New York City is noisy, there’s no avoiding it – with about 8 million people crammed into the five boroughs, things are bound to get loud. But not all New York City neighborhoods are equal when it comes to noise volume, according to a new report from RentHop.
The real estate site released a report this week looking at noise complaints across the city. RentHop analyzed the number of complaints per capita by using year-to-date 311 complaint data from NYC’s open data portal divided by the neighborhood population, which came from city government data.
Overall, the city’s volume seems to be going down (or maybe people are just getting used to the noise) because for all New York City neighborhoods RentHop analyzed — in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx — noise complaints have decreased about 6.8 percent from 2017 to 2018.
If you definitely want to live in a lower-decibel-level New York City neighborhood, you won’t really have to shell out a ton more money for that peace and quiet, per RentHop.
Though there is a slight negative correlation between the median 1-bedroom rent price and noise complaints per capita — meaning that as rent goes up, the observed amount of noise complaints for an area goes down — it’s only a small correlation, and it doesn’t prove causation, the real estate site says.
There are still plenty of expensive New York City neighborhoods with a lot of noise complaints, so paying more for your apartment doesn’t ensure that a neighborhood will be quiet. These neighborhoods might have a higher price tag, RentHop notes, specifically because they boast a vibrant nightlife with lots of noisy bars and restaurants nearby.
There could be other factors to the noise complaint per capita data, as well, RentHop notes. Some New York City neighborhoods may just have a larger population of people who are more inclined to make noise complaints, or if a neighborhood particularly values peace and quiet, it’s residents may make more noise complaints than in other areas to perpetuate that environment.
Still, whether you want to live in a silent New York City neighborhood or you don’t mind a bit of bustle, here’s a look at the quietest and noisiest neighborhoods by borough based off of the prominance of noise complaints.
Quietest and noisiest New York City neighborhoods
Manhattan
The Upper East Side is the quietest Manhattan neighborhood with .00359 noise complaints per capita, followed by the Lenox Hill/Roosevelt Island neighborhood with .00437 noise complaints per capita.
Hamilton Heights is the noisiest Manhattan neighborhood with .0486 noise complaints per capita (that’s 10 times more than in the Upper East Side, and the noisiest neighborhood in the city, per RentHop), followed by the Marble Hill/Inwood neighborhood with .0481 noise complaints per capita.
Brooklyn
Borough Park is Brooklyn’s quietest neighborhood with .00324 noise complaints per capita (and the quitest New York City neighborhood in general, out of all the ones RentHop analyzed), followed by Brooklyn Heights/Crown Hill, which has .00467 noise complaints per capita.
The noisiest neighborhood in Brooklyn is the DUMBO/ Downtown Brooklyn area with .0369 noise complaints per capita, followed by Bushwick South with .0343 noise complaints per capita.
Queens
Bayside Hills is the quietest neighborhood in Queens with .00388 noise complaints per capita, followed by Elmhurst/Maspeth, which has .00662 noise complaints per capita.
Woodhaven is the noisiest Queens neighborhood with .0252 noise complaints per capita, followed by Queensbridge with .0230 noise complaints per capita.
The Bronx
The quietest Bronx neighborhood is Parkchester with .00603 noise complaints per capita, followed by Pelham Bay, with .0142 noise complaints per capita.
Bedford Park/Fordham North is the noisiest part of the Bronx with .0457 noise complaints per capita, followed by Norwood, which has .0435 noise complaints per capita.
