Salem, OR Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Salem Revised Code chapter 93 defines "domestic power equipment" at SRC 93.005 as power tools or equipment, including power hand tools, lawn mowers, power blowers, garden equipment and snow removal equipment, used for home or building repair, maintenance, landscaping, alteration or home manual arts projects. SRC 93.020(c) then makes it unlawful to operate, or permit the operation of, any domestic power equipment between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. of the following day. Because the definition folds power blowers directly into "domestic power equipment," the nighttime ban reaches gas and electric leaf blowers the same way it reaches lawn mowers and snow blowers; the code draws no distinction by fuel type or horsepower.

The prohibition applies citywide and to anyone operating the equipment, including landscaping and lawn-care contractors: SRC 93.030 lists specific exemptions (disaster recovery work, alarms, emergency vehicles, farm operations, public agency construction crews, School District 24J athletic sound systems, compliant vehicle exhaust, and utility franchisee work), and none of them covers routine landscaping or lawn service. A crew running blowers or mowers at 6:00 a.m. or 10:30 p.m. is in violation regardless of whether the work is for a homeowner or a paid client.

The rule is separate from, and in addition to, SRC 93.020(a)'s general "plainly audible" standard for amplified sound and the catch-all decibel ceiling in SRC 93.020(k) tied to Table 51-1 of SRC chapter 51; a blower running inside the 7:00 a.m.-to-10:00 p.m. window can still violate those other subsections if it is loud enough to be a nuisance under SRC 93.010.