City Sound Map: estimated noise levels of the world’s major cities

Dhaka ranks as the loudest major city in our estimates, with daytime noise around 78–95 dB — far above the WHO’s 53 dB road-noise guideline. South and Southeast Asian megacities dominate the top of the ranking, while Zurich, Vienna and Stockholm sit closest to guideline levels.

Last updated: June 10, 2026

🇺🇸 Looking for US cities? We publish a separate ranking built from measured federal data — all 297 US cities of 100,000+, each with its own tract-level neighborhood noise map. See the US noise ranking →

The ranking: 50 cities by estimated daytime noise

Estimated city noise levels — daytime (L_den-style) and night ranges in dB, dominant sources, and confidence
#	City	Country	Day (est. dB)	Night (est. dB)	Dominant sources	Confidence
1	Dhaka	Bangladesh	78–95	65–80	road traffic, horns, construction	high
2	Moradabad	India	75–92	60–78	road traffic, horns, industry	med
3	Delhi	India	75–90	62–78	road traffic, horns, construction	high
4	Cairo	Egypt	75–90	62–78	road traffic, horns, street commerce	high
5	Mumbai	India	74–88	60–76	road traffic, horns, festivals	high
6	Kolkata	India	73–88	60–75	road traffic, horns	med
7	Karachi	Pakistan	73–87	60–75	road traffic, rickshaws, horns	med
8	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	72–87	60–75	motorbikes, road traffic, karaoke	high
9	Kathmandu	Nepal	72–85	58–72	road traffic, horns, generators	med
10	Lagos	Nigeria	71–85	60–75	road traffic, generators, loudspeakers	med
11	Hanoi	Vietnam	71–85	58–72	motorbikes, road traffic, loudspeakers	med
12	Manila	Philippines	70–85	58–73	road traffic, jeepneys, videoke	med
13	Bangkok	Thailand	70–84	58–72	road traffic, motorbikes, street commerce	high
14	Jakarta	Indonesia	70–84	57–72	motorbikes, road traffic, loudspeakers	med
15	Istanbul	Türkiye	69–83	57–71	road traffic, construction, nightlife	med
16	Guangzhou	China	69–82	56–70	road traffic, construction, industry	med
17	Mexico City	Mexico	68–82	56–70	road traffic, street vendors, aviation	med
18	New York	United States	68–81	57–72	road traffic, construction, sirens, subway	high
19	São Paulo	Brazil	68–80	55–70	road traffic, helicopters, nightlife	med
20	Buenos Aires	Argentina	67–80	55–68	road traffic, buses, nightlife	med
21	Nairobi	Kenya	67–80	54–68	road traffic, matatus, street commerce	low
22	Beijing	China	66–79	54–67	road traffic, construction	med
23	Shanghai	China	66–78	54–67	road traffic, construction	med
24	Tehran	Iran	66–78	54–67	road traffic, motorbikes	low
25	Seoul	South Korea	65–78	53–66	road traffic, construction, nightlife	med
26	Hong Kong	China	65–78	53–66	road traffic, construction	high
27	Accra	Ghana	65–78	53–67	road traffic, generators, loudspeakers	low
28	Lima	Peru	65–77	52–65	road traffic, horns, buses	med
29	Bogotá	Colombia	64–77	52–65	road traffic, buses	med
30	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	64–76	52–64	road traffic, construction	low
31	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	63–76	52–64	road traffic, construction, aviation	low
32	Moscow	Russia	63–75	52–64	road traffic, rail	med
33	Athens	Greece	63–75	52–64	road traffic, motorbikes, nightlife	high
34	Rome	Italy	62–75	51–63	road traffic, motorbikes, nightlife	high
35	Madrid	Spain	62–74	51–63	road traffic, nightlife	high
36	Barcelona	Spain	62–74	51–63	road traffic, nightlife, tourism	high
37	Paris	France	61–74	50–63	road traffic, rail, aviation	high
38	Los Angeles	United States	61–73	50–62	road traffic, freeways, aviation	high
39	Chicago	United States	61–73	50–62	road traffic, elevated rail, aviation	high
40	London	United Kingdom	60–73	50–62	road traffic, aviation, rail	high
41	Milan	Italy	60–72	50–62	road traffic, trams	high
42	Tokyo	Japan	60–72	48–60	road traffic, rail	med
43	Toronto	Canada	59–71	48–60	road traffic, streetcars, construction	med
44	Berlin	Germany	58–70	47–58	road traffic, nightlife	high
45	Sydney	Australia	58–70	47–58	road traffic, aviation	med
46	Singapore	Singapore	58–69	47–57	road traffic, construction, rail	med
47	Amsterdam	Netherlands	57–68	46–56	road traffic, aviation, trams	high
48	Stockholm	Sweden	55–66	45–55	road traffic, rail	high
49	Vienna	Austria	54–65	44–54	road traffic, trams	high
50	Zurich	Switzerland	53–64	43–53	road traffic, rail, aviation	high

How these estimates are made

Each range is an estimate, synthesised from a corpus of published sources: the UNEP Frontiers 2022 report on urban noise, the Mimi Worldwide Hearing Index, strategic noise maps produced under the EU Environmental Noise Directive, the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map, and peer-reviewed city noise studies. Every city in the table is backed by at least one published source in that corpus; cities we could not source were excluded. We publish ranges and confidence labels rather than single numbers because point precision would be false precision — and we do not publish per-city source weightings or formulas, which are proprietary to our index. Our full methodology explains how this estimate index compares with our sourced and measured datasets.

What the columns mean

Day (L_den-style): typical day–evening range in dB experienced in busy public areas of the city. L_den is the EU’s day-evening-night indicator, which penalises evening and night noise.
Night (L_night-style): typical night-time range, the figure most relevant to sleep disturbance.
WHO anchors: the WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines recommend keeping road-traffic noise below 53 dB L_den and 45 dB L_night. The map’s color bands are anchored on those values — nearly every major city exceeds them.
Confidence: high = multiple recent published measurements or official noise maps; med = good but partial coverage; low = limited published data, wider uncertainty.

What's the loudest city ever measured?

The most-cited single measurements come from the UNEP Frontiers 2022 report, which compiled maximum recorded daytime roadside readings across world cities. Its loudest:

Loudest maximum readings in the UNEP Frontiers 2022 survey
City	Max recorded (dB)
Dhaka, Bangladesh	119
Moradabad, India	114
Islamabad, Pakistan	105
Rajshahi, Bangladesh	103
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	103
Ibadan, Nigeria	101
Kupondole (Kathmandu), Nepal	100
Algiers, Algeria	100
Bangkok, Thailand	99
New York, United States	95

Those are peak readings — the loudest moment recorded at a roadside — which is why they run far above the typical day ranges in our table. A city's rank can differ between the two views: our index estimates what living there sounds like across a day; UNEP's figures capture the worst spot at the worst moment. Both are true, and the cities topping both lists overlap heavily. (Smaller survey cities like Rajshahi, Ibadan and Algiers fall outside our 50-major-cities scope.)

Looking for US cities specifically?

We also publish a ranking of all 297 US cities of 100,000+ by measured transportation-noise exposure — computed from the federal BTS noise map rather than estimated, with the share of each city's residents living above 60 and 70 dB.

Measure your own street

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How to cite this page:

Decibel Shield. "City Sound Map: Estimated Noise Levels of the World's Major Cities." decibelshield.app, 2026, https://decibelshield.app/sound-map/. Accessed [date].