Pennsylvania Noise Ordinance Laws (2026): Quiet Hours and Fines

In Pennsylvania, quiet hours and decibel limits for homes come from your municipality's noise ordinance; the state's own rule for loud neighbors is disorderly conduct. Under 18 Pa.C.S. 5503(a)(2), a person who "makes unreasonable noise" with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk of it, commits disorderly conduct, a summary offense punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $300 fine. It becomes a third-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year and $2,500, if the person "persists in disorderly conduct after reasonable warning or request to desist" (18 Pa.C.S. 5503(b)). The Vehicle Code adds muffler and horn rules (75 Pa.C.S. 4523, 4535). 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 Pennsylvania state law: disorderly conduct (18 Pa.C.S. 5503) and the fine and jail ranges for summary offenses and third-degree misdemeanors (18 Pa.C.S. 1101, 1104, 1105); vehicle muffler, exhaust and horn rules (75 Pa.C.S. 4523, 4535) and the Vehicle Code's default fine (75 Pa.C.S. 6502); borough powers and ordinance penalties under the Borough Code (8 Pa.C.S. 1202, 3321); township ordinance penalties (Second Class Township Code s.1601(c.1); 73 Pa.C.S. 7711); third class city noise power and ordinance proceedings (11 Pa.C.S. 12422, 11018.16); the county ordinance power (16 Pa.C.S. 12509); consumer fireworks use (3 Pa.C.S. 1104, 1106, 1114); funeral and meeting disruption and public nuisances (18 Pa.C.S. 7517, 5508, 6504); snowmobile and ATV sound limits (75 Pa.C.S. 7743, 7752); the vehicle noise regulation (67 Pa. Code 157.11); the state park noise rule (17 Pa. Code 11.209); shooting-range noise immunity (Act 74 of 1988, as amended by Act 130 of 1998); and the Right to Farm Act (Act 133 of 1982). It does not set out any particular municipality's noise ordinance, and it does not cover federal property or other states.

Is it illegal to be loud in Pennsylvania?

It can be. The statewide offense is disorderly conduct:

"A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he: ... (2) makes unreasonable noise;" (18 Pa.C.S. 5503(a))

The statute has two limits built in. 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.

The word "public" reaches into residential settings. Section 5503(c) defines it as "affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access," and lists among those places "highways, transport facilities, schools, prisons, apartment houses, places of business or amusement, any neighborhood, or any premises which are open to the public." Apartment houses and "any neighborhood" are named expressly.

Penalty: summary offense, or a misdemeanor after a warning

Grading turns on what happens after someone asks you to stop:

"An offense under this section is a misdemeanor of the third degree if the intent of the actor is to cause substantial harm or serious inconvenience, or if he persists in disorderly conduct after reasonable warning or request to desist. Otherwise disorderly conduct is a summary offense." (18 Pa.C.S. 5503(b))

These are statutory maximums; the court sets the sentence in each case. Because a "reasonable warning or request to desist" is part of the misdemeanor grade, a documented request to turn the noise down, from a neighbor or an officer, can matter if the noise continues.

Quiet hours and local noise ordinances in Pennsylvania

The disorderly conduct statute does not set quiet hours or a decibel limit. Those usually come from your local government's noise ordinance, so the first step is to find out which municipality you live in and read its code.

Boroughs. The Borough Code lets a borough council make "regulations as may be necessary for the health, safety, morals, general welfare and cleanliness and beauty, convenience, comfort and safety of the borough" (8 Pa.C.S. 1202(5)). It also sets the penalty ceilings and the enforcement route:

• Civil penalty: "A civil penalty may not exceed $600 per violation" (8 Pa.C.S. 3321(a)(2)).
• Criminal fine: the council "may prescribe a criminal fine not to exceed $1,000 per violation and may prescribe imprisonment to the extent allowed by law for the punishment of a summary offense" (8 Pa.C.S. 3321(a)(3)).
• Each day can count. An ordinance "may provide that a separate violation under paragraph (2) or (3) shall arise for: (i) each day of violation; and (ii) each applicable section of the ordinance" (8 Pa.C.S. 3321(a)(4)).
• Noise ordinances use the criminal route. For an ordinance regulating, among other things, "water or air or noise pollution, enforcement shall be by a criminal action in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure" (8 Pa.C.S. 3321(b)(2)).

