Texas City, TX Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

The Texas City Code of Ordinances handles amplified sound through the noise section of the health and sanitation chapter, § 94.009. Division (A) prohibits unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noises in the city. Division (B) then lists acts declared to be such noises, with the warning that the list is not exclusive of other noises. Two items address amplified sound directly. Item (10) covers the use of any drum, loudspeaker or other instrument or device for the purpose of attracting attention, by creation of noise, to any performance, show or sale of merchandise. Item (11) covers the use of mechanical loudspeakers or amplifiers on trucks or other vehicles. Item (1) separately reaches the playing of any radio, phonograph or musical instrument at a volume reasonably calculated to disturb a person of ordinary disposition living nearby, particularly between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

The section prints no decibel limit and no measuring instrument. Enforcement rests on the reasonable-person standard in item (1) and on the plain wording of items (10) and (11), which bar the device use itself.

A separate rule covers sound systems inside vehicles. Section 70.11 makes it unlawful to operate or permit operation of a sound amplification system from within a motor vehicle on a street, highway, alley, parking lot or driveway, public or private, so that the sound is plainly audible at a distance of 50 or more feet. That section lists affirmative defenses, including use in an authorized public activity such as a parade, fireworks, sporting event or musical production approved by the City Commission or an authorized city department. It also lists an operator who obtained a mechanical loudspeaker/amplifier permit pursuant to § 94.009. The printed text of § 94.009 in the code does not itself lay out a permit procedure, so the cross-reference in § 70.11(D)(5) is the only place the permit appears.