Noise ordinances › Raleigh, NC

Raleigh noise ordinance: quiet hours, limits and complaints

Last updated: September 20, 2026

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Quiet hours in Raleigh

Sec. 12-5001 defines daytime hours as 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and nighttime hours as 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and the nighttime window is when several specific prohibitions switch on: playing a radio, stereo, television, musical instrument or similar device so as to disturb any reasonable person in a residence is listed as an unreasonable noise "during the nighttime hours" (12-5007(c)); a garage or filling station may not emit plainly audible unreasonable noise in a residential district at night (12-5007(l)); loudspeakers and bullhorns in public places may not be plainly audible at 50 feet at night, or at 300 feet by day (12-5007(p)); and a commercial establishment's premises may not be plainly audible at 150 feet at night or 300 feet by day (12-5007(q)). Construction has its own clock: erecting, excavating, demolishing, altering or repairing any building in a residential or business district is barred outside 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. unless the building inspector issues a permit, which must be revoked on a neighbor's written complaint if the work proves unreasonable (12-5007(g)); construction equipment with its mufflers in place is exempt from the general prohibition only during daytime hours (12-5004(a)(3)), as are lawn care equipment and bells and chimes of five minutes or less. Amplified sound at bars, restaurants and nightclubs steps down at 10:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, again at 2:00 a.m., and stays down until 10:00 a.m. (12-5006, 12-5009). Outside these windows the general prohibition in 12-5003 applies at any hour.

Decibel limits

Yes, since October 2025, but only for amplified sound from commercial establishments. Sec. 12-5006 (outside the Glenwood South District): up to 70 dB(A) or 75 dB(C) between 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Sunday–Thursday or 11:00 p.m. Friday–Saturday; up to 55 dB(A) or 60 dB(C) from then until 2:00 a.m.; and from 2:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. no sound plainly audible 25 feet or more from the property line. Sec. 12-5009 (Glenwood South District): weekdays up to 80 dB(A) or 88 dB(C) 10:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. and 75 dB(A) or 80 dB(C) 10:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m.; Friday and Saturday up to 82 dB(A) or 92 dB(C) until midnight and 80 dB(A) or 88 dB(C) until 2:00 a.m.; the 25-foot overnight rule applies in both. Sec. 12-5008 lets the City permit up to 80 dB(A) or 88 dB(C) outside Glenwood South for establishments with a noise-mitigation plan, not in a residential district, not within 300 feet of a noise-sensitive area, and with no verified violation in the past year. Sec. 12-5005: readings are A- or C-weighted on an ANSI-standard meter, taken at the commercial property's line, anywhere beyond it, or in any public place. There is no decibel limit for residential noise, parties, vehicles, animals or construction; those rest on the "plainly audible" definition (sound a reasonable person can detect unaided, including bass reverberation, without the words being discernible) and the five reasonableness factors in 12-5003(b). Two distance tests stand in for numbers: 50 feet for a defective or modified vehicle (12-5007(d)) and for public-place loudspeakers at night, 150 and 300 feet for commercial premises (12-5007(q)).

What the ordinance actually says

Sec. 12-5001: "Daytime hours. 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., local time." ... "Nighttime hours. 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., local time."

Sec. 12-5001: "Plainly audible. Any sound or vibration caused by sound that can be detected by a reasonable person of ordinary sensitivities using their unaided hearing faculties. Any noise that can clearly be heard is plainly audible; words or phrases need not be discernible. Plainly audible noise includes bass reverberation and rhythmic bass tones."

Sec. 12-5003(a): "No person shall make or continue to make: (1) Any plainly audible unreasonably loud or raucous noise; (2) Any plainly audible noise which unreasonably disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of normal and ordinary sensitivities; (3) Any plainly audible noise that is so harsh, prolonged, unnatural or unusual in time or place as to occasion unreasonable discomfort to any reasonable persons within the vicinity of the location from which that noise emanates, or as to unreasonably interfere with the peace and comfort of neighbors or their guests, or operators or customers in places of business, or as to detrimentally or adversely affect such residences or places of business."

Sec. 12-5006(a): "Except for the Glenwood South District, it shall be unlawful for any commercial establishment (including but not limited to a restaurant, bar, or nightclub) or for any person operating or managing a commercial establishment to operate or allow the operation of sound amplification equipment or any other device that amplifies sound so as to create sounds registering in excess of any of the decibel or other limits set out below during the hours and days specified: (1) Up to 70 dB(A) or 75 dB(C) between 10:00 a.m. and: (a) 10:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday; or (b) 11:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. (2) Up to 55 dB(A) or 60 dB(C) on: (a) Sunday through Thursday between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. the following day; or (b) Friday and Saturday between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. the following day. (3) On any day between 2:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., sound that is plainly audible from a distance of twenty-five (25) feet or more from the property line or property boundary of the property where the sound is generated is prohibited."

