Cincinnati, OH Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Cincinnati's community noise chapter assigns a different decibel ceiling to every zoning district, broken into three day groupings and three time-of-day windows. Section 909-3(C) makes it prima facie evidence of a violation if a sound level meter, averaged over a minimum six-minute reading at or within the boundary of the receiving or affected property, exceeds the Leq dB(A) limits set in Tables 1 through 3. ; Commercial, Downtown Development, Urban Mix and Office districts run 70 dB(A) daytime and 65 dB(A) at night; Manufacturing districts run 75 dB(A) daytime and 70 dB(A) at night.

and midnight. Table 3 (Friday–Saturday) raises every residential limit by 5 dB(A), 65 dB(A) daytime, 60 dB(A) at night, reflecting the weekend's later activity. Planned Development, Hillside, Urban Design, Interim Development Control and Historic districts don't get a fixed number; the Department of City Planning and Buildings assigns them a limit case-by-case, referencing the surrounding neighborhood's table values. Buildings and Inspections and Police Department personnel enforce Chapter 909 under § 909-95. A first violation of § 909-3 is a minor misdemeanor; a third violation within any one-year period escalates to a fourth-degree misdemeanor, with the one-year count running from the dates of the individual violations rather than from a single conviction.