," 432 thousand (3.0%) named noise. Building neighbor noise was described as bothersome by 1.2 million poverty households (8.5%).
In Some Cities It's Worse
For some American cities, the problem is even more severe for poverty households. For San Francisco , 1 in 6 low-income households reported bothersome street noise, and for Philadelphia , the rate was greater than 1 in 5. For black Philadelphia households, the rate was almost 1 in 4. (For both cities see Table 2-8.) A survey reported by the Philadelphia Planning Commission found that 38% of the respondents cited too much noise as a complaint about their neighborhood. (For more information about Philadelphia see these comments by Gary J. Jastrzab, Director of the Strategic Planning and Policy Division).
Street Noise Afflicts 1 in 8 Urban Households in the U.S.
There were 73.3 million urban households reporting. Of these, 9.3 million (12.6%) reported bothersome street or traffic noise, and 3.9 million (5.3%) said they wanted to move because of it. There were 2.2 million urban households (3.0%) reporting noise under "other bothersome conditions," and 5 million (6.8%) described building neighbor noise as bothersome.
Demand Better Laws and More Vigorous Enforcement
One in eight urban American households and one in seven poverty households suffer from bothersome street noise. Americans who are fed up with noise pollution should use this information as encouragement to demand better noise control laws and more vigorous enforcement from all levels of government.