Noise ordinances › Atlanta, GA

Atlanta noise ordinance: quiet hours, limits and complaints

Last updated: September 3, 2026

Quiet hours in Atlanta

Sec. 74-131 switches from a 300-foot audibility test to a 100-foot test at 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 12:00 midnight on Friday and Saturday, in both cases until 7:00 a.m., for mechanical sound devices, human-produced sounds (yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling, singing), commercial advertising and party noise. Sec. 74-133: motorized landscape devices such as leaf blowers, lawn mowers and chainsaws may not be used in or within 300 feet of residential or mixed-use zoning districts from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Sec. 74-134: construction noise plainly audible more than 100 feet beyond the property boundary in a residential district is unlawful from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekends and legal holidays, and truck loading and unloading near residential or mixed-use districts is restricted 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Inside apartments, condominiums, townhouses and duplexes the five-foot rule in Sec. 74-131(c) applies at all hours.

Decibel limits — or rather, the lack of them

No. The 2017 ordinance replaced decibel limits with distance-based audibility: by day (7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Sunday–Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to midnight Friday–Saturday) sound-making devices, human sounds, commercial advertising and party noise may not be plainly audible 300 feet or more from the building, vehicle or property line, whichever is farthest; at night the distance is 100 feet. Within multi-unit residential buildings, noise plainly audible five feet beyond the adjoining wall, floor or ceiling is unlawful, with commercial neighbours excepted. Commercial entities are measured into residential districts at 300 feet by day and 100 feet at night, and into mixed-use districts at 500 and 300 feet (Sec. 74-136). Construction is judged at 100 feet beyond the property boundary during restricted hours (Sec. 74-134). No section states a decibel figure.

What the ordinance actually says

Sec. 74-131(a)(1): it is unlawful to operate sound devices so as to create sounds "which are plainly audible at a distance of 300 feet or more from the building, structure or vehicle, or in the case of real property, beyond the property limits, in which it is located, whichever is farthest, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight on Friday and Saturday."

Sec. 74-131(b): "Restrictions of 100 feet for 11:00 p.m. through 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12:00 midnight through 7:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday."

Sec. 74-131(c): in apartments, condominiums, townhouses and duplexes it is unlawful to make noise "in such a manner as to be plainly audible to any other person a distance of five feet beyond the adjoining property line wall or boundary"

Sec. 74-133: no motorized landscape maintenance devices in or within 300 feet of residential or mixed-use zoning districts "from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m."

Quoted verbatim from the official codified text (Code of Ordinances, City of Atlanta, Georgia, Part II, Chapter 74 (Environment), Article IV "Noise Control" (the Atlanta Noise Ordinance), Sections 74-129 through 74-137 (Ord. No. 2017-59(17-O-1555), § 2, 10-16-17; Ord. No. 2018-34(18-O-1414), 8-29-18; Supp. No. 107, Update 1, codified through Ord. No. 2026-30, 7-15-26)). Verified against the live code on 2026-09-03. Ordinances get amended — before acting on a specific provision, check the linked official code. This page is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.

How to file a noise complaint in Atlanta

Noise complaints and noise disturbances are non-emergency calls: dial ATL311 (311 inside the city, 404-546-0311 outside) or the Atlanta Police Department non-emergency line rather than 911, per the city's "Make the Right Call" guidance; APD also takes non-emergency reports through its online request-for-dispatch portal (atlantaga.gov, ATL311 and "Make the Right Call").

Step by step, with what to log and what to expect after you file: how to file a noise complaint in Atlanta. For the general playbook — documenting the problem, talking to a landlord or HOA, when 311 beats 911 — see the noise complaints guide.

Worth knowing

The ordinance is enforced at the farthest of three measuring points, the building, the vehicle or the property line. A long exclusion list (Sec. 74-132): public-safety vehicles, alarms that stop within 15 minutes, essential utility and public-works repairs, snow equipment, permitted festivals and city-approved events, Hartsfield-Jackson airport operations, school-sponsored events, professional and organised sports, MARTA and streetcar construction, and noise made by manufacturing, governmental or commercial entities in the normal course of business, which Sec. 74-136 then pulls back into the distance rules where it reaches residential or mixed-use districts. Temporary variances cost $25, last at most 14 days, and require notice to the neighbourhood planning unit and council members (Sec. 74-135). Each day is a separate offence (Sec. 74-137).

Document it before you report it

Atlanta enforces mostly by audibility, but a log of measured levels still makes a complaint concrete and credible. Take a quick reading with the free online decibel meter — it runs in your browser and records nothing — and check how loud your block is on the Atlanta noise map. For time-stamped measurement history you can show a landlord or code officer, the app keeps a log.