So a borough noise ordinance is enforced through a summary criminal proceeding, subject to the $1,000 criminal fine ceiling.

Counties. County commissioners "may adopt ordinances and resolutions prescribing the manner in which the powers of the county shall be carried out and generally regulating the affairs of the county" (16 Pa.C.S. 12509(a)). Fines may not exceed $1,000 "for water, air and noise pollution violations" (16 Pa.C.S. 12509(c)(1)(i)). A violation is tried at a summary proceeding, with a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, with the costs of prosecution, or up to 10 days in jail, or both (16 Pa.C.S. 12509(d)).

Townships. Second class townships and first class townships have the same ceilings as boroughs: a civil penalty of up to $600 per violation or a criminal fine of up to $1,000 per violation, and an ordinance regulating noise pollution is enforced in the same manner as a summary offense (Second Class Township Code s.1601(c.1); 73 Pa.C.S. 7711(a), (b)(2)).

Cities. In a third class city, council "may prevent and restrain riots, noises, disturbances or disorderly assemblies in any street, house or place in the city" (11 Pa.C.S. 12422). Unless otherwise provided by law, a proceeding for violating a city ordinance is a summary conviction proceeding, or a proceeding for the recovery of penalties, before a magisterial district judge (11 Pa.C.S. 11018.16(b)). Those two sections are part of the Third Class City Code; a city of another class acts under its own law, so check its code.

Whatever your municipality, search its code for "noise," or call the municipal office and ask for the noise ordinance.

Vehicle noise: mufflers, exhaust and horns

The Vehicle Code requires a working muffler and bars modifications that make a vehicle louder:

"Every motor vehicle shall be equipped with a muffler or other effective noise suppressing system in good working order and in constant operation and no muffler or exhaust system shall be equipped with a cutout, bypass or similar device." (75 Pa.C.S. 4523(c))

Under 4523(d), "no person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of the vehicle above the maximum levels permitted under subsection (a)." The same subsection adds that "headers and side exhausts are permitted provided the vehicle meets all the requirements of this section." The maximum levels under subsection (a) are set by PennDOT regulation in decibels by vehicle category and speed (67 Pa. Code 157.11). Section 4523 does not apply to fire equipment or to racing vehicles in an organized event held under a local permit (75 Pa.C.S. 4523(e)).

Horns are covered by 75 Pa.C.S. 4535(b): except as the Vehicle Code or PennDOT regulations specifically provide, "no vehicle operated on a highway shall be equipped with a siren, bell, whistle or any device emitting a similar sound or any unreasonably loud or harsh sound."

Penalty. Sections 4523 and 4535 do not state a penalty of their own. The Vehicle Code's general rule then applies: a person "convicted of a summary offense for a violation of any of the provisions of this title for which another penalty is not provided shall be sentenced to pay a fine of $25" (75 Pa.C.S. 6502(a)). The Crimes Code's fine and jail ranges for summary offenses do not apply to Vehicle Code offenses (75 Pa.C.S. 6502(c)). The $25 is the fine set by statute; it is not a total of any court costs that may be added to a case.

Snowmobiles and ATVs. A snowmobile or ATV must have a working muffler, and its exhaust "shall not emit or produce a sharp popping or crackling sound." A snowmobile may not exceed 82 dBA; an ATV made before January 1, 1998 may not exceed 99 dBA, and one made on or after that date 96 dBA, measured at 20 inches. Modifying a muffler to raise the sound above those levels is unlawful, and the section does not apply to organized races or similar competitive events (75 Pa.C.S. 7743). A violation is a summary offense with a fine of $50 to $200 for a first offense, or $100 to $300 for a later one, plus costs of prosecution (75 Pa.C.S. 7752(a)).

