Wilmington, NC Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Sec. 6-33 gives Wilmington's noise ordinance its only hard numeric ceilings, measured at the boundary of the adjoining or complaining property under Sec. 6-32. ) limits: downtown allows 75 dB(A) by day and 65 dB(A) overnight; residential areas, defined in Sec. 6-29 to include zoning districts R-15, R-10, R-7, R-5, R-3, MHP, MF-L, MF-M, MF-H, HD-R, HD, RO, and HDMU, allow 65 dB(A) by day and 55 dB(A) overnight; and commercial/industrial areas allow 75 dB(A) by day and 70 dB(A) overnight. Sec. 6-32 sets the measurement rules: a sound level meter on the A-weighting scale with slow response, calibrated to manufacturer standards, averaged over at least one minute, with readings that exceed the table by more than three decibels at any point counted as a violation, and impulsive noise exceeding the limit more than twice in a minute also counted as a violation.

Officers may only use a department-owned, ANSI-approved meter; a phone app or personal meter cannot support a citation, and the case instead proceeds under the article's other complaint-based sections. Sec. 6-32(j) makes a violation of the measurement section itself a misdemeanor, and readings above the table can support a citation under the general Sec. 6-30 violation framework as well.