Hutto, TX Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Article 14.03, "Noise," sets Hutto's numeric noise ceiling in section 14.03.001(a): no person may cause a noise, inside the city limits or within 500 feet outside them, that exceeds 85 dBA during the daytime or 70 dBA during the nighttime, with any violation automatically declared a nuisance. Daytime runs from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and nighttime from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., both defined in the same section. Section 14.03.001(b) specifies how the police department measures a violation: with a sound level meter meeting American Standards Association and ANSI type 1 or type 2 specifications, kept in calibration, screened from wind, and read from the real property line of the complaining party closest to the noise source.

Section 14.03.002 separately declares any unreasonably loud noise exceeding those decibel levels a nuisance if it causes material distress to persons of ordinary sensibilities or interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of a home. The city manager and chief of police can grant special exceptions under section 14.03.004 for hardship situations, but never for nighttime sound equipment operated from a vehicle, and never to an applicant convicted of more than two violations at the same location in the prior six months. Section 14.03.007 makes any violation of Article 14.03 a Class C misdemeanor, fined under the general penalty in section 1.01.009, with each day of continuing violation charged as a separate offense.