Alabama Noise Laws: Quiet Hours, Loud Neighbors and Penalties (2026)

Alabama's main statewide noise rule is disorderly conduct. Under Ala. Code 13A-11-7(a)(2), a person who makes unreasonable noise "with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof" commits disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor. Quiet hours and decibel limits are set by cities through ordinances adopted under Ala. Code 11-45-1, and a county that has put the Alabama Limited Self-Governance Act into effect may address noise creating a public nuisance in its unincorporated areas (11-3A-2(a)(5)). Vehicle noise is covered by the muffler and horn sections of Title 32. To compare other states, see our guide to noise ordinance laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-10. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Alabama state law: disorderly conduct (Ala. Code 13A-11-7) and the Class C misdemeanor penalties in 13A-5-7 and 13A-5-12; the vehicle muffler and horn sections (32-5-216, 32-5-213) and the Title 32 misdemeanor rule (32-5A-8); municipal ordinance power and penalty limits (11-45-1, 11-45-9); county noise-nuisance ordinances under the Limited Self-Governance Act (11-3A-2, 11-3A-3); the Class C rule for unclassified misdemeanors (13A-5-4); the Chambers County noise act (45-9-170.40) as an example of a county local act; the nuisance definition and who may sue (6-5-120 through 6-5-123) and the nuisance protections in 6-5-127, 6-5-341 and 2-6B-3; and the tenant duty in 35-9A-301. It does not cover the text of any city or county noise ordinance, workplace noise, aircraft noise, or the law of other states.

Does Alabama have a state noise law?

Only in pieces. Alabama's statewide noise rules are scattered: one clause in the disorderly conduct statute, the vehicle muffler and horn sections of the traffic code, and a few laws that shield shooting ranges, farms and certain plants from noise claims. Quiet hours, decibel limits and rules on loud music are set by city ordinances and, in some counties, by county ordinances or local acts.

Chapter 11 of Title 13A, which holds Alabama's offenses against public order, contains no noise offense apart from 13A-11-7(a)(2); the only other use of the word is in a definitions section, 13A-11-260. The ADEM act (chapter 22-22A of Title 22) and chapter 22-28 of Title 22 set no noise standard.

Disorderly conduct: when noise becomes a crime

Section 13A-11-7 reads, in the parts that concern noise:

"(a) A person commits the crime of disorderly conduct if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he or she does any of the following: ... (2) Makes unreasonable noise. ... (b) Disorderly conduct is a Class C misdemeanor."

Two elements matter. The noise must be "unreasonable," and the person must act with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly create a risk of it. Loudness alone does not complete the offense; the mental state is part of it. That is why a neighbor's ordinary loud gathering is more often handled under a city ordinance than as disorderly conduct.

The penalty follows from the Class C label. Section 13A-5-7(a)(3) sets the jail ceiling: "For a Class C misdemeanor, not more than three months." Section 13A-5-12(a) sets the fine ceiling: "(3) For a Class C misdemeanor, not more than $500; or (4) Any amount not exceeding double the pecuniary gain to the defendant or loss to the victim caused by the commission of the offense." Both are maximums, not set amounts.

Quiet hours and city noise ordinances

Alabama cities write their own noise rules. Ala. Code 11-45-1 provides that municipal corporations "may from time to time adopt ordinances and resolutions not inconsistent with the laws of the state" to "provide for the safety, preserve the health, promote the prosperity, and improve the morals, order, comfort, and convenience of the inhabitants of the municipality, and may enforce obedience to such ordinances." A city's quiet hours, decibel limits and amplified-sound rules rest on that grant, and they must not be inconsistent with state law.

State law caps what a city can impose. Section 11-45-9(b) provides: "Except as otherwise provided in this section, no fine shall exceed five hundred dollars ($500), and no sentence of imprisonment or hard labor shall exceed six months." The fine for a particular noise ordinance is whatever the city sets within that limit.

Some counties have noise powers through local acts collected in Title 45 of the Code. In Chambers County, for example, section 45-9-170.40(b) provides that "The county commission may promulgate rules and regulations limiting and controlling noise in public places and establishments," and the penalty for each separate violation "may not in any case exceed one hundred dollars ($100)." That act applies in Chambers County only.

