Chatham County, GA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Section 24-304 of the county code sets the maximum permissible sound level allowed at or within the real property boundary of a receiving land use. and drop to 55 dBA overnight; business districts are capped at 65 dBA at all times; industrial districts at 75 dBA at all times; and any posted Noise Sensitive Area, a zone marked for schools, churches, hospitals or nursing homes, is held to 55 dBA around the clock. Any source that emits a pure tone, a sound distinctly heard as a single pitch, has its limit reduced by another 5 dBA.

Sound must be measured with an ANSI-calibrated sound level meter as close to the receiving property line as practical, over a period of at least ten minutes, and a reading may not exceed the table limit by more than ten percent of the measurement period. m. Traffic, aircraft and other transportation background noise are excluded from measurements unless they interfere with reading the source actually being tested. Enforcement runs through the county's Noise Control Officer under Sec. 24-311, and anyone who exceeds a Table 1 limit is deemed to have created a noise disturbance in violation of the ordinance regardless of intent.