Long Beach, CA Public Conduct: Loud Party Ordinance (2026)
Key Facts
- Audibility threshold
- 50 feet from the property
- Warning window
- 30 days for repeat-response billing
- Underlying penalty
- up to $1,000 fine / 6 months jail
- Cost recovery
- full actual law-enforcement response costs
- Liable party
- owner, occupant, or activity host
Summary
Long Beach uses a bright-line distance test for loud parties: under Municipal Code § 9.31.010, any party noise audible fifty feet or more from the property is automatically deemed to disrupt the public peace, no decibel meter required. A first police response can end with arrest, citation, or a warning, but Section 9.31.030 makes the "responsible person" pay the City's full cost for every response after that within 30 days.
No person shall cause or permit loud music or other noises caused by a party, gathering or assemblage of persons on private property to disrupt the public peace. Noise that is audible from a distance of fifty feet (50') or more from the property shall be deemed to disrupt the public peace. Any person who causes or permits any such loud music or other noises is guilty of a public offense punishable under the provisions of Title 1, Chapter 1.32 of this Code.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 52 Update 1 | City Charter: Supplement 5).
Full Breakdown
31, added by ORD-05-0036 in 2005, targets loud music or other noise from a party, gathering, or assemblage on private property. 80) with a simple distance test officers can apply on the spot. 020 gives responding law enforcement personnel three tools on a first visit: arrest or cite the "responsible person", defined as whoever owns, occupies, or otherwise authorizes the party, order the noise stopped immediately, and issue a written warning that a second response within 30 days will trigger cost recovery. 030 then makes the responsible person, or that person's legal guardian if a minor, liable for all actual costs and expenses of every second or subsequent police response within that 30-day window after the warning. 32 general penalty for the underlying noise violation itself.
Violations & Fines
A first violation is a public offense under the general penalty in Chapter 1.32: up to a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, or both. After a written warning, every additional police response to the same address within 30 days shifts to strict cost recovery: the responsible person or their guardian owes all actual law-enforcement costs of each subsequent response, collectible by the City as a civil debt.
Frequently Asked Questions
How loud does a party have to be to violate Long Beach's ordinance?
What happens the first time police respond to a loud party?
Who has to pay if police keep coming back?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Long Beach
California rules heatmap·Compare Long Beach to another location·View the California public conduct overview
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