Idaho Noise Laws: Quiet Hours, Disturbing the Peace and Fines

Idaho regulates noise mainly through its disturbing-the-peace statute and through city and county ordinances. Under Idaho Code 18-6409, anyone who "maliciously and willfully" disturbs the peace or quiet of a neighborhood, family or person "by loud or unusual noise" commits a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both (18-113). Quiet hours and decibel limits for homes come from your city or county code: cities have express power "to prevent and restrain riots, routs, noises, disturbances or disorderly assemblies" (50-308). State law also sets muffler and horn rules for vehicles (49-937, 49-956), decibel limits for motorboats (67-7038) and special protections for shooting ranges and farms. 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 Idaho state law on noise: disturbing the peace and related offenses (Idaho Code 18-6409, 18-6410, 18-113), public nuisance (18-5901, 18-5903), the vehicle muffler and horn rules and their penalties (49-106(8), 49-937, 49-956, 49-236, 18-113A), off-highway vehicle noise (67-7113, 67-7125), motorboat noise (67-7033, 67-7038), city and county ordinance powers (50-302, 50-308, 31-714), shooting range and right-to-farm protections (Title 55 chapter 26, Title 67 chapter 91, Title 22 chapter 45), civil nuisance remedies (Title 52) and state park rules (IDAPA 26.01.20). Statute text is the version the Idaho Legislature's website shows. It does not cover the text of any city or county noise ordinance, federal land, aircraft or workplace noise, or the law of other states.

How noise law works in Idaho

Idaho's noise rules sit in several places, each with its own penalty:

None of the state statutes on this page sets neighborhood quiet hours or a decibel limit for a home. Where those rules exist, they come from city and county ordinances.

Disturbing the peace with loud noise

Idaho Code 18-6409(1) provides:

"(1) Every person who maliciously and willfully disturbs the peace or quiet of any religious gathering, house of worship, neighborhood, family, or person, by loud or unusual noise, by tumultuous or offensive conduct, by threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight or fighting, or by firing any gun or pistol, is guilty of a misdemeanor."

The statute requires that the disturbance be both malicious and willful; loud noise without those elements does not meet it. City and county noise ordinances, described below, are separate laws with their own elements, so a noise complaint that falls short of 18-6409 may still be a local ordinance violation. The section was last amended in 2026 (2026 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 94, House Bill 615, effective July 1, 2026). The amendment added religious gatherings and houses of worship to the list and removed a former clause on using vulgar, profane or indecent language in a loud and boisterous manner near children. Subsection (2) separately makes it a misdemeanor to maliciously and willfully disturb "the dignity or reverential nature of any funeral, memorial service, funeral procession, burial ceremony or viewing of a deceased person."

Section 18-6409 does not set its own punishment, so the general misdemeanor rule applies. Under 18-113(1), "every offense declared to be a misdemeanor, is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both."

A related offense covers groups. Under 18-6410, "If two or more persons assemble for the purpose of disturbing the public peace, or committing any unlawful act, and do not disperse on being desired or commanded so to do by a public officer, the persons so offending are severally guilty of a misdemeanor."

Public nuisance

Noise that affects a whole neighborhood can also be a public nuisance. Under 18-5901, conduct that would "interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood, or by any considerable number of persons" is a public nuisance, and under 18-5903, "Every person who maintains or commits any public nuisance, the punishment for which is not otherwise prescribed, or who wilfully omits to perform any legal duty relating to the removal of a public nuisance, is guilty of a misdemeanor." The same 18-113 penalty of up to 6 months, $1,000, or both applies.

Quiet hours and local noise ordinances

Most rules a neighbor will actually run into, such as quiet hours, decibel limits, construction hours and barking-dog rules, are local. Idaho law gives cities and counties the power to adopt them:

• Cities. Under 50-308, "Cities shall have power: to prevent and restrain riots, routs, noises, disturbances or disorderly assemblies." Cities "may enforce all ordinances by fine, including an infraction penalty, or incarceration," but, except as 50-302(2) provides, "the maximum punishment of any offense shall be by fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment" (50-302(1)).
• Counties. Under 31-714, the board of county commissioners may pass ordinances "not repugnant to law" that are "necessary or proper to provide for the safety, promote the health and prosperity, improve the morals, peace and good order, comfort and convenience of the county and the inhabitants thereof," with the same cap: a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment not to exceed 6 months, or both.

