Hate the clatter? NJ is noisiest state and it’s not even close

My grandmother lived in a shabby apartment on West Cherry Street in Rahway when I was a kid. It was a short block from the NJ Transit train tracks and the noise was insufferable when I visited. She never seemed to notice.

My father many years later lived in a high-rise apartment building that was near the flight path of planes coming in for constant landings at Newark Airport. He said he only noticed the sound when it was no longer there. In the days after the 9/11 attacks when all flights were grounded nationwide, he said the silence was foreign and disturbing.

Perhaps because they lived there the din never bothered them. You get used to even bad things. New Jersey is noisier than you think. Between the flights, the public transportation, the traffic, the construction, the bars, the stadiums, etc., we are noisier than you probably realize if you grew up in this audio hellscape.

Those very categories I just listed and others were considered in a study done by venue event experts at HeadBox to determine and rank the nation's noisiest states.

In a landslide, New Jersey came in as the noisiest state in the country. Using their scoring system Jersey had the highest at 47.88. The number two state, Florida, had a 40.36. Think about that. Noise is so constant here we had a score almost 20% higher than the number two state.

Alaska was the state with the least noise and a score of 8.15.

We all need a vacation from this constant sound and we don’t even know it. Just for fun, since not all sounds are bad, I have a rundown of some of the best and worst sounds of New Jersey. I wish you all the sixth one down.

The Worst and Best Sounds of New Jersey

Worst

Construction

Like taxes, it never ends.

Best

Mourning dove

There aren’t many things more peaceful than the sound of one of these coming from a tree outside your window.

Worst

Car bass

You’re cool. We get it. Maybe your sound system costs more than your actual car. Cool. Now knock it off.

Best

Fall leaves

The dry leaves scratching at the sidewalks as they blow about in the fall.

Worst

Any garbage truck

Especially at 4:50 in the morning when you forgot to put your trash out to the curb.

Good

The ocean surf

There may not be anything more tranquil and timeless than listening to Jersey’s eternal surf.

Worst

Newark Airport

All of it; the constant takeoffs/landings, the rumbling of idling car engines cramming the curbside, the piercing whistle of Port Authority cops telling you to move, etc..

Best

Ding when the seatbelt sign turns off

When you’ve arrived at the gate at Newark Airport that ding is heard as they turn off the fasten seatbelt sign and you know you’re finally home back in Jersey, the state that you love despite the noise.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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