Freestanding signs at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Which cities give a number? | 24 of the 33 city pages state at least one area or height figure for a freestanding, monument, pole or ground sign. Nine do not: Dallas, Washington DC, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Sacramento and Seattle. Fort Worth bans pole signs outright and Miami lists freestanding signs as prohibited while allowing monuments, so those two still give you an answer even without a size. |
| How big? | Among the 18 cities that give a square-foot range, the smallest cap is typically 50 sq ft (the middle value) and the largest typically 165 sq ft. The extremes are Boston at 32 sq ft for everyone and Houston at up to 600 sq ft for a site with four or more businesses. |
| How tall? | Among 21 cities that give a height range, the lowest limit is typically 8 ft and the highest typically 30 ft. Boston stops at 6 ft; Chicago and San Antonio reach 50 ft; Houston 42½ ft. |
| What sets the limit? | Four things, often combined: your zoning district (Boston, Charlotte, Reno, Portland, Tucson), your street frontage (Austin, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Chicago, Portland), the class of the street in front of you (Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, Albuquerque) and the type of structure (Raleigh, Tucson, Fort Collins, Baltimore, Indianapolis). |
| Is a monument sign always the smaller one? | Not always. Baltimore’s monument is larger than its pole sign in C-2 (32 against 16 sq ft), but in Tucson the pole sign is the bigger one (72 against 50 sq ft). Fort Collins gives both 90 sq ft and lets the pole go higher. |
| Does a freestanding sign cost me wall sign area? | Sometimes. Portland drops the wall allowance from 1½ to 1 sq ft per foot, and Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Portland rule out a projecting sign on a frontage with a freestanding one. Jacksonville’s CO and CRO districts allow only a 5 sq ft wall sign next to a monument. See the wall sign hub. |
What each city allows
Each row repeats what the city page states, with the section the page cites. The city name opens that page, which links the code text. Where a column says “Not stated on our page”, we have no verified figure and give none. Zones differ from city to city, so read the last column before you compare two rows.
| City | Sign types | Maximum area | Maximum height | Number, setback or spacing | Zone the figure applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque | Freestanding (monument named for multifamily sites) | 50 sq ft in MX-T and MX-FB-ID; 100 sq ft in MX-L; 100, 200 or 300 sq ft elsewhere in the table, depending on whether the street is local or collector, arterial or interstate, or the sign sits within 200 ft of an interstate lane and can be seen from it | 9 ft, 18 ft, then 26 ft, in the same column order | One per premises per street frontage, and only where the premises has at least 100 ft of frontage (or shares a Joint Sign Premises). A frontage with a freestanding sign cannot also have projecting signs. | Mixed-use districts, NR-C, NR-LM and NR-GM (IDO Table 5-12-3). La Cueva allows monument signs only, 50 sq ft and 8 ft. |
| Atlanta | Freestanding (detached); shopping center sign as an alternative | 60 sq ft in the required front yard setback; inside the buildable area it can grow to 100 sq ft (90 sq ft on a corner lot, growing to 130). A shopping center sign may be 200 sq ft in place of the freestanding sign. | 35 ft in C-1 to C-5, I-1 and I-2; 24 ft in O-I | May not go up before the principal building is on the lot. In O-I the sign is either flat on the wall or at least 20 ft from the street property line. | C-1 to C-5, I-1, I-2 and O-I (§16-28A.010). |
| Austin | Freestanding | Sized from street frontage: 0.7 sq ft per foot up to 200 sq ft (250 sq ft multi-tenant) in the commercial district; 0.7 per foot up to 300 sq ft in the expressway corridor; 0.5 per foot up to 200 sq ft downtown; 0.3 per foot up to 100 sq ft in neighborhood commercial; 0.4 per foot up to 64 sq ft on a scenic roadway | 30 ft above street pavement grade or 6 ft above the base, whichever is greater (commercial district example, §25-10-130) | One per lot. Frontage over 400 ft, a corner lot or a pad site can add signs (§25-10-131). | Sign districts of Chapter 25-10, Article 6; the 30 ft height is the page’s commercial-district example. |