To find the rule where you live, open your city's municipal code (or the county code if you live outside city limits), usually linked from the city or county website, and search for "noise." The ordinance will state any quiet hours, decibel limits, exemptions and the fine. Inside city limits, a violation is generally reported to the city police non-emergency line; outside city limits, to the county sheriff.

State parks

In lands administered by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, IDAPA 26.01.20 provides: "the hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. are considered quiet hours unless otherwise posted. During that time, users are restricted from the production of noise that may be disturbing to other users." The rules also state that "Amplified sound, poorly muffled vehicles, loud conduct, or loud equipment are prohibited within lands administered by the department, except in designated areas or by authority of the park or program manager," and that "No generators or other motorized equipment emitting sound and exhaust are permitted to be operated during quiet hours." Failing to comply with these rules "constitutes an infraction" (section 100). The courts' Infraction Penalty Schedule lists "Parks and Recreation violations made infractions pursuant to I.C. § 67-4223," the statute these rules implement, at a $15.50 fixed penalty and a $72.00 total with court costs (item 34).

Loud vehicles: mufflers, exhaust and horns

Idaho Code 49-937 is the state's main vehicle noise rule:

"(1) 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, or similar device on a motor vehicle on a highway. ... (3) No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle or a motorcycle in a manner that will amplify or increase the noise of the vehicle or motorcycle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle by the manufacturer."

Subsection (4) adds that "A showing that the sound made by a passenger motor vehicle or motorcycle exceeds the maximum allowable decibel level shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of subsection (1)." The decibel number is in the vehicle code's definitions: "excessive" or "unusual noise" means sound from a passenger motor vehicle or motorcycle that "exceeds ninety-two (92) decibels, or any lower decibel level that is fixed by law or rules adopted by the board of health and welfare," on the A scale, measured not less than 20 feet from the vehicle (Idaho Code 49-106(8)).

Horns. Under 49-956(1), "no horn or other warning device shall emit an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or whistle. The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his horn, but shall not otherwise use the horn when upon a highway."

Off-highway vehicles. An off-highway vehicle subject to numbering must have an exhaust system in good working order and in constant operation and a noise suppressing system that limits noise to "not more than ninety-six (96) decibels" on the A scale under the SAE J1287 stationary test; that limit does not apply in an organized racing or competitive event on private land with the landowner's consent or on public land under permit (Idaho Code 67-7125(1), (3)). A reading over 96 decibels "shall be prima facie evidence of a violation" (67-7125(4)). A violation is an infraction "punished by a fine of one hundred dollars ($100)" (67-7113(1)).

For loud music from a car, check your city code for an amplified-sound rule.

The penalty for a muffler or horn ticket

Both sections are in chapter 9 of Title 49, and under 49-236(2), "It is an infraction for any person to violate any of the provisions of chapters 3, 4 and 6 through 9 of this title unless otherwise specifically provided." Under 18-113A, "Every offense declared to be an infraction is punishable only by a penalty not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300) ... and no imprisonment." Where no specific penalty is set, 18-113A(4) provides a default of $15.50.

The Idaho courts' Infraction Penalty Schedule (effective July 1, 2025) has no line that names section 49-937 or 49-956. Its catch-all lines are item 25, "Other non-moving traffic violations," with a $10.50 fixed penalty, and item 38, "Other infractions," with a $15.50 fixed penalty and a listed total of $72.00 including court costs. The schedule does not say which line a muffler citation falls under; the court clerk handling the ticket can tell you. Note that paying by mail is not a neutral step: "Payment of the total amount by mail shall constitute an admission of the charge" (Idaho Infraction Rule 6(a)).

Motorboat noise limits

Idaho Code 67-7038(3) sets a noise level of 90 dB(A) for motorboats manufactured before January 1, 1995, and 88 dB(A) for motorboats manufactured on or after that date. Under 67-7038(4), "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate, or permit the operation of, any motorboat on any lake or reservoir of the state of Idaho, which is more than five hundred (500) feet in width, in such a manner as to exceed a noise level of 75dB(A) measured as specified in SAE J1970."

