Map tool

Graz noise map: how loud is it at your address?

Enter your address and get the official noise levels for that exact spot: day and night, where the noise comes from, and whether it exceeds the thresholds. As an agglomeration, Graz is mapped in full, down to the side streets and including the tram network. Handy before any viewing.

How to read the map

The map shows the long-term average traffic noise level in 5-decibel zones: once averaged over the whole day (Lden, with evening and night weighted more) and once for the night only (Lnight, 10 pm to 6 am). Green means: below the mapping threshold of 55 dB by day or 45 dB at night, so quiet as far as the official map is concerned.

under 55 dB

Quiet. Below the mapping threshold, typical for residential lanes, courtyards and the hillside areas at the edge of town.

55 to 64 dB

Audible but normal on urban residential streets and along tram lines. A bedroom on the quiet side pays off.

65 to 74 dB

Loud. The Gürtel ring roads, Wiener Straße, the station area, the Südbahn railway. Soundproof windows make the difference here.

over 75 dB

Very loud. Right next to the A2 and A9 motorways and heavily trafficked axes such as St.-Peter-Hauptstraße.

Rule of thumb: most people perceive 10 dB more as twice as loud. And the night matters more than the day; for sleep, Lnight is the more important value.

From when is it officially too loud?

Two numbers help with the classification. The WHO recommends below 53 dB by day and below 45 dB at night for road traffic. Austria additionally sets action-planning thresholds in the Federal Environmental Noise Protection Act, and they depend on the source.

Rail noise sits 10 dB and aircraft noise 5 dB higher because both are considered less annoying. If a threshold is exceeded, the responsible authorities examine noise protection measures, in Graz mainly the province of Styria and the city through their action plans. This does not create a legal claim to any particular measure. The analysis above places your address against exactly these values.

What the map can do and what it cannot

Full coverage within the city

Graz is one of five Austrian agglomerations. There, all roads down to residential side streets are mapped, plus trams, railways (ÖBB and GKB), industrial sites and the airport. The basis is the city's traffic noise register of 2021, calculated with 2019 traffic figures.

Traffic only, no neighbours

Mapped are roads, motorways, rail and air traffic. Bars, building sites, neighbours or the lane full of pavement cafés do not appear.

Calculated, not measured

The official map is modelled from traffic data (EU Environmental Noise Directive), not measured at every address. For orientation that is very reliable.

Surroundings patchy

Outside the city limits only major sources are mapped: the A2 and A9, busy federal and provincial roads, railway lines. Green in Seiersberg-Pirka, Gössendorf or Kalsdorf can therefore also mean "not covered", not guaranteed quiet.

Courtyard vs street side

The value applies to the grid cell. A courtyard-facing flat on a loud axis can still be quiet; only the viewing settles that (open the windows!).

Address point inside the building

A geocode usually sits in the middle of the house, but the noise zone ends at the facade. If the point itself lies in no zone, the analysis takes the loudest zone within about 15 m, i.e. the street side, and says so.

Quiet hours in Graz: what actually applies?

Unlike Vienna, Graz has fixed hours, though only for noisy work: the Graz Immission Protection Ordinance bans drilling, hammering, lawn mowing, shredding and all other noisy house and garden work from 7 pm to 7 am, on Saturdays additionally from noon to 3 pm, and on Sundays and public holidays; allowed are therefore Monday to Friday 7 am to 7 pm and Saturdays 7 am to noon and 3 pm to 7 pm. This also applies to service providers, but not to building sites under the Building Act. Animals prone to frequent noise may not be kept outdoors in residential areas from 10 pm to 7 am. Violations cost up to 1,000 euros. Leaf blowers are banned throughout the city all year round.

For everything else, music, parties, loud conversation, there is no statutory hour: § 1 of the Styrian State Security Act prohibits "improperly disturbing noise", and it does so around the clock. Noise is improper when it lacks the consideration one can expect of someone; at night and on Sundays and public holidays the judgement is stricter. In Graz the state police directorate is responsible, the fine goes up to 5,000 euros. Fixed hours such as 10 pm to 6 am are usually found in the house rules, which apply because the lease or purchase contract refers to them.

What you can do about noise

Talk first

Many cases resolve themselves because the neighbour has no idea how far the sound carries. A Gründerzeit building in Geidorf often transmits footfall surprisingly well.

Acute: the police

For improper noise here and now the police are responsible (emergency number 133). They assess on site and can file a report under the State Security Act.

Environment office for advice and measurement

The noise control unit of the city environment office (Schmiedgasse 26, +43 316 872-4330) advises, mediates between neighbours and measures where needed. For lawn mowing and garden noise at the wrong time in public space, the city's Ordnungswache can be reached (+43 316 872-2266).

Persistent: the property management

For recurring noise, write to the property management with date and time per incident. A noise log is the most important evidence if things go further.

Reduce the rent

If noise makes the flat significantly less usable, for instance during months of construction, a rent reduction under § 1096 ABGB comes into question. The amount is not regulated by law; it depends on extent and duration. Get advice first.

Get advice

The Chamber of Labour Styria (tenancy law), the tenants' association Mietervereinigung and the Mieterschutzverband advise in Graz, including on whether the effort is worthwhile in your case.

Incidentally, there is no decibel limit for neighbour noise. Decisions follow what is customary locally and whether the normal use of the flat is substantially impaired (§ 364 para. 2 ABGB). Anyone living in the university quarter or around the bars of Lend has to tolerate more than someone in a cul-de-sac in Ragnitz. Decibel thresholds only apply to the traffic noise on this map.

This summary is an orientation, not legal advice. And it concerns neighbour noise, which the map above does not show: there it is about road, motorway, rail and air traffic.

And aircraft noise?

Graz-Thalerhof airport is part of the same official mapping, although with around 41,000 aircraft movements a year it is not a major airport, and the address analysis above queries it as well. Over the city it nevertheless shows nothing: the mapped contour from 55 dB follows the runway axis and lies entirely south of the city limits, in Feldkirchen (airport grounds), Kalsdorf and Premstätten. According to the federal action plan, 121 main residences are affected, 116 of them in Kalsdorf, none in Graz itself.

That is not down to a higher threshold, because air traffic is also mapped from 55 dB Lden onwards, exactly like roads. It is down to the metric. Lden is an annual average across all days and hours. A single approach is loud for about a minute, averaged over 8,760 hours it falls below the threshold before the contour reaches the city. So the map is not wrong, it simply answers a different question than the one you ask on a balcony in Puntigam or Straßgang.

So here it applies especially clearly: no zone does not mean quiet, only that the official map records nothing at this spot. If you hear overflights, you hear them anyway. Where the airport is mapped, the analysis above names value and source like for any other type of noise.

For the night: the airport is open daily from 6:00 am to 11:30 pm; delayed flights may land later under the civil airfield operating regulations. There is no night flight ban. The province of Styria measures aircraft noise at a fixed station north of the airport and publishes the results monthly.

Common questions about the noise map

Official map data status: 2022 (next EU mapping round: 2027) · Source: laerminfo.at (BMK), CC BY · Quiet hours: Graz Immission Protection Ordinance as amended 2020, Styrian State Security Act as amended 2025