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St. Pölten noise map: how loud is it at your address?
Enter your address and get the official noise levels for that exact spot: during the day and at night, where the noise comes from and whether it exceeds the limits. One thing first, because it matters more here than in any other city we cover: St. Pölten is not an agglomeration under the EU directive, so only the main traffic sources are mapped. Of 4,274 inhabited locations in the market, 745 carry a zone at all, that is 17 per cent. Where nothing is coloured, it usually does not mean quiet here, it means not surveyed.
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Our evaluation per residential area: only INHABITED 250-metre cells are coloured, forest, fields and water stay blank. Pale cells lie below the mapping threshold or outside the mapped area. In St. Pölten the second case is the more common one. Source: strategic environmental noise map 2022 (laerminfo.at, Austrian Ministry of Climate Action), road, rail and motorway noise combined.
How to read the map
The map shows the continuous sound level in bands of 5 decibels: once averaged over the whole day (Lden, weighting evening and night more heavily) and once for the night only (Lnight, 10 pm to 6 am). Green here means: below the mapping threshold of 55 dB by day or 45 dB at night, OR outside the surveyed area. Telling those two apart is the key exercise in St. Pölten.
- below 55 dB
- Quiet, or not surveyed. In Wilhelmsburg, Pyhra, Kapelln and Traismauer fewer than an eighth of the residential locations carry any zone; in Karlstetten, Obritzberg-Rust, Statzendorf and Wölbling the map is entirely blank. Green says nothing there.
- 55 to 64 dB
- Audible but common. This is the band of the residential streets along the western railway, in Ober- and Unterwagram, in Ratzersdorf and around the main station.
- 65 to 74 dB
- Loud. Affects around a quarter of the residential locations in Oberwagram and Spratzern, along the railway and the B1 in each case. Sound-insulating windows make the difference here.
- above 75 dB
- Very loud. Right along the western railway, the A1 motorway and the S33 expressway. All three sit in the highest band there, by day and by night.
Rule of thumb: most people perceive 10 dB more as twice as loud. And the night counts more than the day; for sleep, Lnight is the more important value. Along the western railway that matters particularly, because freight traffic does not pause at night.
When does it officially count as 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 thresholds for action planning in its federal environmental noise protection act, and they depend on the source.
| Source | Day (Lden) | Night (Lnight) |
|---|---|---|
| Road | 60 dB | 50 dB |
| Motorway and expressway | 60 dB | 50 dB |
| Rail | 70 dB | 60 dB |
| Air traffic | 65 dB | 55 dB |
| Industry (IPPC plants) | 55 dB | 50 dB |
Rail noise has the mildest daytime threshold at 70 dB, industrial noise the strictest at 55 dB. That is not arbitrary: a constant plant noise is considered more disturbing than a passing train. For St. Pölten it also means the western railway registers late in the process, even though it sits in the highest band right along the track. If a threshold is exceeded, the responsible bodies examine noise protection measures, here mainly the province of Lower Austria through its action plan, the ÖBB for the railway and ASFINAG for the A1 and S33. This does not create a legal entitlement to any particular measure. The analysis above places your address against exactly these values and takes the strictest one where several sources overlap.
What the map can and cannot do
- Not an agglomeration, main sources only
- The EU environmental noise directive requires full-coverage mapping only from 100,000 inhabitants. St. Pölten has around 57,000 and is therefore not an agglomeration: we queried the official agglomeration layer ourselves, and the Rathausplatz returns no match while the main square in Linz does. Only the western railway, the A1, the S33 and the main roads are surveyed here. The residential street outside your house is not.
- Green often means "not surveyed" here
- Of 4,274 inhabited locations in the market, 745 carry an official zone, that is 17 per cent. In our other four markets it is 26 to 40 per cent. In Karlstetten, Obritzberg-Rust, Statzendorf and Wölbling the map is entirely blank although 761 residential locations lie there. No zone is no statement about the quiet there.
- Even the main square carries no zone
- The Rathausplatz lies in no zone by day or by night, not even in the surrounding radius. On the one hand that is correct, it is a pedestrian zone. On the other it shows exactly the limit of this map: the Kremser Gasse and the Riemerplatz are equally unsurveyed, and anyone living there knows the difference between a Tuesday morning and a Friday night.