Shooting ranges and farms

Shooting ranges. A 1988 act, as amended in 1998, protects ranges from noise claims:

"All owners of rifle, pistol, silhouette, skeet, trap, blackpowder or other ranges in this Commonwealth shall be exempt and immune from any civil action or criminal prosecution in any matter relating to noise or noise pollution resulting from the normal and accepted shooting activity on ranges, provided that the owners of the ranges are in compliance with any applicable noise control laws or ordinances extant at the time construction of the range was initiated. If there were no noise control laws or ordinances extant at the time construction of the range was initiated, then the immunity granted by this act shall apply to said ranges." (Act of June 2, 1988, P.L. 452, No. 74, as amended by Act 130 of 1998)

The immunity is tied to "normal and accepted shooting activity" and to the noise rules in force when the range was built. The act's text attaches no time-of-day condition to it. Section 2 adds that the owners of complying ranges "shall not be subject to any action for nuisance, and no court in this Commonwealth shall enjoin the use or operation of the ranges on the basis of noise or noise pollution."

Farms. Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act limits both local ordinances and neighbor lawsuits. It speaks of nuisance generally rather than naming noise:

"Every municipality that defines or prohibits a public nuisance shall exclude from the definition of such nuisance any agricultural operation conducted in accordance with normal agricultural operations so long as the agricultural operation does not have a direct adverse effect on the public health and safety." (Act of June 10, 1982, P.L. 454, No. 133)

The same act provides that "no nuisance action shall be brought against an agricultural operation which has lawfully been in operation for one year or more prior to the date of bringing such action, where the conditions or circumstances complained of as constituting the basis for the nuisance action have existed substantially unchanged since the established date of operation and are normal agricultural operations." A complaint about routine farm sounds from a long-running operation runs into that bar. The bar does not affect a claim for damages caused by an agricultural operation conducted in violation of a federal, state or local statute or regulation that applies to it (section 4(b)).

Fireworks, funerals and state parks

Fireworks. A person may not intentionally use consumer fireworks "within 150 feet of a building or vehicle, whether or not the building or vehicle is owned by the user" (3 Pa.C.S. 1104(b)(5)). A municipality may bar their use between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., except that use is allowed until 1 a.m. after July 2, 3 and 4 and December 31, and, when July 4 falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, until 1 a.m. after the preceding and following Friday and Saturday (3 Pa.C.S. 1106(a)(3)). A municipality may not restrict or regulate consumer fireworks on those days or on Memorial Day and Labor Day and the Saturday and Sunday before each, except that it may prohibit use where the 150-foot rule cannot be met (3 Pa.C.S. 1106(a)(1.2), (b)). Using consumer fireworks in violation of the chapter is a summary offense with a fine of up to $500, or up to $1,000 for a repeat within three years of a prior conviction (3 Pa.C.S. 1114(1)).

Funerals and meetings. Demonstration activities, including "use of sound amplification equipment or device" not part of the service, within 500 feet of a cemetery, mortuary, church or other location being used for a commemorative service, from one hour before to one hour after the service, are a third-degree misdemeanor (18 Pa.C.S. 7517). Disturbing or interrupting a lawful meeting, procession or gathering with intent to prevent or disrupt it is also a third-degree misdemeanor (18 Pa.C.S. 5508).

State parks. In state parks, DCNR rules prohibit "causing or creating a noise which would likely annoy or disturb a reasonable person of normal sensitivities" (17 Pa. Code 11.209(b)(3)).

