Yakima, WA Noise Ordinances: Decibel Limits (2026)

Unlike many Washington cities (Seattle SMC 25.08; Tacoma TMC 8.122) that adopt local dBA tables, Yakima has left its city code text on the reasonableness standard. YMC Chapter 6.04 (Offenses Against Public Order and Peace) defines public disturbance noise as sound that by its intensity, volume, frequency, duration or character unreasonably disturbs or interferes with the peace, comfort and repose of others - with no codified dBA threshold. The numeric framework is supplied by state law: WAC 173-60-040 (Chapter 173-60 Maximum Environmental Noise Levels, Washington State Department of Ecology) establishes the EDNA (Environmental Designation for Noise Abatement) classes - Class A residential, Class B commercial, Class C industrial - and a 3x3 source-to-receiving matrix. The published caps at the receiving property line are: Class A source to Class A receiving 55 dBA, A-to-B 57, A-to-C 60; B-to-A 57, B-to-B 60, B-to-C 65; C-to-A 60, C-to-B 65, C-to-C 70. Between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., all caps for Class A receiving property are reduced by 10 dBA (residential receives 45 / 47 / 50 dBA from A / B / C sources respectively at night). WAC 173-60-040 also permits short temporary exceedances: 5 dBA for 15 minutes per hour, 10 dBA for 5 minutes per hour, or 15 dBA for 1.5 minutes per hour. Where the local YMC reasonableness standard does not apply or where WAC 173-60 is more protective, the state framework controls. For permitted outdoor special events, the City of Yakima Special Event and Parade Permit Guidelines impose a separate hard cap of 95 dB measured at the property line over a sustained 10-minute period. State backstops include RCW 9A.84.030 (disorderly conduct) and RCW 70.107 (Noise Control Act of 1974) which authorizes the WAC 173-60 framework.