Carroll County, MD Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Section 93.01(C)(1) of the Carroll County Code makes it unlawful at any time to use, operate, or permit the use or operation of a radio or other music-producing device, a television, an amplified musical instrument, or any other audio device that produces an unreasonably loud noise audible in a residential area. The code defines UNREASONABLY LOUD NOISE as noise which, because of its loudness and frequency and taking into account its location, unreasonably disturbs, injures, or endangers the health, peace, or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivity, and RESIDENTIAL AREA by cross-reference to the zoning districts listed in §§ 158.015 and 158.002.

The prohibition applies only to the unincorporated area of the county; Westminster, Hampstead, Manchester, Mount Airy, New Windsor, Sykesville, Taneytown, and Union Bridge enforce their own municipal noise codes. Six activities are carved out under § 93.01(B): government and public-utility operations, devices used under a state or federal license or permit, activities of schools and bona fide nonprofit or civic organizations, agricultural operations under the county's Right to Farm Ordinance (Title XV, §§ 160.01 et seq.), and trash and recycling collection vehicles. An editor's note further bars the county from enforcing this chapter against a public school between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. after July 1, 2008, per Md. Code, Environment Article, § 3-105(A)(5). The current version of § 93.01 was adopted by Ord. 2022-05, passed May 5, 2022.