Bayonne, NJ Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

City Code § 3-1.8b(6) and b(7) set separate audibility rules for vehicular and portable amplified sound. Personal or commercial vehicular music amplification cannot be operated so it is plainly audible at a residential property line between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. During the day, personal vehicular amplification equipment cannot be plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet in any direction from the operator between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Personal, portable, hand-held music or sound equipment used on a public space or public right-of-way is held to the same 50-foot, 8:00 a.m.-to-10:00 p.m. daytime threshold, and overnight, between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., that equipment cannot be plainly audible to anyone but the operator at all.

"Plainly audible" is defined at § 3-1.1 to include a detectable rhythmic bass component, so officers do not need a decibel meter or song identification to enforce these limits. The identical standard is restated as a nuisance-noise type at § 3-1.10e-g, letting either the Noise Control Officer or any Police Department member enforce it. A cited operator can request a hearing in Bayonne Municipal Court, and conviction carries the Chapter 1 § 1-5 penalty of up to $1,250 or 90 days, with each day of continued violation a separate offense.