| Baltimore | Monument; pole | Monument 32 sq ft in C-1, C-1-VC and C-2, 50 sq ft in C-3 and C-4. Pole sign: not listed in C-1 and C-1-VC, 16 sq ft in C-2, 32 sq ft in C-3 and C-4. | Monument 6 ft. Pole signs need a pole at least 10 ft; the sign itself is 6 ft tall at most in C-2 and up to 20 ft in C-3 and C-4. | Monument: one per lot, lot frontage of at least 50 ft. Pole sign in C-3 and C-4: frontage of at least 100 ft. A freestanding sign stays within 20 ft of the front or corner side lot line and never over the public right-of-way. | C-1, C-1-VC, C-2, C-3, C-4 (Table 17-201, §17-408). |
| Boston | Free-standing | 32 sq ft | 6 ft | One per lot frontage, in a front yard. Set back 3 ft from property lines with nothing over the public right of way, 5 ft from a driveway or drive aisle and 10 ft from the nearest building. | All zoning districts under the new Article 11 (Tables 11.A and 11.G); more than this is a conditional use. |
| Charlotte | Ground (monument construction; pole allowed in CG, CR and the manufacturing districts) | 36 sq ft in N1, N2, NC, CAC, TOD-CC, TOD-TR, Campus and IMU; 84 sq ft in CG, CR, ML-1 and ML-2; prohibited in RAC, UE, UC, TOD-UC and TOD-NC | 7 ft; 30 ft in CG, CR, ML-1 and ML-2 | One per street frontage under 400 ft, one more on 400 ft or more, 200 ft apart. Where a pole sign is allowed it is one per lot at 84 sq ft. | Districts as listed (UDO Table 22-3). |
| Chicago | Freestanding | Up to 50% of the lot’s maximum total sign area. That total is 3 × street frontage or 600 sq ft (B1, B2), 5 × or 800 (DC, DX), 4 × or 1,500 (B3, C1, C3, DS) or 5 × or 1,800 (C2, M), whichever is less. | 24 ft; 35 ft on a lot with more than 75 ft of frontage on one street whose right-of-way is over 80 ft wide; 50 ft with more than 150 ft of such frontage | On a lot over 1 acre with several street frontages the total is figured per frontage. | B, C, M, DC, DX and DS districts (§17-12-1003-E). |
| Columbus | Ground | 300 sq ft at most within the first 100 ft of setback from the street right-of-way, or the Graphics Code allowance if that is smaller | Not stated on our page (set in the §3377.05 tables, which the page does not reproduce) | At least 15 ft back from any street right-of-way line (§3377.17 A). | Graphics Code citywide; special graphics control areas, planned districts and approved graphics plans differ. |
| Dallas | Not stated on our page (the page covers attached signs only) | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | The page says detached monument and pole signs follow separate rules it does not cover. | — |
| Washington, DC | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | Only a small-sign case appears: up to three unlit signs of 4 sq ft each standing free of the building and more than 20 ft behind the building line. | Commercial and PDR zones (Building Code Appendix N). |
| Denver | Ground | Not stated on our page (a ground sign draws on the same per-use total as every other permanent sign) | 32 ft in Tier 1, Tier 2 and industrial districts; 25 ft in residential mixed-use and Mixed Use 2x districts | A use may have the greater of 5 signs or 2 per front line of the zone lot (3 per front line in Tier 2 and I-A/I-B). | Districts named in each cell (Denver Zoning Code Division 10.10). |
| Fort Collins | Monument; pole (primary), plus secondary ground signs | Primary: up to 90 sq ft per face for a monument or a pole sign at a setback of 36 ft or more; at the street line 45 sq ft for a monument and 20 sq ft for a pole. Secondary: 16 sq ft (20 in the residential neighborhood district). | Primary: up to 12 ft for a monument and 18 ft for a pole; at the street line 7 ft and 10 ft. Secondary: 4 ft (5 ft in the residential neighborhood district). | One primary sign per site; at least 75 ft between ground signs. Secondary signs: one per vehicular access point, 2 ft from the right-of-way and 10 ft from property lines, no poles. | Most districts (§5.16.2(G), Tables (G)(1) and (G)(2)). |
