Greensboro, NC Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Section 18-51 of the Greensboro City Code makes it unlawful for anyone within the city limits to cause or allow sound from any source that impacts dwellings and other residential property. The section works through a presumption: a noise disturbance is presumed to exist when sound from any activity exceeds the limits in the Residential Decibel Limits Table at a property boundary of a structure that is used, wholly or in part, as a residential dwelling in one of the listed zoning districts. Where these decibel limits conflict with any other section of the noise article, the § 18-51 limits supersede the other limits.

The table sets two tiers, both measured in dB(C), the C-weighted scale. In All Residential districts and TN, the cap is 70 dB(C) during the day (7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.) and 65 dB(C) at night (11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). In Mixed Use and PUD districts the cap is 85 dB(C) by day and 75 dB(C) at night.

Section 18-52 controls how a reading is taken. The meter must be a sound level meter of standard design and quality with ANSI characteristics, set to the C-weighting filter at slow response. Measurements are taken at or within the nearest residential property line occupied by the complainant. For apartments, condominiums and other buildings where boundary lines cannot readily be determined, the officer measures from any point abutting the exterior of the complainant's unit. The microphone faces the noise source and carries a windscreen, and the operator takes four consecutive readings of thirty seconds each. Any decibel reading that exceeds the allowed limit is a violation. The operator must have received special training from a sound measurement expert, and the chief of police prescribes the minimum training standards.

The chief of police, or a designee, holds primary enforcement responsibility under § 18-55, and any police officer shall issue a citation for a violation. Officers can arrest only when the violator refuses to give a name and address, refuses to stop after being cited, or interferes with the officer. Section 18-54 exempts specific sources from the whole article, including emergency work, yard and garden equipment such as mowers and leaf blowers from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., generators during power outages, governmental sanitation and utility vehicles, and fireworks displays with written authority from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners between 12:00 noon and 10:00 p.m. (until midnight on the Fourth of July).