When You Might Get Slapped With A New Jersey Noise Ordinance Violation

Nothing is worse than having a loud neighbor or someone keeping your New Jersey community awake at night.

But what are the laws that govern this topic? Like most things in New Jersey, they are complicated.

New Jersey has both daytime and nighttime sound standards in place. Daytime (7:00 am to 10:00 pm) is 65 decibels, and nighttime (10:00 pm to 7:00 am) is 50 decibels.

Examples of things that produce 65 decibels of sound might be a hair dryer or laughter, while 50 decibels would be the sound of a quiet office or residential street.

The complicated part of the noise ordinances in New Jersey is that municipalities are given broad authority to adjust them, so they vary from town to town.

Read More: Major 2025 NJ Law Updates

The wording of these ordinances is interesting to say the least. For example, you better not plan to hoot in Hawthorne. Check out town ordinance 333-2-3.

Yelling; shouting: yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing on the public streets, particularly between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. or at any time or place so as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort or repose of persons in any office, dwelling, hotel, motel or other type of residence or of any persons in the vicinity.

The sounding of any train whistles or horns in the Village of Ridgewood is prohibited on any day at any time except in the case of an emergency.

It shall be unlawful for any person to play, use or operate or permit to be played, used or operated any radio receiving set, television set, musical instrument, phonograph or other machine or device for the producing or reproducing of sound with louder volume than is necessary for convenient hearing of the person so playing, using or operating such instrument or device and such persons who are voluntary listeners thereto

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