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What 54 US sign codes actually say

Sign rules are written city by city, so nobody knows what is normal. We read 54 municipal sign codes in full, pulled 560 rules out of them, and counted what they have in common. Every rule behind these numbers is quoted verbatim from its ordinance.

What cities prohibit outright

Sign types banned by name. Most codes ban movement and flashing before anything else.

Counted across the 45 cities whose code states a rule on this. Cities that are silent are left out rather than counted as "no".

Animated or moving signs 31 of 45 69%

Denver , Miami , Oklahoma City , Chandler , Glendale , Scottsdale , Fontana , Hayward , Irvine , Modesto , Pasadena , Coral Springs and 19 more

Flashing signs 30 of 45 67%

San Diego , Denver , Miami , Chandler , Glendale , Scottsdale , Fontana , Hayward , Irvine , Modesto , Pasadena , Jacksonville and 18 more

Off-premise signs and billboards 24 of 45 53%

Little Rock , Chandler , Glendale , Fontana , Hayward , Irvine , Modesto , Pasadena , Coral Springs , Jacksonville , Orlando , St Petersburg and 12 more

Portable or A-frame signs 23 of 45 51%

Denver , Miami , Oklahoma City , Fontana , Hayward , Modesto , Pasadena , St Petersburg , Tallahassee , Naperville , Jackson , Fargo and 11 more

Pennants and streamers 19 of 45 42%

San Diego , Miami , Little Rock , Glendale , Hayward , Pasadena , Orlando , St Petersburg , Naperville , Lansing , Cincinnati , Charleston and 7 more

Inflatables and balloons 19 of 45 42%

Miami , Chandler , Glendale , Hayward , Pasadena , Coral Springs , Orlando , St Petersburg , Tallahassee , Naperville , Lansing , Cincinnati and 7 more

Roof signs 18 of 45 40%

San Diego , Miami , Little Rock , Fontana , Hayward , Pasadena , Coral Springs , Jacksonville , Naperville , Jackson , Fargo , Cincinnati and 6 more

Revolving or rotating signs 14 of 45 31%

Little Rock , Chandler , Glendale , Irvine , Jacksonville , St Petersburg , Naperville , Fargo , Tulsa , Clarksville , Waco , Hampton and 2 more

Abandoned signs 10 of 45 22%

Little Rock , Chandler , Fontana , Coral Springs , St Petersburg , Lansing , Jackson , Charleston , Hampton , Kenosha

Signs on trees or rocks 10 of 45 22%

Modesto , Tallahassee , Lansing , Jackson , Tulsa , Charleston , Denton , Virginia beach , Green Bay , Kenosha

Signs on parked vehicles 8 of 45 18%

Fontana , Irvine , Coral Springs , St Petersburg , Lansing , Charleston , Knoxville , Waco

How cities regulate digital signs

Electronic message centres are the most tightly controlled category, and the controls are remarkably consistent.

Counted across the 41 cities whose code states a rule on this. Cities that are silent are left out rather than counted as "no".

Minimum dwell time between messages 23 of 41 56%

Baltimore , Oklahoma City , Glendale , Mesa , Fontana , Modesto , Jacksonville , Orlando , St Petersburg , Tallahassee , Naperville , Shreveport and 11 more

Transitions restricted (no scroll, fade or travel) 22 of 41 54%

San Diego , Huntsville , Glendale , Mesa , Fontana , Hayward , Irvine , Modesto , Tallahassee , Shreveport , Lansing , St Louis and 10 more

Brightness limit 18 of 41 44%

Oklahoma City , Chandler , Glendale , Mesa , Fontana , Hayward , Modesto , Orlando , St Petersburg , Tallahassee , Shreveport , Fargo and 6 more

Requires special or conditional approval 9 of 41 22%

San Diego , St Petersburg , Naperville , Boston , Lansing , Tulsa , Knoxville , Madison , Nashville

How cities regulate illumination

Every code in the set says something about lighting.

Counted across the 51 cities whose code states a rule on this. Cities that are silent are left out rather than counted as "no".

Flashing prohibited 22 of 51 43%

San Diego , Denver , Miami , New York , Oklahoma City , Huntsville , Little Rock , Mesa , Scottsdale , Fontana , Modesto , Gainesville and 10 more

Brightness or foot-candle limit 19 of 51 37%

Miami , Oklahoma City , Chandler , Fontana , Pasadena , Orlando , Tallahassee , Naperville , Shreveport , Jackson , Tulsa , Knoxville and 7 more

Restricted near residential areas 17 of 51 33%

Oklahoma City , Chandler , Mesa , Hayward , Irvine , Pasadena , Orlando , Lansing , Fargo , Reno , Salem , Charleston and 5 more

Internal illumination explicitly allowed 15 of 51 29%

San Diego , Miami , Mesa , Hayward , Pasadena , Coral Springs , Orlando , St Petersburg , Naperville , Cincinnati , Salem , Knoxville and 3 more

Curfew or hours restriction 7 of 51 14%

Pasadena , Fargo , Salem , Amarillo , Newport News , Richmond , Kenosha

Use this data

Free to use with attribution. No permission needed.

Suggested citation

PrinterFlo (2026). What 54 US sign codes actually say. https://printerflo.com/sign-codes/statistics/

How this was counted

Each city's sign chapter was read in full and its rules extracted with a verbatim quote from the ordinance attached to every figure. A rule that could not be quoted was discarded rather than published, so these counts run only over rules a reader can check on the city page.

Denominators differ by section because they count only the cities whose code addresses that subject. A city silent on digital signs is not evidence that digital signs are unregulated there, so it is excluded rather than counted as a "no".

This is not a random sample. It is 54 cities whose codes were reachable — weighted toward places that publish machine-readable ordinances. Treat it as a survey of those 54, not as a projection onto every American city.

Last computed 2026-08-02.

Looking for market data instead — industry size, shop counts, wages? See our sourced sign industry statistics page.

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