Bellingham, WA Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Bellingham's principal noise authority is BMC 10.24.120 (Public Disturbance Noise) inside BMC Chapter 10.24 (Offenses Against Public Order). The section opens with a policy declaration that the city seeks to minimize the exposure of all city residents to excessive noise and to preserve the public health, safety, and welfare. It then makes it unlawful for any person to cause - or for any person in possession of property to allow to originate from the property - sound that is a 'public disturbance noise.' Enumerated public disturbance noises include (a) frequent, repetitive or continuous sounds emanating from any building, structure, apartment, or condominium that unreasonably disturb the peace, comfort and repose of a person on other property, such as sounds from musical instruments, audio sound systems, or band sessions; (b) sound from portable audio equipment (tape players, radios, compact disc players) operated at a volume audible greater than 50 feet from the source and outside the operator's property; and (c) construction and industrial noises - including motorized construction and equipment operation, hammering, blasting, drilling and sawing - in residentially zoned areas between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. The ordinance directs police to assess complaints using (1) time of day, (2) duration and volume of sound, (3) the nature of the sound, and (4) the character of the business or industry from which the sound originates, with additional consideration for sound occurring within the Downtown Entertainment District and Fairhaven Entertainment District established by Figure 10.24.120(A) and Figure 10.24.120(B). The state Maximum Environmental Noise Levels at WAC 173-60-040 supply the numeric receiving-property backstop where BMC is silent (Class A residential 55 dBA day / 45 dBA night, with the 10 dBA reduction at Class A receiving property between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.). RCW 9A.84.030 provides a state-law gross-misdemeanor backstop for unreasonable noise that intentionally disturbs others. Western Washington University student-housing concentrations in Sehome, York, Happy Valley, and the Lettered Streets, plus the downtown bar district along Holly Street and Cornwall Avenue, are the most consistent BMC 10.24.120 enforcement hotspots. Report active disturbances to the Bellingham Police Department non-emergency line at 360-778-8800; the Whatcom Humane Society (under contract for animal control) handles barking-dog complaints.