Counties also have a general power. Under the Alabama Limited Self-Governance Act, a county commission may start the process by majority resolution, or must do so on a petition signed by 10 percent of the unincorporated area's qualified electors, and the powers take effect only after a majority of unincorporated-area voters approve them in a referendum (11-3A-2(b); 11-3A-5); those powers include, "Subject to the provisions of Section 6-5-127, abatement of noise, unsanitary sewage, or pollution creating a public nuisance as defined in Sections 6-5-120 and 6-5-121" (11-3A-2(a)(5)). The county may not use these powers inside a city's corporate limits except by contract (11-3A-2(e)). Under 11-3A-3(e), "The fine shall not exceed one hundred fifty dollars ($150). Each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate offense, however, the total fine shall not exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000)."

To find the rule where you live, look up your city's code of ordinances (usually published on the city's website or available from the city clerk) and search its noise or nuisance chapter. If you live outside city limits, ask the county commission whether it has adopted noise rules under the Limited Self-Governance Act (11-3A-2) or has a local act.

Loud neighbors: your options under Alabama law

For a neighbor's noise, the practical routes are:

• A city noise ordinance. Where your city has one, local police or code enforcement handle complaints, and the penalty is set by the ordinance within the 11-45-9 limits.
• Disorderly conduct. If the noise is unreasonable and made with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk of it, it can be charged under 13A-11-7(a)(2).
• A nuisance claim. Alabama defines nuisance in section 6-5-120:

"A "nuisance" is anything that works hurt, inconvenience, or damage to another. The fact that the act done may otherwise be lawful does not keep it from being a nuisance. The inconvenience complained of must not be fanciful or such as would affect only one of a fastidious taste, but it should be such as would affect an ordinary reasonable man."

The test is an ordinary reasonable person, not an unusually sensitive one, and noise from an otherwise lawful activity can still qualify. Section 6-5-121 provides that "A private nuisance gives a right of action to the person injured," while a public nuisance generally "must be abated by a process instituted in the name of the state" unless it causes an individual "special damage" the public does not share (6-5-123). Cities may sue "to abate or enjoin any public nuisance injurious to the health, morals, comfort, or welfare of the community or any portion thereof" (6-5-122).

• A lease. If the noisy neighbor is a tenant, the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act lists among a tenant's duties that the tenant "conduct himself or herself and require other persons on the premises with the tenant's consent to conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb the neighbors' peaceful enjoyment of the premises" (35-9A-301(7)). For how leases and landlord remedies work, see Alabama landlord-tenant laws.

Loud cars, mufflers and horns

Section 32-5-216(a) provides:

"(a) Every motor vehicle shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and annoying smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cut-out, bypass, a muffler without baffles, or similar device upon a motor vehicle on a highway."

The section sets no decibel figure and no fine. Under 32-5A-8(a), "It is a misdemeanor for any person to violate any of the provisions of this chapter or of Title 32, unless such violation is by this chapter or other law of this state declared to be a felony," so a muffler violation is a misdemeanor.

Horns are covered by section 32-5-213, which makes it unlawful "for any person at any time to use a horn otherwise than as a reasonable warning or to make any unnecessary or unreasonably loud or harsh sound by means of a horn or other warning device." Under subsection (c), a person who violates the section "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

Neither the muffler nor the horn section states a class or penalty. Under 13A-5-4(b), "Any offense defined outside this title which is declared by law to be a misdemeanor without specification as to classification or punishment is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor," which carries up to three months in jail and a fine of not more than $500 (13A-5-7(a)(3); 13A-5-12(a)(3)).

Chapters 5 and 5A of Title 32 contain no provision on car stereos, amplified sound or motorcycle noise beyond the muffler and horn rules. Limits on loud car audio, where they exist, are in city ordinances.

Shooting ranges, farms and plants

State law limits noise claims against some activities.

Liability for operation or use of sport shooting range. Section 6-5-341(b) provides that, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law," a person who operates or uses a sport shooting range "shall not be subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution in any matter relating to noise or noise pollution or lead or lead pollution resulting from the operation or use of the range if the range is being operated between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. and if the range has been in existence prior to 1990 or is in compliance with any noise or lead control laws or ordinances that applied to the sport shooting range and its operation on August 1, 2001, or at the time the sport shooting range came into existence, whichever event occurs first." Both conditions must be met: the hours, and either the pre-1990 existence or the compliance test. On the same conditions, the range is not subject to a nuisance action or an injunction on the basis of noise (6-5-341(b)(3)), and government rules "limiting levels of noise in terms of decibel level which may occur in the atmosphere shall not apply" to an exempt range (6-5-341(d)).

