Mariposa County, CA Noise Ordinances: Quiet Hours (2026)

Mariposa County has no incorporated cities, so the County of Mariposa's own code governs every community, including the town of Mariposa, Coulterville, El Portal, Wawona, Fish Camp, Midpines, Catheys Valley, Hornitos and Greeley Hill. The County has not adopted a general noise ordinance with fixed quiet hours or a decibel table. The General Plan Noise Element (Chapter 15) candidly notes that the rural lifestyle produces a noise environment 'typically well below 55 dB(A) CNEL' and that it is 'quite common to hear chainsaws, barking dogs, tractors, and similar sounds.' Implementation Measure 15.1a(1) states only that 'a noise ordinance should be considered to define the standards for the County' as an intermediate-term goal, indicating one had not been adopted. With no county quiet-hours rule, nighttime noise complaints in the unincorporated county are handled under California Penal Code Section 415, which makes it a crime to maliciously and willfully disturb another person by loud and unreasonable noise. Enforcement is by the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office. There is no fixed 10 p.m. start time set by the county; the test is whether the noise is loud, unreasonable, and disturbing under state law. The only codified county noise rule is its barking-dog public nuisance chapter (Code Chapter 6.16).