A peace officer who believes a motorboat is out of compliance "may direct the operator of such motorboat to submit the motorboat to an on-site test to measure noise levels," and may direct the operator to correct the violation, "including returning the motorboat to a mooring and keeping the motorboat at such mooring until the violation is corrected or ceases" (67-7038(9)). Unless otherwise specifically provided, violating the boating chapter is an infraction (67-7033(1)), punishable only by a penalty of no more than $300 and no jail (18-113A).

Loud neighbors: your options under Idaho law

1. Call the police or sheriff. A local noise ordinance violation, or conduct that meets 18-6409, is a police matter. Use the non-emergency line unless there is a threat to safety.
2. Sue for private nuisance. Idaho's nuisance statute is broad: "Anything which is injurious to health or morals, or is indecent, or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property ... is a nuisance" (52-101). The statute does not name noise; noise is reached when it is offensive to the senses and interferes in that way. "The remedies against a private nuisance are: 1. A civil action; or, 2. Abatement" (52-301). An action "may be brought by any person whose property is injuriously affected, or whose personal enjoyment is lessened by the nuisance; and by the judgment the nuisance may be enjoined or abated, as well as damages recovered" (52-111), and abating the nuisance "does not prejudice the right of any person to recover damages for its past existence" (52-110).
3. Public nuisance. If the noise "affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons" (52-102), it is a public nuisance. A private person may sue over it only "if it is specially injurious to himself" (52-204), and "A public nuisance may be abated by any public body or officer authorized thereto by law" (52-205).

Two limits apply. "Nothing which is done or maintained under the express authority of a statute can be deemed a nuisance" (52-108). And self-help abatement under 52-302 must be done "without committing a breach of the peace, or doing unnecessary injury." For renters, see Idaho landlord-tenant laws for the rental rules that apply between landlords and tenants.

Shooting ranges and farms

Sport shooting ranges. State law limits noise liability and local noise control here. 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" from the range if the range was established before the noise rules took effect or complied with the noise rules that applied when it was established, subject to 55-2605 (55-2601(1)). Decibel rules adopted by a state or local agency "shall not apply to a sport shooting range exempted from liability under this act" (55-2601(2)). Under 55-2601(3), "A municipal noise control ordinance may not require or be applied so as to require a sport shooting range to limit or eliminate shooting activities that have occurred on a regular basis at the range prior to the enactment date of the ordinance." Under 55-2605, "local governments shall not have authority to establish or enforce noise standards for outdoor sport shooting ranges, not otherwise exempted from local regulation by this chapter, more restrictive than any standards established for state outdoor shooting ranges in chapter 91, title 67." A local unit of government "may regulate noise produced as a result of a substantial change in the use of the range" (55-2603(2)).

Neighbors face time limits as well. If the range already existed when you acquired your property, you "may not maintain a nuisance action for noise" against it, unless there is a substantial change in its use after you acquired the property, and then only "within three (3) years from the beginning of the substantial change" (55-2602(1)). If the range was established after you acquired your property, a noise nuisance action may be brought "only if the action is brought within five (5) years after establishment of the range or three (3) years after a substantial change in use of the range" (55-2602(2)). "If there has been no shooting activity at a range for a period of three (3) years, resumption of shooting is considered establishment of a new shooting range" (55-2602(3)).

For state-owned ranges, "The noise emitted from a state outdoor sport shooting range shall not exceed an Leq(h) of sixty-four (64) dBA," measured "twenty (20) feet from the nearest existing occupied residence, school, hotel, motel, hospital or church" during "the noisiest hour of peak use" (67-9102(3) to (5)). Local governments "shall not have authority to establish noise standards for state outdoor sport shooting ranges" (67-9105). A person "may not maintain a public or private nuisance action for noise against a state outdoor sport shooting range that is in compliance with this chapter" (67-9103), and "Any new residential use or other new use within one (1) mile of an existing state outdoor sport shooting range shall provide for noise buffers or attenuation devices necessary to satisfy the noise standard prescribed by this chapter" (67-9104).

