Noise ordinances › Virginia Beach, VA

Virginia Beach noise ordinance: quiet hours, limits and complaints

Last updated: September 20, 2026

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Quiet hours in Virginia Beach

Two night windows. The residential standard switches at 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.: between those hours no source may put more than 55 dBA into another person's residential dwelling, measured inside at least four feet from the wall nearest the source with doors and windows closed; by day (7:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.) the figure is 65 dBA, and the daytime limit alone has exemptions for school and park activities, construction, lawn care and landscaping, farming, church bells, protected religious or political gatherings, public transit, refuse and sanitation (Sec. 23-69). The amplified-sound and restaurant standards switch an hour later, at 11:00 p.m.: stereos, instruments, amplifiers and similar devices outside a vehicle may not exceed 80 dBA from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or 75 dBA from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. measured from any public area or other private property (23-71(d)), and the same 80 / 75 dBA pair applies to sound from a restaurant, bar, tavern or cafe (23-72). Construction equipment (bulldozers, cranes, backhoes, loaders, pile drivers, jackhammers, pneumatic drills) may not run between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. without written authorization from the city manager (23-71(f)). Car audio audible and discernable at 100 feet is an offense at any hour (23-70(c)).

Decibel limits

Yes, three sets, all A-weighted on a meter whose readings are prima facie evidence when taken under Code of Virginia § 19.2-270.7 (23-68). Residential dwellings (23-69): 55 dBA nighttime (10 p.m.–7 a.m.) and 65 dBA daytime, measured inside the receiving residence at least four feet from the nearest wall with doors and windows closed; in a multifamily or mixed-use building the police may measure from common areas or another unit at an occupant's request. Amplified sound and instruments outside vehicles (23-71(d)) and restaurants (23-72): 80 dBA from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 75 dBA from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., measured in any public area such as a street or sidewalk or from other private property; permitted or city-sponsored events are excepted. Vehicles on a public right-of-way (23-70(a)): 86 / 90 dBA for vehicles of 6,000 lb GVWR or more, 82 / 86 dBA for motorcycles, 76 / 82 dBA for other vehicles (speed limit 35 mph or less / over 35 mph) measured at 100 feet or more, or simply "audible and discernable" at that distance; interstate motor carriers exempt. The one distance test is for amplified sound in a vehicle, parked or moving, on public or private property: audible and discernable at 100 feet or more (23-70(c)). Unlike most cities, Article II has no general reasonable-person catch-all; apart from the listed acts in 23-71 (horns over ten seconds, non-emergency signals over ten seconds an hour, alarms over ten minutes in residential areas, noise within 200 feet of schools, places of worship, courts, hospitals and nursing homes that interferes with them, and construction hours) the standard is the number.

What the ordinance actually says

Sec. 23-69(a): "Nighttime. No person shall permit, operate or cause any source of sound to create a sound level that can be heard in another person's residential dwelling during the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in excess of 55 dBA when measured inside the residence at least four (4) feet from the wall nearest the source, with doors and windows to the receiving area closed."

Sec. 23-69(b): "Daytime. No person shall permit, operate or cause any source of sound to create a sound level in another person's residential dwelling during the hours between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. in excess of 65 dBA when measured inside the residence at least four (4) feet from the wall nearest the source, with doors and windows to the receiving area closed."

Sec. 23-70(c): "Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section or article, it shall be unlawful for any person to play or operate, or permit the playing, use or operation of, any radio, tape player, compact disc player, loud speaker or other electronic device used for the amplification of sound, which is located within a motor vehicle being operated or parked on public or private property within the city, including any public or private street or alley, in such a manner as to be audible and discernable at a distance of one hundred (100) or more feet from the vehicle in which it is located."

Sec. 23-71(d): "The playing or operation of any television, boombox, stereo, phonograph, radio, tape player, compact disc player, MP3 player, video player, musical instrument, drum, amplifier or any other device that produces, reproduces or amplifies sound except for those located in motor vehicles, where the sound, when measured in any public area including but not limited to any public street or sidewalk, or from other private property between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. exceeds eighty (80) dB(A), or between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. exceeds seventy-five (75) dB(A)"

Sec. 23-71(f): "Construction equipment. The operation of any bulldozer, crane, backhoe, front loader, pile driver, jackhammer, pneumatic drill, or other construction equipment between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. except as provided in section 23-67 above, or as specifically deemed necessary and authorized by a written document issued by the city manager or his designee."

