San Antonio, TX Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

San Antonio's noise-nuisance division, Sec. 21-51 through Sec. 21-59, singles out 'the playing or permitting or causing the playing of any radio, television, phonograph, drum, juke box, nickelodeon, musical instrument, sound amplifier or similar device' as a listed noise nuisance under Sec. 21-52(a)(1) whenever it annoys, distresses or disturbs a person of reasonable nervous sensibilities within hearing of it. Sec. m. m. Friday and Saturday, and defines the A-weighted decibel (dBA) and Leq measurement units the city's inspectors use. Beyond that subjective nuisance standard, Sec.

21-52(a)(9) through (12) set hard numeric ceilings measured at the property line under separate ownership: 63 dBA on residentially zoned land, 70 dBA on business zoned land, 72 dBA on industrial zoned land, and 85 dBA using the Leq averaging method for property zoned entertainment under Chapter 35. Table 1 in Sec. 21-52(b) layers corrections onto those base numbers: nighttime noise gets a 7 dB subtraction from the permitted level, noise with strong pure-tone or impulsive character gets another 7 dB subtraction, while very short-duration sound with long quiet gaps between bursts can add up to 10 dB back to the allowed level.

The River Walk area is carved out of subsections (10) through (12) and instead follows its own standards under Sec. 21-60. Enforcement runs through Sec. 21-57: the director or a noise abatement officer can issue an immediate administrative stop order against sound exceeding Table 1 levels, and after three violations at the same address or by the same person within 12 months, a municipal court magistrate can declare an 'habitual noise nuisance' location or producer, authorizing seizure of the speakers, amplifier or other offending equipment on the next violation.