Noise ordinances › Polk County, FL

Polk County noise ordinance: quiet hours, limits and complaints

Last updated: November 9, 2026

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Quiet hours in Polk County

The Noise Control Ordinance sets no general quiet hours. A noise disturbance is prohibited at any hour (Sec. 10.5-53), and the time of day or night the noise occurs is one of the factors for deciding whether there was one (Sec. 10.5-53(3)). Clock hours appear in three places. First, four exemptions run only between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. (Sec. 10.5-51): construction activities that are exempt from a County development permit or have one (item 12); organized athletic contests (item 13); lawful public gatherings (item 18); and reasonable operation of equipment for lawn care, soil cultivation, maintenance of trees, hedges and gardens, the use of lawnmowers, saws and tractors, tree trimming and limb clipping (item 19). Outside those hours these sounds lose the exemption and are judged like any other sound; inside them, the specific prohibitions of Sec. 10.5-55 still apply. Second, barking: letting a dog bark, howl or whine continuously or intermittently for 10 minutes or more between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. so that it creates a noise disturbance is a listed violation (Sec. 10.5-55(2)). The separate animal ordinance counts a companion animal as a nuisance after one period of at least 15 minutes of continuous noise between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., or two separate incidents of at least 15 minutes within a fourteen-day period between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. (Sec. 4-31(a)(1)). Third, outdoor concerts may not be conducted after 11 p.m. and before 10 a.m. (Sec. 10.5-41(f)). The other rules have no clock: music, amplified sound, vehicles and vessels that create a noise disturbance (Sec. 10.5-55(1), (3), (4)) and vehicle sound systems plainly audible at 50 feet or more (Sec. 10.5-60) are violations at any hour.

Decibel limits — or rather, the lack of them

None in the noise article. The Noise Control Ordinance has no decibel figure; the ordinance as adopted says in its findings that such noise problems "may not be amenable to practical measurement by decibel measuring apparatus". The test is the noise disturbance, defined in Sec. 10.5-52(1) as any sound that is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from the source of the sound; or of such duration, volume or intensity as to be detrimental to human or animal life or property, to unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life, property or the conduct of business, or to alarm, disturb or annoy reasonable people; or unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing, unseemly, or a nuisance. Plainly audible means clearly heard by a person with normal hearing at 50 feet from the source (Sec. 10.5-52(4)). The same 50 feet is used for music or amplified sound on a vessel, measured from the vessel (Sec. 10.5-55(4)b), and for sound systems in motor vehicles, 50 feet or more from the vehicle (Sec. 10.5-60(b)). The animal ordinance uses minutes, not decibels (Sec. 4-31(a)(1)). One thing not read: Article IV's footnote cross-references noise levels for limerock mining activities in Sec. 10-64 of the mining chapter.

What the ordinance actually says

Sec. 10.5-50: "This division shall be effective throughout the unincorporated areas of Polk County, Florida."

Sec. 10.5-52(1): "Noise disturbance means any sound which is: (a) Plainly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the source of the sound; or (b) Of such duration, volume, or intensity as to be detrimental to human or animal life, or property; or (c) Of such duration, volume, or intensity as to unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life, property, or the conduct of business; or (d) Of such duration, volume, or intensity as to alarm, disturb, or annoy reasonable people; or (e) Unreasonably loud, raucous, jarring, disturbing, unseemly, or a nuisance."

Sec. 10.5-52(4): "Plainly audible means any sound that can be clearly heard by a person with normal hearing at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the source of the sound."

Sec. 10.5-53: "No person or business may make, continue, permit, or cause to be made or continued, any noise disturbance as defined in this division."

Sec. 10.5-51: "The provisions of this division, except for those specific prohibitions set forth in section 10.5-55 of this division, shall not apply to the following sounds:"

Sec. 10.5-51(12): "Construction activities exempt from, or for which Polk County has issued a development permit; provided such activity occurs between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.;"

Sec. 10.5-51(19): "Reasonable operation of equipment associated with the following activities between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.: Lawn care, soil cultivation, maintenance of trees, hedges, and gardens; the use of lawnmowers, saws, and tractors; tree trimming; and limb clipping"

Sec. 10.5-55(2): "Allowing a dog to bark, howl, or whine continuously or intermittently for a period of ten (10) minutes or more between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. such that it creates a noise disturbance."

Sec. 10.5-55(4)b: "Playing music or using amplified sound equipment on a vessel at a volume that is plainly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet from the vessel;"

Sec. 10.5-54: "Any enforcement action or legal remedy available under controlling state law, including, but not limited to, prosecution as a misdemeanor with a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding sixty (60) days or by both fine and imprisonment, may be imposed as a penalty."

Sec. 10.5-60(b)(2): "Unreasonably excessive is when the sound is plainly audible at a distance of fifty (50) feet or more from a motor vehicle."

Sec. 10.5-41(f): "Outdoor concerts shall not be conducted after the hours of 11:00 p.m. and before 10:00 a.m."