Farms. Idaho's right-to-farm law provides that "No agricultural operation, agricultural facility or expansion thereof shall be or become a nuisance, private or public, by any changed conditions in or about the surrounding nonagricultural activities after it has been in operation for more than one (1) year, when the operation, facility or expansion was not a nuisance at the time it began or was constructed." That protection does not apply "when a nuisance results from the improper or negligent operation" of the operation (22-4503). A city or county ordinance declaring a farm operated "in accordance with generally recognized agricultural practices" a nuisance "shall be void" (22-4504). Separately, a farm "operated in accordance with generally recognized agricultural practices or in compliance with a state or federally issued permit shall not be found to be a public or private nuisance," except when a nuisance results from improper or negligent operation (22-4505(2)). A farm that prevails in a nuisance suit because it operated in accordance with the chapter "shall be entitled to receive its reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the non-prevailing party" (22-4505(3)).

Since July 1, 2025 (2025 Idaho Sess. Laws ch. 147), repeated meritless complaints against a farm carry penalties under 22-4505(4): "(i) Filing or making a second meritless complaint within two (2) years shall be an infraction and subject to a one hundred fifty dollar ($150) fine. (ii) Filing or making a third meritless complaint within two (2) years shall be an infraction and subject to a three hundred dollar ($300) fine. (iii) Filing or making a fourth or subsequent meritless complaint within two (2) years shall be a misdemeanor."

Fireworks noise and hours are covered in Idaho fireworks laws.

Related pages

• Noise ordinance laws by state
• Idaho landlord-tenant laws
• Idaho fireworks laws
• Washington noise ordinance laws
• Utah noise ordinance laws

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

Last updated: 2026-10-10.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the quiet hours in Idaho?

Quiet hours for homes are set by city and county ordinances, so they depend on where you live; cities have express power to prevent and restrain noises and disturbances (Idaho Code 50-308). In Idaho state parks, 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. are quiet hours unless otherwise posted (IDAPA 26.01.20).

Is disturbing the peace with loud noise a crime in Idaho?

Yes, when a person maliciously and willfully disturbs the peace or quiet of a neighborhood, family or person by loud or unusual noise (Idaho Code 18-6409(1)). It is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both (18-113(1)).

What can I do about a loud neighbor in Idaho?

You can report a violation of your city or county noise ordinance, or conduct that meets the disturbing-the-peace statute, to local police or the sheriff. Under Idaho Code 52-111, a person whose property is injuriously affected or whose personal enjoyment is lessened by a nuisance may also sue to have it enjoined or abated and recover damages.

Is a loud exhaust illegal in Idaho?

Idaho Code 49-937 requires a muffler in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise, bans muffler cutouts and bypasses on a highway, and bars exhaust changes that make a vehicle louder than its factory muffler. For a passenger vehicle or motorcycle, excessive or unusual noise means more than 92 decibels on the A scale measured at least 20 feet away, or a lower level fixed by law or rule (49-106(8)). A violation is an infraction with a penalty of no more than $300 and no jail (49-236(2), 18-113A).

How much is a muffler ticket in Idaho?

The Idaho courts' infraction penalty schedule (effective July 1, 2025) does not list section 49-937 by number. Its catch-all lines are Other non-moving traffic violations ($10.50 fixed penalty) and Other infractions ($15.50 fixed penalty), plus court costs; the court clerk can say which line applies to a given citation.

Can an Idaho city set its own noise ordinance?

Yes. Cities have power to prevent and restrain noises and disturbances (Idaho Code 50-308), and counties may pass ordinances for peace, good order and comfort (31-714). The maximum punishment for a city or county ordinance offense is a fine of $1,000, 6 months in jail, or both.

Can a city restrict noise from a shooting range in Idaho?

Only within limits. A person who operates or uses a qualifying sport shooting range is not subject to civil liability or criminal prosecution over its noise (Idaho Code 55-2601(1)). A municipal noise ordinance may not require a sport shooting range to limit or eliminate shooting that occurred there regularly before the ordinance was enacted (Idaho Code 55-2601(3)), and local governments may not set noise standards for outdoor sport shooting ranges more restrictive than the state standards (55-2605). A local government may regulate noise from a substantial change in use of a range (55-2603(2)).