| Fort Worth | Pole signs are prohibited; monument not covered | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | The sign code bans pole signs outright, with no exception in that item (§6.405(d)). | Citywide. |
| Honolulu | One unlit ground sign per lot | 24 sq ft in B-2 and BMX-3; 32 sq ft in industrial and industrial-commercial mixed-use districts | Not stated on our page | Only where the buildings sit more than 50 ft back. A ground sign may not project into the public right-of-way. | B-2, BMX-3 and industrial districts (ROH §21-7.40(g), (i)). |
| Houston | Ground (every permanent sign other than a wall or marquee sign counts as one) | By street category, single business: 100 sq ft (A), 150 (B), 225 (C), 60 (D), 150 (E). Four or more businesses: 300, 450, 600, 180, 450. | Single business: 14 ft (A), 20 (B), 42½ (C), 8 (D), 31 (E). Four or more businesses: 24, 31, 42½, 12, 31. | A single-business sign on a site that could use the Category B or C multi-tenant standard is held to the next smaller category, unless it is more than 350 ft from another ground sign. | Category A scenic and historical streets; B major thoroughfares and collectors; C freeways and highways; D local streets; E Airport Corridor freeways (Table 4611). |
| Indianapolis | Monument; pylon; pole | Frontage formula: 1.5 sq ft per foot for the first 50 ft of oriented frontage, then 0.5 per foot to 500 ft with a 200 sq ft cap, then 0.5 per foot beyond with a 300 sq ft ceiling. Central business districts: 1 sq ft per foot, 100 sq ft maximum. | Monument 10 ft, pylon 25 ft, pole 20 ft; in the central business districts monument 10 ft and pylon 20 ft | Pole signs are not allowed in Mixed-Use or any central business district; pylons in Mixed-Use only in MU-3 and MU-4. A second sign needs oriented frontage over 500 ft and 300 ft of separation. Central business districts: monument 0 ft and pylon 10 ft from the right-of-way. | Commercial, industrial and Mixed-Use districts (Table 744-906-1); central business districts (Table 744-906-5). |
| Jacksonville | Street frontage sign (ground, freestanding or roof); monument in CO and CRO | 1 sq ft per linear foot of street frontage, up to 200 sq ft for each 200 ft in CN and 300 sq ft for each 300 ft in CCG, CCBD, CR and industrial districts. CO and CRO: one monument sign up to 24 sq ft. | CO and CRO monument: 12 ft. Residential districts: ground or freestanding signs up to 20 ft. | One per lot per street, at least 200 ft apart. In residential districts the sign stays out of any required yard. A CO or CRO site with a monument sign gets only a 5 sq ft wall sign. | CN, CCG, CCBD, CR, industrial, CO, CRO and residential districts (§656.1303). |
| Los Angeles | Monument and pole signs appear only in the combined cap and the C1 ban | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | All sign types together may not exceed 4 sq ft per foot of street frontage. C1 and C1.5 allow no monument or pole signs. A ground sign of 20 sq ft or less, no more than 6 ft 6 in high, unlit, is a no-permit case, not a general limit. | C2 and less restrictive zones follow LAMC 14.4. |
| Las Vegas | Freestanding; monument | City, C-1/C-2/C-M/M: freestanding and monument together up to 2 sq ft per foot of frontage, monument up to 75 sq ft. Other City districts: freestanding 48 sq ft (P-O) or 75 or 100 sq ft, monument 75 sq ft. Clark County: freestanding 5 sq ft per foot of all frontages combined in CR (the Strip), 1.25 sq ft per foot of one frontage in other commercial and industrial districts; monument 80 sq ft in both. | City, C-1 group: freestanding up to 40 ft, monument 10 ft. Other City districts: freestanding 12 ft (P-O), 16 ft or 20 ft, monument 8 ft under 100 ft of frontage and 10 ft at 100 ft or more. County: monument 10 ft; CR freestanding up to the height of the building on site. | City: one freestanding sign per street frontage, and only one on a lot of 43,000 sq ft or less; in the C-1 group one sign per 200 ft or portion, 100 ft apart. A freestanding sign rules out a projecting sign. County CR: one freestanding sign per 100 ft. | City LVMC 19.08.120 Tables 12 and 13; Clark County Title 30 §30.05.02. These figures appear in the page’s checker output rather than its fixed text. |
