This paper describes a community noise survey of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, B.C., Canada, which extends over a land area of some 560 square miles. The survey incorporated approximately 100 000 individual noise measurements recorded over a four‐month period. The results are compared with published data from previous surveys and indicate that the statistical noise climate found in residentially zoned areas is almost identical in level distribution to that observed by Donley [Sound and Vibration (Feb. 1969)] for the mid‐Atlantic states some years earlier. The distribution of noise sources is discussed and compared to some previously published data. Some suggestions for the selection of community noise legislative levels are also made.