Santa Barbara, CA Noise Ordinances: Outdoor Music (2026)

The City of Santa Barbara, a coastal tourism destination, handles outdoor music through its own noise code plus the City's event-permitting and amplified-sound rules. For everyday outdoor music, SBMC Section 9.16.020 bars any noise plainly audible 50 feet from the source, and Section 9.16.080 limits amplified sound (only music or the human voice may be amplified) to 60 dB(A) measured outdoors at or beyond the property line and 45 dB(A) inside a neighboring residence. Section 9.16.030(A)(2) prohibits using a loudspeaker between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. so as to create a noise disturbance across a residential property line, extended to 1:30 a.m. on the night before New Year's Day. Sound from a public park or place may not exceed the ambient level so as to be audible inside any hospital, rest home, convalescent hospital or church during services. Larger events are handled by exemption rather than a fixed festival decibel limit: under Section 9.16.080, the amplification limits do not apply to events sponsored or approved by the City of Santa Barbara on City property, by the County of Santa Barbara on County property (where a sound-control plan exists), or by schools, colleges and other public entities on their own property. Those events operate under the conditions of their City permit or approval. Unpermitted outdoor music — backyard parties, restaurant patios, busking with amplification — remains subject to the standard 50-foot 'plainly audible' and 60 dB(A) property-line standards.