- The western railway is covered, and it is loud
- Along the track through the city the map shows Lden above 75 dB and Lnight above 70 dB, the highest band on both scales. The difference between close to the track and away from it is larger here than in many fully mapped cities, and it is the most important noise finding in the whole market.
- A1 and S33 also in the highest band
- Both sit above 75 dB by day and above 70 dB at night along their route. The S33 crosses the railway in the east, where road, motorway and rail zones overlap.
- Traffic only, no neighbours
- Mapped are road, motorway, rail, air traffic and industrial plants requiring a permit. Bars, building sites, neighbours or the beer garden next door do not appear, and the provincial hospital or the government quarter produce no mapped zone.
- Calculated, not measured
- The official map is modelled from traffic data (EU environmental noise directive), not measured at every address. Where a survey was carried out, it is very reliable for orientation.
- Courtyard versus 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 window!).
- 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, that is the street side, and says so.
Quiet hours in St. Pölten: what actually applies?
There are no fixed times. What applies is the Lower Austrian police penal act: under section 1 lit. a, anyone who unreasonably creates disturbing noise commits an administrative offence, around the clock. The penalty reaches up to 1,000 euros or two weeks of detention, well above the Upper Austrian range.
Noise is unreasonable when it lacks the consideration one may expect from someone. Each case is judged individually, more strictly at night and on Sundays and public holidays. Fixed times such as 10 pm to 6 am therefore usually appear in the house rules, which apply because the lease or purchase contract refers to them. Building sites follow their own rules from the building permit, not the police penal act.
What you can do about noise
- Talk first
- Many cases resolve themselves because the neighbour does not know how far the sound carries. In the post-war housing around the centre, impact sound travels surprisingly well.
- The police for acute cases
- For unreasonable noise here and now the police are responsible (emergency number 133). They assess on site and can file a report under section 1 of the Lower Austrian police penal act.
- The Magistrat for businesses and building sites
- St. Pölten has been a statutory city since 1922, so the Magistrat is also the district administrative authority. It is the right route for noise from a licensed business, from the beer garden next door or from a building site. In the surrounding municipalities it is the district authority of St. Pölten.
- The province of Lower Austria for traffic noise
- For the noise this map shows, the provincial environment department is responsible. It runs the environmental noise action plan; for the western railway it is the ÖBB, for the A1 and S33 it is ASFINAG.
- The building management for recurring noise
- For recurring noise, write to the building management with the date and time of each incident. A noise log is the most important evidence if matters go further.
- Reduce the rent
- If noise makes the flat substantially less usable, for instance during a building site lasting months, a rent reduction under section 1096 of the civil code may apply. The amount is not fixed by law, it follows the extent and duration. Get advice first: the Lower Austrian chamber of labour and the tenants association advise free of charge.
There is, incidentally, no decibel limit for neighbourhood noise. Decisions follow what is locally customary and whether the usual use of the flat is substantially impaired (section 364 (2) of the civil code). Someone living next to the railway in Unterwagram must accept more than someone in a cul-de-sac in Harland. Decibel thresholds apply only to the traffic noise on this map.
This summary is orientation, not legal advice. And it concerns neighbourhood noise, which the map above does not show: that is about road, motorway and rail.
And aircraft noise?
St. Pölten has no commercial airport. EU mapping covers only major airports with more than 50,000 movements a year, and at none of the points we queried in the city and its surroundings does the map show an aircraft zone, by day or by night.
Air traffic has a threshold 5 dB higher than road traffic, that is 65 dB by day and 55 dB at night. More important for the classification is the metric itself: Lden averages over the whole year. A single approach is loud for about a minute and disappears in the annual mean.
The gliding field at Völtendorf in the south-west of the city lies below every mapping threshold and therefore does not appear. If you are looking nearby, visit on a fine weekend: the map does not help at this point, and we will not pretend otherwise.
For the night the same applies as for the day: no mapped aircraft zone. Vienna airport at Schwechat lies around 80 kilometres to the east, and its zones do not reach here.
Common questions about the noise map
What is a noise map?
A noise map shows how loud a place is on annual average, calculated from traffic and plant data rather than measured at every address. The EU requires member states to produce one every 5 years, covering road, motorway, rail, air traffic and industry. It shows the continuous sound level in bands of 5 decibels, separately for the whole day (Lden) and for the night (Lnight). Neighbourhood, bar or building-site noise is not included.