Sec. 4-31(a)(1): "Continuously barks, whines, howls, meows, cries, or causes other objectionable noises resulting in an unreasonable annoyance to neighboring residents, interference with the comfortable enjoyment of life, or interference with the comfortable enjoyment of property: a. On two (2) separate incidents of, at least, fifteen (15) minutes continuously within a fourteen-day period between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.; or b. A single period of, at least, fifteen (15) minutes continuously between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m."

Quoted verbatim from the official text (Polk County Code Chapter 10.5 Article IV (Noise Disturbance), Division 2, the Polk County Noise Control Ordinance, Secs. 10.5-48 to 10.5-58, with Secs. 10.5-41 and 10.5-60 and Chapter 4 for animals. Code of Ordinances, Polk County, Florida on Municode, "Codified through Ordinance No. 2026-047, adopted June 16, 2026. (Supp. No. 109)", online content updated on July 28, 2026: Chapter 10.5 (Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions), Article IV: Division 1, Sec. 10.5-41, Outdoor concert ordinance (Ord. No. 98-22, §§ 1 to 4, 3-3-98; Ord. No. 17-011, §§ 1 to 10, 3-21-17); Division 2, Noise Control Ordinance, Secs. 10.5-48 to 10.5-58 (Ord. No. 2025-049, §§ 1 to 11, 9-2-25); Sec. 10.5-60, Unreasonably excessive noise in motor vehicles (Ord. No. 14-073, §§ 2 to 9, 12-16-14). Municode's editor's note says Ord. No. 2025-049, adopted Sept. 2, 2025, repealed the former Division 2, which derived from Ord. No. 14-030 (7-8-14) and Ord. No. 18-024 (May 1, 2018), and enacted a new one. Chapter 4 (Animals and Fowl), Article II, the Polk County Animal Control and Animal Services Ordinance: Secs. 4-23, 4-31 and 4-43 (Ord. No. 18-068, 10-2-18). Chapter 1, Sec. 1-8, General penalty. The adopted text was also read on the County's Legistar site (Board file 25-1419, passed 9/2/2025), where the copy is unnumbered; its wording matches the codified sections apart from editorial changes (division for Ordinance, section numbers, numbers spelled out). Municode's list of adopted ordinances not yet codified showed 0 ordinances. State law: Florida Statutes 125.69. Text read 2026-11-09.). Verified against the live code on 2026-11-09. 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 Polk County

Call the Polk County Sheriff's Office at 863-298-6200 (toll-free 1-800-226-0344), or 911 in an emergency. The Sheriff's Office and the County's code enforcement officers both enforce the ordinance (Sec. 10.5-54), and the County said on adopting the 2025 ordinance that it allows deputies to arrest violators. No County or Sheriff page read for this row names a number for noise complaints as such: 863-298-6200 is the number the Sheriff's Office gives for a question about something occurring in your area or to report a non-emergency crime. County Code Enforcement is (863) 534-6054, and the County's Online Code Enforcement Complaint Entry System takes complaints 24 hours a day. Under state law a code inspector may not start an investigation from an anonymous complaint: you must give your name and address, unless the inspector has reason to believe the violation presents an imminent threat to public health, safety, or welfare or imminent destruction of habitat or sensitive resources (F.S. 125.69(4)(b)). Barking: the Sheriff's Office lists Animal Control at 863-577-1762 and AnimalControl@polksheriff.org. Under the animal ordinance an officer may issue a notice of violation on a sworn complaint affidavit from a citizen that gives the address or location, the nature, time and dates of the violations and, if known, the custodian's name and address and a description of the animal (Sec. 4-31(c)); the owner then has 24 hours to correct the noise, and later reports lead to a citation (Sec. 4-31(a)(3)). If no citation follows, the affidavit stays valid for only 90 days after the owner is notified (Sec. 4-31(d)). An officer may also investigate an oral complaint (Sec. 4-31(e)). Penalties: a violation of the Noise Control Ordinance can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500, up to 60 days in jail, or both; when a code enforcement officer brings the case, the County's Code Enforcement Special Magistrate procedures apply; and the County may seek an injunction (Sec. 10.5-54). Each separate occurrence is a separate violation (Sec. 10.5-57). Vehicle sound systems under Sec. 10.5-60: $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third or subsequent charge (Sec. 10.5-60(c)(3)). Animal noise nuisance: a notice of violation with no civil penalty first, then $75 per occurrence, then $175 per occurrence for a second offense within three years, and after that up to $500 per occurrence or up to 60 days in county jail, or both; on land zoned for agricultural purposes the maximum is $500 only (Sec. 4-43(b)). The Board may change all of the animal ordinance's fines by resolution (Sec. 4-43(g)), so the amount on a citation can differ from the code text. Outdoor concert violations carry the same misdemeanor ceiling, $500, 60 days in the county jail, or both (Sec. 10.5-41(g)). Sources: https://library.municode.com/fl/polk_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH10.5OFMIPR_ARTIVNODI, https://library.municode.com/fl/polk_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH4ANFO, https://library.municode.com/fl/polk_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH1GEPR_S1-8GEPE, https://polkcountyfl.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7636866&GUID=51EEDD1C-3F4F-49ED-A0B2-83663A006510, https://polkcountyfl.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14728062&GUID=EF483E14-1D97-4B9C-805D-BAE47A5B7582, https://www.polkfl.gov/news/commissioners-unanimously-approve-two-ordinances-establishing-designated-swim-areas-and-vessel-exclusion-zones-in-three-county-lakes-to-help-enhance-safety-on-three-lakes/, https://aca-prod.accela.com/POLKCO/Cap/CapApplyDisclaimer.aspx?module=Enforcement&TabName=Enforcement, https://www.polksheriff.org/contact-us and https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/125.69.

