Your neighbor's music. Footsteps from upstairs. Street noise through the window. The refrigerator compressor from the unit next door that you swear you can hear through the wall.
Living in an apartment means sharing walls, ceilings, and floors with other people, and modern construction doesn't insulate as well as anyone would like. The cheapest buildings are the worst. But even well-built buildings have gaps, thin spots, and problem areas where noise gets through more than it should.
The good news: there are affordable, no-drill fixes that make a genuine difference. You won't turn your apartment into a recording studio with $200 in supplies (for a clear explanation of soundproofing vs. acoustic treatment and what actually applies to most renters, see our guide) — but you can meaningfully reduce the noise that's making you lose sleep, interrupting your concentration, or making conversations harder.
Here's what actually helps, what it costs, and what order to do it in.
First, Identify Where the Noise Is Coming From
Before buying anything, do a quick survey. Where does the noise enter most?
Stand quietly in each room and listen for 30 seconds. Press your ear briefly to the wall — do you hear more or less? Look at your windows: are they single-pane? Do they rattle? Look at your doors: is there a visible gap at the bottom when it's closed? These are your primary entry points.
Most apartment noise problems come from one of three places: windows, doors, or shared walls. Knowing which one is your worst offender helps you spend money in the right place.
Fix 1: Door Sweep (Under $20)
This is the cheapest fix with the highest ratio of impact to cost.
A gap at the bottom of your front door or bedroom door is a direct conduit for sound from hallways, common areas, and adjacent units. You can literally see daylight through some of them. A door sweep is a strip of rubber or silicone that attaches to the bottom of the door and seals that gap.
The self-adhesive versions go on without drilling. A quality door sweep covers 1–2 inches of gap and costs $10–$18 at any hardware store. If hallway noise is your main issue, this single fix will surprise you.
Fix 2: Weatherstripping Around Doors and Windows (Under $20)
The same principle extends to the sides and top of doors and windows. Gaps in the frame seal are sound entry points. Foam adhesive weatherstripping — the kind sold for draft-proofing in winter — blocks those gaps just as effectively for sound as it does for air.
Look for weatherstripping described as "high density" rather than thin foam. It compresses better against the door frame and lasts longer. Apply it to the door stop (the molding the door closes against) around the full perimeter. This combined with a door sweep creates a substantially better seal than either does alone.
Both products together are under $20 at a hardware store.
Fix 3: Heavy Curtains on Every Window (Under $60)
Single-pane windows are the weakest acoustic link in most apartments. The glass is thin, and exterior noise — traffic, voices, music, city sound — passes through it with very little resistance.
Heavy, lined curtains reduce this significantly. Look for panels described as "blackout," "thermal," or "noise reducing" — these have a thicker, denser weave and often an inner liner that adds mass. Hanging them on a rod that extends beyond the window frame on both sides, and going floor-to-ceiling rather than just covering the window, maximizes coverage.
A set of lined blackout curtains for a standard window runs $40–$60. Use a tension rod if your lease doesn't allow wall anchors.
This fix does double duty: it reduces incoming noise and reduces echo inside your apartment. If you also have an interior noise problem — voices bouncing around — heavy curtains help with that too.
Fix 4: Area Rug with Pad on Hard Floors (Under $100)
Noise travels through floor/ceiling assemblies in two ways: airborne (sound waves through the air) and impact (footsteps, dropping things, physical vibration through the structure). A thick area rug with a dense pad underneath addresses the impact noise you generate — meaning the floor below you hears less of you, and you absorb some of what the floor reflects back up to you.
It won't block the footsteps you hear from the unit above you — that impact is transmitted through the structure directly. But it reduces your contribution and adds absorption that softens your room overall.
Go as big as you can afford in the main living area. The pad underneath is as important as the rug itself — a rug without a pad sits flat on the floor and transmits more vibration. Most hardware and home stores sell rug pads separately for $20–$40.
Fix 5: Mass-Loaded Vinyl on Shared Walls (Under $80)
Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV) is a dense, flexible material that adds mass to walls without structural modification. The physical principle is straightforward: heavier walls block more sound. MLV hangs against the wall surface — you can attach it with adhesive hooks or lean it against furniture — and adds significant blocking capacity to thin drywall or shared wall surfaces.
It's not decorative. It looks like what it is: a heavy rubber mat on a wall. Most people cover it with a tapestry, fabric hanging, or bookshelf. But under that cover, it's one of the most effective budget soundproofing options available.
A 2×4 foot section of MLV costs $25–$35. For a significant wall treatment, expect to spend $50–$80. Brands like TMS and Second Skin both make reliable versions.
This is most useful on a shared wall with a loud neighbor — the bedroom wall closest to the source of sound.
Fix 6: Bookshelves Against Shared Walls (Possibly Free)
A fully loaded bookshelf against a shared wall is the most elegant acoustic solution available, because it's also furniture. Dense objects absorb and scatter sound. The mass of books adds resistance to the wall. The irregular surface breaks up the clean reflection that otherwise comes straight through.
Position the heaviest, most loaded bookshelf you own against the noisiest shared wall. Fill it completely — the books are doing acoustic work. Even a single IKEA BILLY unit packed tight with books makes a measurable difference in noise transmission through that wall section.
If you already own bookshelves, this fix costs nothing.
Fix 7: White Noise Machine (Under $40)
This one isn't soundproofing — it's masking. But it belongs on this list because it's often the most practical overnight fix when you're waiting for other solutions to arrive, or when the noise problem is intermittent and unpredictable.
A white noise machine generates a constant low-level sound that masks the specific frequencies of conversation, music, and other apartment sounds. Your brain stops registering the intrusions as distinct events. You fall asleep. The noise is still there; you just stop noticing it.
The Lectrofan and LectroFan Evo are consistently recommended. They cost $30–$45 and have adjustable tone settings that work better for different types of noise.
Fix 8: Under-Door Draft Blocker for Interior Doors (Under $15)
The bedroom door is a frequently overlooked sound gap. Even with weatherstripping on the frame, the gap under an interior door transmits hallway sounds — particularly bass frequencies from music and TV in common areas.
A fabric draft stopper (sometimes called a door snake) is a weighted tube that sits on the floor against the bottom of the door. It's not as effective as a proper door sweep but it requires no installation at all. Push it against the door before bed. Move it when you open the door.
These run $8–$15 at most home stores, or you can make one from a tightly rolled towel.
What These Fixes Don't Cover
Be honest about expectations. These eight fixes will meaningfully reduce noise intrusion for most apartment situations. They won't eliminate noise from a truly loud neighbor, music playing at concert volume through a shared wall, or the structural transmission of heavy impact noise (like a dog running on bare hardwood above you).
Those problems are harder. Some require negotiation with your landlord, building management, or neighbors. Some have no practical fix in a rental.
But if your problem is city noise through windows, conversation from a nearby unit, or ambient sound creeping in from the hallway — the fixes above are real, affordable, and most of them can be installed in under an hour.
Understand the Noise Before You Spend
Some apartments have one significant entry point that accounts for most of the problem. Others have multiple moderate sources. Spending $80 on the wrong fix when a $12 door sweep would have solved it is a frustrating experience.
Scan your space with RoomTone to understand what you're actually dealing with before you start. RoomTone is one of the best room acoustics apps for iPhone for renters who need to know where to focus first. The 10-second scan identifies where your specific room's acoustic problems are concentrated, so you know what to address first.
Scan your apartment free with RoomTone →
If your issue is echo inside your apartment rather than noise from outside, How to Fix Echo in an Apartment covers that separately — it's a different problem with different fixes. For a broader look at noise between rooms, see How to Reduce Noise Between Rooms.