Sec. 23-66(a)–(b): "Any person who violates any provision of this article shall be deemed to be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor for a first offense. Any person who violates a provision of this article within one (1) year after a previous conviction under this article shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. ... The person operating or controlling a noise source shall be guilty of any violation caused by that source. If that cannot be determined, any owner, tenant, resident or manager physically present on the property where the violation is occurring is rebuttably presumed to be operating or controlling the noise source."

Quoted verbatim from the official codified text (Virginia Beach City Code, Chapter 23 "Offenses—Miscellaneous," Article II "Noise," Secs. 23-63 through 23-73 (Ord. No. 3082, 5-12-09, as amended by Ord. No. 3180, 5-24-11): 23-63 findings and policy, 23-64 definitions ("audible and discernable," "restaurant," "residential dwelling"), 23-65 administration and enforcement (police summons; a citizen's magistrate's summons), 23-66 violations and presumption of responsibility, 23-67 exceptions, 23-68 use of sound level meters (Code of Virginia § 19.2-270.7), 23-69 maximum sound levels and residential dwellings, 23-70 motor vehicle sound levels and amplified sound from vehicles, 23-71 specific prohibitions (a)–(f), 23-72 sound levels at restaurants, 23-73 severability. 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 Virginia Beach

Per police.virginiabeach.gov (Contact): nuisance calls including noise and fireworks complaints go to 757-385-3111 (the VB311 line), and the Police Department's non-emergency line is (757) 385-5000, answered 24 hours a day; the City's own guidance (virginiabeach.gov blog on short-term-rental complaints) says to "reach out to the Police Department's non-emergency line (757-385-5000) to request they enforce the City's noise ordinance." Call while the noise is occurring: the residential standard is measured inside the complainant's home with a meter (23-69), so the officer needs to be let in to take the reading. Sec. 23-65 gives the police department the summons power and preserves a private citizen's right to obtain a magistrate's summons on a probable-cause showing. Emergencies: 9-1-1.

Step by step, with what to log and what to expect after you file: how to file a noise complaint in Virginia Beach. 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 residential limit is measured inside the complainant's home, not at the fence: 55 dBA at night and 65 by day, four feet from the wall with the windows shut, so a reading depends on the officer being admitted to the receiving room, and the police may measure from a hallway or another unit in an apartment building on request (23-69(c)). (2) Virginia Beach rewrote its ordinance in 2009 after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down Virginia Beach's earlier "reasonable person" noise standard as vague (Tanner v. City of Virginia Beach, 2009); the current article is deliberately numeric and "audible and discernable" at a set distance, with no general reasonableness clause, and the enumeration in 23-71 expressly does not limit the numbers in 23-69. (3) Two clocks: homes go quiet at 10:00 p.m., amplified sound and restaurants at 11:00 p.m., construction at 9:00 p.m. (4) The daytime residential exemptions (construction, lawn care, school and park events, church bells, refuse collection) do not apply at night, and the amplified-sound exemption reaches only city-sponsored or city-permitted events. (5) Car audio is judged at 100 feet on public or private property, parked or moving, at any hour (23-70(c)), while exhaust noise is judged by a dBA table at 100 feet by vehicle class and speed limit (23-70(a)). (6) Alarms may sound ten minutes in a residential area and fifteen elsewhere (23-71(c)); horns and non-emergency chimes ten seconds. (7) Liability is presumed: if the person controlling the source cannot be identified, any owner, tenant, resident or manager present is rebuttably presumed responsible (23-66(b)). (8) Penalties are criminal from the first offense (Class 3 misdemeanor, Class 2 within a year), and the City may add an injunction (23-66(c)); a resident can also swear out a magistrate's summons directly (23-65(b)). (9) Restaurants, bars and cafes have their own 80 / 75 dBA standard measured from the street (23-72), separate from the 55 dBA a neighbor can insist on indoors.

Document it before you report it

Virginia Beach'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 Virginia Beach noise map. For time-stamped measurement history you can show a landlord or code officer, the app keeps a log.