Does the map cover the whole city of St. Pölten?
No, and that is the most important sentence on this page. Full-coverage mapping starts at 100,000 inhabitants; St. Pölten has around 57,000. We queried the official agglomeration layer ourselves: the Rathausplatz returns no match, the same query at the main square in Linz does. Only the western railway, the A1, the S33 and the main roads are surveyed here. Of 4,274 inhabited locations, 745 carry a zone, that is 17 per cent; in Vienna it is 40, in Graz 35, in Salzburg 32 and in Linz 26.
My street is green on the map. Is it quiet there?
In St. Pölten that cannot be answered from the map alone. Green means either below 55 dB or not surveyed at all, and the second case is the more common one here. In Karlstetten, Obritzberg-Rust, Statzendorf and Wölbling the map is entirely blank although 761 residential locations lie there. Near the western railway, the A1 or the S33, green is meaningful, because a survey was carried out there.
How loud is the western railway?
Right along the track the official map shows Lden above 75 dB and Lnight above 70 dB, the highest band on both scales. We queried this at several points in the city. For rail noise, however, the mildest threshold of all sources applies at 70 dB by day, so the railway registers late in action planning.
Where does the noise data for St. Pölten come from?
From the Austrian strategic environmental noise map (laerminfo.at, Environment Agency on behalf of the Ministry of Climate Action, data from 2022, CC BY). Because St. Pölten is not an agglomeration, only the main traffic sources were surveyed: the western railway, the A1 motorway, the S33 expressway and the heavily used roads. wohnwahn additionally evaluates the map per inhabited 250-metre cell.
What do Lden and Lnight mean?
Lden is the continuous sound level averaged over 24 hours, weighting evening and night more strictly (day-evening-night). Lnight is the average for the night hours from 10 pm to 6 am only. For restful sleep, Lnight is the more important value.
Which districts are most affected?
Measured by the share of residential locations carrying an official zone, it is Unterwagram with 69 per cent, Oberwagram with 64, Ratzersdorf with 61 and Spratzern with 60, all four along the western railway. In the loud band from 65 dB, 24 per cent of locations in Oberwagram and 23 in Spratzern are affected. The centre, by contrast, reaches 20 per cent mapped and 4 per cent loud.
Does the map show aircraft noise?
Not in St. Pölten. EU mapping covers only major airports with more than 50,000 movements a year; there is none here, and at none of our query points does the map show an aircraft zone. The gliding field at Völtendorf lies below every threshold. Vienna airport is around 80 kilometres away.
Can I see the noise for a specific listing?
Yes. Every listing on wohnwahn shows the location data for its address, and anyone who chooses "quiet home" in the fit gets the official noise band of the address directly in the match explanation. If the address lies outside the mapped area, it says so rather than inventing a number.
At how many decibels do the authorities examine noise protection?
Under the federal environmental noise protection act, action planning uses thresholds of 60 dB by day and 50 dB at night for road and motorway noise, 70 and 60 dB for rail noise, 65 and 55 dB for aircraft noise and 55 and 50 dB for industrial plants. If a value is exceeded, the responsible bodies examine measures. This does not create a legal entitlement to any particular measure.
Until when may you be loud in St. Pölten?
There is no ordinance with fixed times. The Lower Austrian police penal act prohibits unreasonably disturbing noise in section 1 lit. a, around the clock; each case is judged individually, more strictly at night and on Sundays and public holidays. The penalty reaches up to 1,000 euros or two weeks of detention. Fixed times such as 10 pm to 6 am are usually found in the house rules.
Is there a decibel limit for noise nuisance from neighbours?
No. For neighbourhood noise the law states no decibel limit; decisions follow what is locally customary and whether the usual use of the flat is substantially impaired. Decibel thresholds exist only for the traffic noise on this map, where they are 60 dB by day and 50 dB at night for road noise.
Official map data: 2022 (next EU mapping round: 2027) · Source: laerminfo.at (Austrian Ministry of Climate Action), CC BY · Quiet hours: Lower Austrian police penal act, section 1 lit. a (RIS) · Agglomeration status, mapped sources and coverage queried by us, August 2026