Map tool

Vienna 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. 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 and courtyards.

55 to 64 dB

Audible but normal for urban residential streets. A bedroom facing the quiet side is worth it.

65 to 74 dB

Loud. Main roads, the Gürtel, rail corridors. Soundproof windows make the difference here.

over 75 dB

Very loud. Right next to motorways and heavily trafficked axes.

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.

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. 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 and cannot do

Main traffic sources only

Mapped are road, motorway, rail and air traffic. Bars, construction sites, neighbours or a busy pub lane do not appear.

Modelled, not measured

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

Gaps outside Vienna

Outside Vienna only the main traffic sources are mapped. Green there can also mean "not covered", not guaranteed silence.

Courtyard vs. street side

The value applies to the grid cell. A courtyard-facing flat on a loud road 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 Vienna: what actually applies?

The most common assumption is wrong: Vienna has no legally fixed night rest from 10 pm to 6 am. The Vienna State Security Act prohibits "improperly disturbing noise" in § 1 para. 1 no. 2, and it does so around the clock. Noise counts as improper when it lacks the consideration one can expect of a person. Whether that applies is judged case by case by the police, more strictly at night and on Sundays and public holidays than on a weekday afternoon. The fine is up to 700 euros, or up to one week of substitute imprisonment.

Fixed times are usually set elsewhere: in the house rules. Typically 10 pm to 6 am plus a midday rest, often noon to 3 pm. These hours apply because your rental or purchase contract refers to the house rules, not because a law prescribes them. Worth a look before you sign.

What you can do about noise

Talk first

Many cases resolve themselves because the neighbour has no idea how far the sound carries. Period buildings transmit impact noise remarkably well.

Police for acute noise

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

Building management for repeats

For recurring noise, write to the building management with the date and time of each incident. A noise log is the key piece of evidence if the matter goes further.

Reduce the rent

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

Get advice

The City of Vienna tenancy advice service (Mieterhilfe) and the Chamber of Labour advise free of charge, including on whether the effort is worth it in your case.

There is no decibel limit for neighbour noise. It is decided by what is customary in the area and whether the normal use of the flat is substantially impaired (§ 364 para. 2 ABGB). Anyone living in a lively nightlife area has to accept more than someone in a cul-de-sac. Decibel thresholds apply only to the traffic noise on this map.

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

And aircraft noise?

Air traffic is part of the same official mapping, and the address analysis above queries it too. Over Vienna it still shows almost nothing: the mapped contour of Vienna-Schwechat airport lies south-east of the city and does not reach the urban area. Within our search area it essentially concerns Schwechat 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 your balcony.

Which makes the rule especially clear here: no zone does not mean quiet, only that the official map records nothing at this spot. If you hear overflights, you still hear them. Where the airport is mapped, the analysis above names the value and the source just like for any other kind of noise.

For the night there is at least one hard number: between 11:30 pm and 5:30 am the 2005 mediation contract caps traffic at 4,700 take-offs and landings per calendar year, monitored by the Dialogforum Flughafen Wien. There is no general night flight ban.

Common questions about the noise map

Official map data status: 2022 (next EU mapping round: 2027) · Source: laerminfo.at (BMK), CC BY