Springfield, MA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Springfield's noise ordinance, Chapter 259 of the City Code, uses a single distance for amplified sound: 50 feet. Under § 259-4 it is unlawful for any person to operate an amplification device so as to be plainly audible at that distance. Covered devices include a radio, stereo, loudspeaker or similar amplification device.

What makes § 259-4 broad is its list of locations, lettered A through C.

Item A covers a motor vehicle on a public or private way, or in a public place. Because private ways are named, the rule follows the vehicle onto a private road as well as a city street.

Item B covers a public way, a private way open to public use, or any other public place. This is the item that reaches amplified sound outside of a vehicle, such as a loudspeaker operated in a public place.

Item C covers residential premises or the land of such residential premises. The 50 feet test therefore applies to a stereo inside a Springfield home and to a speaker set up on the land around it. Section 259-4 does not stop at the property line or the front door.

The quoted section contains no hours, so the 50 feet test is not written as a nighttime-only rule. It also sets no decibel figure. The question is whether the device is plainly audible at 50 feet.

Enforcement is shared. Police, Code Enforcement Commissioners, and the Director of Health and Human Services enforce the chapter. Under § 259-10, violating equipment can be seized as evidence incident to a disturbing-the-peace arrest.