Farms. Section 2-6B-3(a) provides that a farm or farm operation "shall not be deemed to be or become a public or private nuisance for purposes of Section 6-5-127, or any other law, or be deemed in violation of any municipal or county ordinance or resolution heretofore or hereafter adopted declaring any farm or farm operation a public or private nuisance other than zoning ordinances applicable thereto," if it meets all four requirements the section lists: the owner does not act in a careless or wrongful manner or operate the farm improperly; the owner (or a lessee) resides on the farm or actively participates in its operation; the farm conforms to generally accepted agricultural and farm management practices and applicable agency rules; and it does not include a swine concentrated animal feeding operation that was not in existence and actively functioning on April 12, 2010, or an expansion of one (2-6B-3(a)(1)-(4)). Zoning ordinances are carved out.

Plants, farm facilities and certain racetracks. Under section 6-5-127(a), no agricultural, manufacturing or other industrial plant or establishment, farming operation facility, or a racetrack for automobiles or motorcycles operated in conjunction with a museum owned by a nonprofit organization and holding a building and collection worth at least $1,000,000, "shall be or become a nuisance, private or public, by any changed conditions in and about the locality thereof after the same has been in operation for more than one year during which such plant, facility, establishment, farming operation facility, or racetrack, its appurtenances or the operation thereof has not been found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be a nuisance." The protection does not apply "whenever a nuisance results from the negligent or improper operation" of the facility. City ordinances that would make such a facility a nuisance in those circumstances are "null and void" (6-5-127(c)), again except where a nuisance results from negligent or improper operation.

Fireworks noise is governed by Alabama's fireworks rules and local ordinances; see Alabama fireworks laws.

Related pages

• Noise ordinance laws by state
• Alabama landlord-tenant laws
• Alabama fireworks laws
• Georgia noise ordinance laws
• Mississippi noise ordinance laws

This article provides general legal information about Alabama law, not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Alabama or your city or county government.

Last updated: 2026-10-10.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the quiet hours in Alabama?

Alabama's state noise statutes, including disorderly conduct (Ala. Code 13A-11-7) and the vehicle muffler rule (32-5-216), set no hours of the day. Quiet hours come from your city's ordinances, adopted under Ala. Code 11-45-1, or outside city limits from a county ordinance under the Limited Self-Governance Act (11-3A-2(a)(5)) or a local act.

Is it illegal to be loud at night in Alabama?

Under state law, making unreasonable noise is disorderly conduct only when done with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk of it (Ala. Code 13A-11-7(a)(2)). Many night-time noise limits are city ordinances, so check your city code.

What is the penalty for disorderly conduct noise in Alabama?

Disorderly conduct is a Class C misdemeanor (13A-11-7(b)), punishable by up to three months in jail (13A-5-7(a)(3)) and a fine of not more than $500 (13A-5-12(a)(3)).

Can I call the police on a loud neighbor in Alabama?

Unreasonable noise made with the intent or recklessness described in Ala. Code 13A-11-7(a)(2) is a crime, and city noise ordinances are enforced locally, so local police or your city's code enforcement office handle complaints. For repeated noise, Alabama's nuisance definition in 6-5-120 may also apply.

Are loud exhausts illegal in Alabama?

Every motor vehicle must have a muffler in good working order to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and muffler cut-outs, bypasses and mufflers without baffles are barred on a highway (Ala. Code 32-5-216(a)). A violation of Title 32 is a misdemeanor (32-5A-8(a)). Section 32-5-216 states no class or penalty, and under 13A-5-4(b) such a misdemeanor is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor: up to three months in jail and a fine of not more than $500.

Is there a law against loud car stereos in Alabama?

Chapters 5 and 5A of Title 32 of the Alabama Code contain no car-stereo or amplified-sound provision. Rules on loud car audio, where they exist, are in city ordinances.

How much can an Alabama city fine for a noise violation?

Under Ala. Code 11-45-9(b), except as otherwise provided in that section, no municipal ordinance fine may exceed $500 and no jail sentence may exceed six months. The amount for a given ordinance is set by the city.