Benton County, WA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Benton County's code does not carry a stand-alone noise ordinance with a decibel table that varies by zone or time of day. The one hard numeric noise limit in the Benton County Code sits inside the home occupation chapter, BCC 11.49.030(e), and it applies to any business permitted to run out of a house in the unincorporated county. The standard caps noise at 65 decibels measured at any property line, with no separate daytime or nighttime figure. The same subsection bundles noise together with the other off-site impacts a home occupation has to control: smoke, spray, airborne dust and noxious odors can't migrate onto neighboring properties, exterior lighting must be hooded so it shines downward and doesn't spill onto adjacent lots, and the business cannot cause interference with a neighbor's radio, TV, or phone reception or transmission.

Because this standard is folded into the home occupation permit process under BCC 11.49.020, a business that exceeds 65 decibels at the property line is treated as out of compliance with its permit's general criteria rather than as a stand-alone noise citation. The Planning Administrator can deny an application or move to revoke an existing permit on that basis under BCC 11.49.060, and the operator has 14 days from that decision to appeal to the county Hearings Examiner under BCC 11.49.070 and BCC 11.53.080. The chapter, from Ordinance 611 (2018), reaches only unincorporated Benton County; Kennewick, Richland, West Richland and Prosser enforce their own noise rules inside city limits.