Los Angeles noise ordinance: hours and rules

Updated 24 October 2026

Modeled estimates for general information only — not measurements, not a guarantee, and not for legal, medical or real-estate decisions.

The City of Los Angeles allows construction Monday to Friday 7 am to 9 pm and on Saturdays and national holidays 8 am to 6 pm, with none on Sundays, under Municipal Code section 41.40 (the code text itself, read 24 October 2026, and the LADBS, City Planning and LAPD pages). Other cities and unincorporated areas have their own rules, listed below where an official page states them.

Every hour and rule below is from the linked official page, read on 21 or 24 October 2026 (each row says which). Codes change and some pages are old, so confirm with the city before you rely on it. Quiet LA is not an agency and cannot take a complaint.

What time can construction start in Los Angeles?

In the City of Los Angeles, the code is Section 41.40 of the Municipal Code. Subsection (a), as the City’s code library prints it, bars construction or repair work that uses power-driven tools or equipment making loud noises to the disturbance of people in sleeping quarters between 9 pm and 7 am. Subsection (c) bars construction on land developed with residential buildings, or within 500 feet of such land, before 8 am or after 6 pm on any Saturday or national holiday and at any time on a Sunday, with an exception for an individual homeowner working on their own single-family dwelling and for emergency repairs. The Board of Police Commissioners can give written permission for work outside those hours, and the section does not apply in districts zoned for manufacturing or industry.

LADBS lists permitted hours of 7 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am to 6 pm on Saturday, with no work permitted on Sunday, and notes that hillside districts have extra restrictions. City Planning, describing Section 41.40, also names national holidays. The LAPD Noise Enforcement Team page gives the same hours and adds that on Sundays there is no construction except by residents.

LADBS says to report work outside the allowed hours to the LAPD non-emergency line, 877-ASK-LAPD (877-275-5273). The LAPD Noise Enforcement Team number and the other City contacts are in who to call about noise in Los Angeles.

What are the construction hours in other cities?

For any city not listed, use that city’s own site; Quiet LA lists only pages it could read. Where a city’s own pages are worded differently, as Beverly Hills’ are, both are shown.

What are the construction hours in unincorporated LA County?

The County’s own sources give different evening cutoffs, so Quiet LA shows each one with its source and does not pick one. The County noise rules are in Title 12 of the County Code; each local city enforces its own rules. Confirm with LA County Public Health, (626) 430-5201, which takes complaints about businesses, construction and demolition in unincorporated areas.

Is there a decibel limit?

Some rules use a decibel test, and they are written for a sound at a place, not for a map. In the City of Los Angeles, Chapter XI treats a sound as a violation when it exceeds the ambient level at another occupied property by more than 5 decibels (Section 112.01(c), for radios, instruments and other sound devices); the same chapter bars noise from those devices that is audible beyond 150 feet of the property line in or near a residential zone. City Planning also describes a limit in Section 112.05 of 75 dB(A) at 50 feet for construction equipment within 500 feet of a residential zone. Burbank’s code treats a sound that exceeds the ambient level by more than 5 decibels as prima facie evidence of a violation of its radio and amplified-device section (9-3-213).

Other cities, such as Santa Monica, write decibel limits by noise zone into their codes; read the code itself before relying on a number. The City of Los Angeles text above is a 2013 capture of Chapter XI on the City Planning site, so confirm the current section.

Who enforces the noise ordinance?

In the City of Los Angeles, Chapter XI names the Police Department as the enforcer of most noise sections, including 41.40, 112.01 and 112.05, and the Department of Building and Safety for a few others. The LAPD Noise Enforcement Team page, read 24 October 2026, lists early or late construction, deliveries and trash pickup, and music from nightclubs as the team’s work. LADBS sends outside-hours construction noise to the LAPD line above. Each other city has its own department; the table of noise complaints by city lists the pages we could read.

What can the noise map say about a noise rule?

Not whether a rule is met. The Quiet LA map shows a modeled average for a period at a building, and an ordinance judges a particular sound at a particular time, often against the ambient level at that moment. The map does not model construction, parties or amplified sound. It can show which road, rail or airport sources are modeled near an address, which is background for a conversation with the city, not evidence. See Limits and How it’s made; for measurements at one site see noise surveys and noise assessments.

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