| Miami | Monument; freestanding signs are on the prohibited list | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | No more than two monument signs per establishment (worded as guidance), on the principal frontage inside the base building line, up to two display surfaces, and not in the public right-of-way unless Public Works agrees. | Citywide. |
| Nashville | Ground (pole or monument) | From the district group’s lot-frontage table: from 32 sq ft on a lot under 50 ft wide in the §17.32.110 districts up to 480 sq ft in the §17.32.130 districts; 900 sq ft in CA only for signs facing a controlled-access highway | 20 ft in the §17.32.110 and 17.32.120 districts; 40 ft in the §17.32.130 districts | The tables also set the number of signs, the largest single sign, the total area and side setbacks. | Three district groups (Tables 17.32.110, 17.32.120 and 17.32.130D). |
| New York City | Not stated on our page (ground-supported signs appear only in the installer exemption) | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | — | — |
| Philadelphia | Freestanding | CMX-2 and CMX-2.5: 100 sq ft total; CMX-3: 100 sq ft per face, up to 2 faces; CMX-4 and CMX-5: 50 per face, up to 4 faces; CA-1: 200 per face, up to 2 faces; CA-2: 150 per face, up to 4 faces; industrial districts: 100 per face, up to 4 faces; residential districts: 15 sq ft per lot frontage for non-residential uses | 20 ft in CMX-2 and CMX-3; 10 ft in CMX-4 and CMX-5; 40 ft in CA-1 and CA-2; 20 ft in industrial districts; 7 ft in residential districts | Count: one per building (CMX-2, CMX-3), per lot frontage (CMX-4, CMX-5 and the industrial districts) or per lot (CA-1); CA-2 one per 15,000 sq ft of lot area. CMX-1 has no freestanding row. Not allowed in required setbacks in residential districts. | Residential, commercial and industrial districts (Table 14-904-1). |
| Phoenix | Not stated on our page (the page covers wall signs) | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | The page mentions a lower height limit within 50 ft of a traffic signal (8 ft, rising 1 ft for each 12 ft of added setback) but not the district ground-sign limit it works up to. | — |
| Portland | Freestanding | 1 sq ft per foot of arterial street frontage, up to 200 sq ft (CE, CM3, EG, EX, IG, IH), 100 sq ft (CI2, CM2, CX) or 50 sq ft (CM1, RX) | 25 ft, 20 ft and 15 ft in the same three groups | First group: one per site or one per 300 ft of arterial frontage; the others one per arterial frontage. A freestanding sign on a frontage lowers the wall allowance there from 1½ to 1 sq ft per foot and rules out projecting signs on it. Freestanding signs are prohibited within the freeway and bridge zones the page names. | Commercial/mixed-use, employment and industrial zones (§32.32.020, Table 2). |
| Raleigh | Low, medium and high profile ground signs; tract identification | Low profile 70 sq ft; medium profile 70 or 100 sq ft; high profile 100 sq ft; tract identification sign 160 sq ft of sign area | Low profile 3.5 ft; medium profile 15 ft (with 70 sq ft) or 10 ft (with 100 sq ft); high profile 15 ft; tract identification 6 ft | Low profile: one per street frontage, 5 lines of copy. Medium: one per site, at least 100 ft of frontage. High: one per site, at least 200 ft of frontage. | Page lists the types without a district split (UDO §7.3.8 to 7.3.11). |
| Reno | Freestanding; monument only in several districts | Residential and UT: 50 sq ft per access; urban districts: 125 sq ft (double on one acre or more); General Commercial: 150 sq ft, or 250 sq ft with over 400 ft of frontage; NC, PO and PF: 60; PGOS: 60; employment districts: 150 | Residential, UT and PGOS: 6 ft, monument only; NC, PO and PF: 8 ft, monument only (12 ft over 100 ft of frontage); urban: 8 ft (35 ft on one acre or more); General Commercial: 8 ft, 1 ft per 4 ft of frontage, 35 ft on one acre or more; employment: 25 ft | One per frontage per parcel or commercial center, a second on a site over 10 acres, and one extra 16 sq ft sign for a gas station. Gaming facilities: no area limit and up to 100 ft with a major site plan review. | District groups in Title 18 Table 5-1 (§18.05.113). |