Sec. 12-5007(c): "The playing of any radio, phonograph, amplifier, television, stereo, tape deck, tape recorder, musical instrument, or similar device in such a manner or with such volume during the nighttime hours as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort or repose of any reasonable person in any dwelling, hotel, motel or other type of residence."

Sec. 12-5007(g): "The erection (including excavating), demolition, alteration or repair of any building or other structure in a residential or business district other than between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., except by permit from the building inspector when, in their opinion, such work will not create plainly audible unreasonable noise."

Sec. 12-5011(a)(1): "Any person violating any of the provisions of §§ 12-5001 through 12-5010 shall be subject to a civil penalty of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for an initial violation. Each calendar day on which a continuing violation occurs shall constitute a separate violation under this subsection. For each subsequent violation occurring within twelve (12) months of any other violation, the violator shall be subject to a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500.00) per violation."

Quoted verbatim from the official codified text (Raleigh City Code, Part 12 "Licensing and Regulation," Chapter 5 "Noise," Secs. 12-5001 through 12-5011, enacted in full by Ord. No. (2024) 586 (adopted 1-2-24, replacing the 1977–2022 chapter) and amended by Ord. No. (2025) 701 and (2025) 703 (1-7-25) and Ord. No. (2025) 802 (10-21-25): 12-5001 definitions (daytime and nighttime hours, "plainly audible," "reasonable person," "unreasonable noise," "verified noise violation," Glenwood South District), 12-5002 scope, 12-5003 general prohibitions, 12-5004 exceptions, 12-5005 measurement, 12-5006 amplified sound at commercial establishments, 12-5007 prohibited noises (a)–(q), 12-5008 permits for additional amplification, 12-5009 amplified sound in the Glenwood South District, 12-5010 failure to reduce noise after a citation, 12-5011 penalties. Text read on Municode (the City's code host) on 2026-09-20.). Verified against the live code on 2026-09-20. 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 Raleigh

Per raleighnc.gov, "Public Nuisances": "The City of Raleigh Police Department is responsible for addressing all noise complaints," and residents are directed to call the police at 919-829-1911 to file a complaint; other nuisance complaints go through the Ask Raleigh portal (ask.raleighnc.gov) or Code Enforcement at 919-996-2444. The City's "Amplified Sound" service page covers the commercial amplified-sound permits under Sec. 12-5008. Sec. 12-5011(a)(2) authorizes the Police Department and the City Manager's designees to issue civil penalty citations, and Sec. 12-5006(b) requires any establishment whose amplified sound is audible off-premises to give the City the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the people responsible for its sound, which the City publishes.

Step by step, with what to log and what to expect after you file: how to file a noise complaint in Raleigh. 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) The chapter is new twice over: the whole of Chapter 5 was re-enacted on January 2, 2024, and the decibel scheme for bars and restaurants (12-5005, 12-5006, 12-5008, 12-5009) was added on October 21, 2025, so any summary written before then, including the old 12-5008 55 dB(A) street-loudspeaker limit, is describing repealed text. (2) Bass is written into the definition: "plainly audible" expressly includes "bass reverberation and rhythmic bass tones," and every venue limit is paired with a C-weighted figure five to ten dB above the A-weighted one. (3) Raleigh's night starts late, at 11:00 p.m., but venue limits step down an hour earlier on school nights (10:00 p.m. Sunday–Thursday). (4) The Glenwood South entertainment district (bounded by Hillsborough Street, North Boylan Avenue, Peace Street and North West Street) gets its own, louder table, up to 82 dB(A) / 92 dB(C) on Friday and Saturday nights. (5) Repeat venues lose their sound: two verified violations in twelve months add $1,500 to each further penalty for two years, and more than three in twelve months bans outdoor amplification at that address for 18 months (12-5006(d), 12-5008(h), 12-5009(d)). (6) Turning it back up is its own offense: after a citation the volume must drop at once, and raising it again the same day or within four hours is a further misdemeanor (12-5010). (7) Sec. 12-5004's long exemption list (lawn equipment and muffled construction by day, HVAC, stadiums and amphitheaters, permitted festivals, parades, school activities, big shopping-center events up to 20 days a year) does not reach the specific prohibitions in 12-5007, which the section says it does not authorize. (8) Penalties run in parallel: $250 civil ($500 for a repeat within 12 months) per day, a misdemeanor of up to 30 days or $500, and injunctions (12-5011). (9) The secondary fire district and City landfills are carved out of the specific prohibitions entirely.

Document it before you report it

Raleigh's limits are measured numbers, so a reading is direct evidence of how loud it really is. 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 Raleigh noise map. For time-stamped measurement history you can show a landlord or code officer, the app keeps a log.