Dealing with a loud neighbor in Pennsylvania

1. Read your local ordinance. Your borough, city or township code sets the quiet hours and limits most complaints turn on.
2. Ask once, plainly. Under 5503(b), persisting "after reasonable warning or request to desist" raises disorderly conduct from a summary offense to a third-degree misdemeanor.
3. Call the police non-emergency line for noise in progress. Officers can cite under the local ordinance or, where its elements are met, under 18 Pa.C.S. 5503.
4. Use the municipal office for recurring problems, such as a business or construction site, since noise ordinance enforcement in boroughs and townships runs through summary criminal proceedings (8 Pa.C.S. 3321(b)(2); 73 Pa.C.S. 7711(b)(2)).
5. Persistent nuisances. Maintaining "any public or common nuisance" is a second-degree misdemeanor, and where the nuisance still exists at sentencing the court may direct the defendant, or the sheriff at the defendant's expense, to abate it (18 Pa.C.S. 6504).

Renters have additional considerations under their lease; see our guide to Pennsylvania landlord-tenant laws. For more on fireworks, see Pennsylvania fireworks laws.

Related

• Noise ordinance laws by state
• Pennsylvania landlord-tenant laws
• Pennsylvania fireworks laws
• Ohio noise ordinance laws
• New York noise ordinance laws

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

Last updated: 2026-10-10.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the noise laws in Pennsylvania?

Making unreasonable noise with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating that risk, is disorderly conduct under 18 Pa.C.S. 5503. Quiet hours and decibel limits come from your municipality's noise ordinance, and the Vehicle Code regulates mufflers and horns (75 Pa.C.S. 4523, 4535).

What are the quiet hours in Pennsylvania?

Quiet hours are set by your borough, city or township noise ordinance. The state disorderly conduct statute does not use set hours; it asks whether the noise is unreasonable and made with intent or recklessness (18 Pa.C.S. 5503).

What is the fine for disturbing the peace in Pennsylvania?

Disorderly conduct is usually a summary offense, with a fine of up to $300 and up to 90 days in jail (18 Pa.C.S. 1101(7), 1105). If the person persists after a reasonable warning or request to desist, it is a third-degree misdemeanor with up to $2,500 and one year (18 Pa.C.S. 5503(b), 1101(6), 1104(3)).

What is the fine for a noise ordinance violation in a Pennsylvania borough or township?

A borough or township may set a civil penalty of up to $600 per violation or a criminal fine of up to $1,000 per violation, and an ordinance may treat each day as a separate violation (8 Pa.C.S. 3321; 73 Pa.C.S. 7711). Noise ordinances are enforced by criminal action, as summary offenses are. County fines for noise pollution violations are capped at $1,000 (16 Pa.C.S. 12509(c)(1)(i)).

When can fireworks be set off in Pennsylvania?

Consumer fireworks may not be used within 150 feet of a building or vehicle (3 Pa.C.S. 1104(b)(5)). A municipality may bar use between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., except until 1 a.m. after July 2, 3 and 4 and December 31, and may not restrict use on those days or on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends unless the 150-foot rule cannot be met (3 Pa.C.S. 1106). A first violation carries a fine of up to $500 (3 Pa.C.S. 1114(1)).

Are loud exhausts illegal in Pennsylvania?

Every vehicle must have a working muffler or noise-suppressing system, no cutout or bypass is allowed, and no one may modify the exhaust to amplify noise above permitted levels (75 Pa.C.S. 4523). Headers and side exhausts are allowed if the vehicle meets all of the section's requirements; the default fine is $25 (75 Pa.C.S. 6502(a)).

Can a neighbor call the police for noise in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Police can cite under the local noise ordinance or, where its elements are met, for disorderly conduct under 18 Pa.C.S. 5503, which becomes a misdemeanor if the person persists after a reasonable warning or request to desist.

Can I complain about noise from a farm or shooting range in Pennsylvania?

State law limits those complaints. Ranges that met the noise rules in force when built are immune from noise actions for normal and accepted shooting (Act 74 of 1988, as amended), and the Right to Farm Act bars nuisance suits against normal agricultural operations lawfully running a year or more under substantially unchanged conditions (Act 133 of 1982).