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

Worth knowing

(1) Jurisdiction: the Noise Control Ordinance is effective only in the unincorporated areas of Polk County (Sec. 10.5-50), and so is the outdoor concert section (Sec. 10.5-41(e)). Lakeland and the county's other cities and towns are separate jurisdictions that this page does not cover. The Sheriff's Office also runs stations in six contract cities (Dundee, Eagle Lake, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Mulberry and Polk City), but those are municipalities, outside this ordinance. Two county rules can reach into cities: the vehicle sound section applies in unincorporated Polk County and in the municipalities unless a municipality has its own ordinance on the subject or opts out by letter to the Board (Sec. 10.5-60(g)), and the animal ordinance applies inside a municipality whose governing body certifies that no charter provision or ordinance conflicts with it (Sec. 4-23). (2) The law is new. Ord. No. 2025-049, adopted September 2, 2025, repealed and replaced the 2014 noise ordinance (Ord. No. 14-030). Older summaries that cite Ordinance 14-030 are describing the repealed law, and Sec. 10.5-41(e) of the code itself still names it. The County's news release said the ordinance gives a stronger framework for noise from vessels, after residents complained of loud music on Lake Winterset, and that it was expected to take effect within 10 days; the adopted text says it takes effect on acknowledgment that it has been filed with the Florida Department of State, and the exact date was not found. (3) Fifty feet can be enough. The definition's five tests are alternatives, so by its wording sound that is plainly audible 50 feet from its source meets the definition on that ground alone, though the factors in Sec. 10.5-53 (duration, volume or intensity; the nature of the area and land use district; time of day or night; whether the noise is recurrent, intermittent or constant) are weighed in deciding whether a violation occurred. (4) The exemptions do not cover the four specific prohibitions. Sec. 10.5-51 lifts the ordinance for twenty kinds of sound except for the acts listed in Sec. 10.5-55: music, televisions, instruments and amplified voice, barking dogs, motorized vehicles, and vessels. So the unamplified human voice is exempt, but an amplified one at noise disturbance volume is not, and neither is yelling, shouting or screaming from a vessel (Sec. 10.5-55(1), (4)c). (5) Whole categories are exempt at any hour, again apart from the four specific prohibitions: railway locomotives or cars; household or farming tools, appliances and equipment meeting the manufacturer's specifications as to sound; aircraft and airport activity under federal rules; maintenance of public service facilities; law enforcement activities, including training; licensed game hunting; emergency signals, testing, devices and vehicles; refuse collection and mosquito fogging; regulated or publicly owned utilities; phosphate mining activity; and recreation and amusement activities approved through a level 3 or level 4 conditional use (Sec. 10.5-51). (6) Commercial and industrial sound is largely outside the ordinance: sounds relating to and originating within any nonresidential land use district, and from legal, pre-existing, nonconforming commercial and industrial activities, are exempt except for the specific prohibitions (Sec. 10.5-51(14), (15)). (7) Two barking rules overlap. The noise ordinance's is 10 minutes or more at night (9 p.m. to 6 a.m.), and it sends anyone warned or cited to the conditions, procedures, penalties and exemptions of the animal ordinance; the Sheriff's Office may hand the case to Animal Control when a deputy cannot personally observe the barking (Sec. 10.5-55(2)). The animal ordinance's is 15 minutes, by day (twice in fourteen days) or night (once), covers any companion animal, not only dogs, and exempts properly zoned commercial kennels and security dogs on commercially or industrially zoned property (Sec. 4-31(a), (b)). (8) Vehicles: repeatedly screeching or squealing tires, repeatedly accelerating and decelerating, or repeatedly shifting gears up and down, on public or private property, so as to cause a noise disturbance is a listed violation, except for projects with a level 3 or level 4 conditional use approval (Sec. 10.5-55(3)). For sound systems, a deputy judges by ordinary hearing with a direct line of sight and hearing to the vehicle, need not make out words or the song, and a rhythmic bass reverberating type sound is enough (Sec. 10.5-60(c)(2)). (9) Vessels: an excessively loud exhaust, music or amplified sound plainly audible at 50 feet from the vessel, and yelling, shouting or screaming that creates a noise disturbance are listed violations (Sec. 10.5-55(4)). (10) Outdoor concerts (amplified performances in the open air, a partially enclosed building or a tent) may not run after 11 p.m. and before 10 a.m.; only the Board of County Commissioners can grant a variance, per event (Sec. 10.5-41(b), (f), (h)).

Document it before you report it

Polk County 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 see the nearest city we map, on the Lakeland noise map. For time-stamped measurement history you can show a landlord or code officer, the app keeps a log.