Hietzing is Vienna's quietest district for road traffic, with 45 % of its addresses below 55 dB even at the loudest facade, compared with 25 % across Vienna. Josefstadt has the smallest share of quiet addresses, 1.1 %, and Neubau the largest share of loud ones, 63.5 % at 65 dB or more.
The 2022 strategic noise maps cover every street in Vienna, so we can read the road noise at each address of the city. For each address, we take the loudest band of road noise across the building's facades. An address counts as quiet when even this loudest facade stays below 55 dB, the level where the maps begin. From 65 dB on, it counts as loud.
150,513 addresses. 23 districts.
Which district of Vienna is the quietest?
Hietzing has the largest share of quiet addresses, 45.1 %. Donaustadt follows with 42 %, then Hernals, Döbling and Floridsdorf, and all five lie at the edge of the city. By count, Donaustadt has the most quiet addresses, 10,413 or 27.5 % of all quiet addresses in Vienna, because it also has the most addresses, 24,796. Across Vienna, one address in four is quiet.
| District | Addresses with road noise below 55 dB | Addresses |
|---|---|---|
| Hietzing | 45.1 % | 4,675 of 10,360 |
| Donaustadt | 42.0 % | 10,413 of 24,796 |
| Hernals | 37.7 % | 2,203 of 5,841 |
| Döbling | 34.7 % | 2,872 of 8,276 |
| Floridsdorf | 32.3 % | 4,887 of 15,120 |
| Penzing | 29.7 % | 3,560 of 12,000 |
| Ottakring | 23.8 % | 1,526 of 6,405 |
| Währing | 22.9 % | 1,141 of 4,981 |
| Liesing | 22.8 % | 3,038 of 13,345 |
| Simmering | 15.4 % | 708 of 4,589 |
| Innere Stadt | 5.9 % | 153 of 2,610 |
| Mariahilf | 4.3 % | 70 of 1,634 |
| Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus | 3.0 % | 116 of 3,809 |
| Neubau | 2.5 % | 44 of 1,733 |
| Landstraße | 2.4 % | 104 of 4,270 |
| Brigittenau | 1.8 % | 40 of 2,228 |
| Wieden | 1.8 % | 31 of 1,732 |
| Alsergrund | 1.7 % | 43 of 2,528 |
| Margareten | 1.2 % | 28 of 2,355 |
| Josefstadt | 1.1 % | 14 of 1,331 |
| All of Vienna | 25.1 % | 37,827 of 150,513 |
Where in Vienna is road traffic loudest?
Neubau has the largest share of loud addresses, 63.5 %, followed by Alsergrund with 54.2 % and Brigittenau with 54 %. In Josefstadt, Margareten, Alsergrund, Wieden and Brigittenau, under 2 % of the addresses are quiet. Donaustadt has the smallest share of loud addresses, 9.7 %, and Hietzing the second smallest, 11.7 %. The two districts with the largest shares of quiet addresses also have the smallest shares of loud ones.
| District | Addresses with road noise of 65 dB or more | Addresses |
|---|---|---|
| Neubau | 63.5 % | 1,100 of 1,733 |
| Alsergrund | 54.2 % | 1,371 of 2,528 |
| Brigittenau | 54.0 % | 1,203 of 2,228 |
| Josefstadt | 47.9 % | 638 of 1,331 |
| Wieden | 47.6 % | 825 of 1,732 |
| Margareten | 43.9 % | 1,035 of 2,355 |
| Landstraße | 43.6 % | 1,860 of 4,270 |
| Leopoldstadt | 37.8 % | 1,566 of 4,148 |
| Mariahilf | 37.8 % | 618 of 1,634 |
| Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus | 37.6 % | 1,432 of 3,809 |
| Favoriten | 26.7 % | 2,780 of 10,416 |
| Simmering | 26.4 % | 1,210 of 4,589 |
| Währing | 24.4 % | 1,213 of 4,981 |
| Döbling | 24.1 % | 1,992 of 8,276 |
| Liesing | 22.7 % | 3,030 of 13,345 |
| Hernals | 19.9 % | 1,164 of 5,841 |
| Penzing | 17.7 % | 2,129 of 12,000 |
| Floridsdorf | 14.4 % | 2,178 of 15,120 |
| Hietzing | 11.7 % | 1,216 of 10,360 |
| Donaustadt | 9.7 % | 2,394 of 24,796 |
| All of Vienna | 23.6 % | 35,459 of 150,513 |
Which neighbourhoods of Vienna are the quietest?
The Aurikelweg area in Donaustadt is the quietest of the 737 neighbourhoods we compared, with 96 % of its addresses below 55 dB. The Graedenerweg area in Floridsdorf follows with 94.9 %. Four of the ten quietest neighbourhoods lie in Donaustadt and three in Hietzing. At the other end, 186 of the 737 neighbourhoods have road noise of 55 dB or more at every address.
| Neighbourhood | Addresses with road noise below 55 dB | Addresses |
|---|---|---|
| Aurikelweg areaDonaustadt | 96.0 % | 502 of 523 |
| Graedenerweg areaFloridsdorf | 94.9 % | 74 of 78 |
| Redengasse areaDonaustadt | 90.4 % | 255 of 282 |
| Jagdschloßgasse areaHietzing | 89.2 % | 74 of 83 |
| Am-Albert-Schultz-Park areaDonaustadt | 88.7 % | 63 of 71 |
| Paulinensteig areaOttakring | 87.8 % | 461 of 525 |
| Röntgengasse areaHernals | 83.7 % | 918 of 1,097 |
| Wlassakstraße areaHietzing | 83.7 % | 435 of 520 |
| Adolfstorgasse areaHietzing | 82.5 % | 80 of 97 |
| Arztgasse areaDonaustadt | 82.3 % | 377 of 458 |
| All of Vienna | 25.1 % | 37,827 of 150,513 |
This table counts neighbourhoods with at least 60 addresses.
How we counted
The noise maps come from the federal ministry BMLUK, which publishes them for roads, railways, airports and industry under the EU Environmental Noise Directive. This story counts road traffic only. The maps give the noise as Lden, an average over day, evening and night in which evening noise carries 5 dB and night noise 10 dB extra. The address register of the BEV gives every address, and each address counts once, however many flats it has.
The report of each address shows the loudest facade and whether the building has a quiet side, and the map of Vienna shows how quiet each neighbourhood is. The method explains how quiet enters LAGE, and on your priorities you weight quiet against public transport and green space. The best districts by LAGE put Hietzing first as well.