Columbus, IN Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Chapter 8.28 of the Columbus Municipal Code, the noise chapter of the City of Columbus, Indiana, does not declare one blanket quiet period for the whole city. Section 8.28.040 instead attaches clock times to specific kinds of noise. Under subsection I, creating loud and excessive noise by yelling, shouting, whistling, or singing is barred between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. The same clause also reaches that conduct at any time or place so as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort, or repose of others, so the overnight hours are not the only window in which it is enforced.

Subsection C covers construction, erection (including excavating), demolition, alteration, maintenance, production, and repair. Noise from that work that creates loud, unnecessary, and unreasonable noise is a violation unless it falls inside the designated times: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Work authorized by the city or done because of an emergency is carved out of the rule.

Both clauses sit under the broader ban in § 8.28.030 on any loud, unnecessary, unusual, or raucous noise that annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of others. Section 8.28.040 states that its list of specific noises is not exclusive. It also says that a person who recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally makes unreasonable noise and keeps going after a police or code enforcement officer asks them to stop is in violation of disorderly conduct as defined in I.C. 35-45-1-3(a)(2). Section 8.28.020 defines unreasonable noise by volume, frequency, or pattern that disrupts the comfort or repose of reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivities within the city. The chapter text carries the history note Ord. 2, 2025.