| Sacramento | Not stated on our page (the page covers attached signs) | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | The page says detached and monument signs follow separate rules and does not give them. | — |
| San Antonio | Freestanding | One tenant: 75 sq ft (local street), 150 (arterial B or commercial collector), 240 (arterial A), 375 (expressway). Multiple tenants: 125, 250, 500 and 650, with no one tenant over 375. | One tenant: 16 ft, 24, 40, 50. Multiple tenants: 20 ft, 32, 50, 60. | One per platted lot, plus one per 150 ft of frontage; each added sign is capped at 75% of the table height and size. At least 5 ft from the street right-of-way and 10 ft from interior side lines on a local street. | By street class, not zoning district (Chapter 28 Tables 1 and 2); a residential-zone local-street case allows 36 sq ft and 8 ft. |
| San Diego | Ground (freeway-oriented in Category A only) | Table 142-12H, by right-of-way width and speed: 32 to 200 sq ft in Category A, 50 to 150 in B, 32 to 100 in C; freeway-oriented signs 300 sq ft in Category A | 30 ft in Category A, 15 ft in B, 8 ft in C (20, 15 and 8 within 100 ft of residential property); freeway-oriented 50 ft in Category A | One per street frontage; Category B needs at least 100 ft of frontage. Not in interior side or rear yards. | Sign Categories A, B and C (commercial and industrial zones; CO and IP are B, CN is C). |
| Seattle | Not stated on our page for area and height | Not stated on our page | Not stated on our page | In NC and C zones one ground, roof, projecting or combination sign (Type A) per 300 lineal ft of street frontage. A ground or pole sign needs a footing inspection before the pour. | NC and C zones. |
| San Francisco | Freestanding | No area figure for the C-2 and C-3 districts (§607 sets no area limit for business signs there); other districts: Not stated on our page | 36 ft in C-2; 40 ft in C-3 | The height appears in the page’s checker result rather than its fixed text. | C-2 and C-3 (Planning Code §607). |
| Tucson | Monument; low profile; pole | Monument 50 sq ft per face; low profile 60 sq ft per face (two faces); pole 72 sq ft per face | Monument 10 ft; low profile 8 ft; pole 12 ft | Setbacks from the curb: 20 ft (monument), twice the height (low profile), 30 ft (pole). Pole signs need 225 ft of frontage (125 ft with four or more business addresses) and pole covers. One per street frontage plus one for each 150 ft beyond the first 300 ft. | Business and industrial zones (pole signs only there); UDC §7A.10.2(C)(2). |
How the cities compare
Strictest. Boston has one limit for every district: 32 sq ft, 6 ft tall, one per lot frontage, and it must sit in a front yard set back from the property line, driveways and buildings. Baltimore’s monument signs are 32 to 50 sq ft and 6 ft. Honolulu allows a single unlit ground sign of 24 or 32 sq ft, and only where the building sits more than 50 ft back. Charlotte’s ground signs are 36 sq ft and 7 ft in most districts. Raleigh’s low profile sign tops out at 3.5 ft. Fort Worth bans pole signs and Miami lists freestanding signs as prohibited.
Most generous. Houston allows up to 600 sq ft and 42½ ft for four or more businesses on a freeway or highway. Nashville reaches 480 sq ft and 40 ft in its §17.32.130 districts, and 900 sq ft for signs aimed at a controlled-access highway in CA. San Antonio’s multi-tenant sign on an expressway can be 650 sq ft and 60 ft. Chicago allows half of a lot’s total sign area, which for a C2 or M lot can be as much as half of 1,800 sq ft (our arithmetic on the page’s table), and up to 50 ft. Reno sets no area limit for a gaming facility. On the Strip, Clark County gives 5 sq ft per foot of frontage.
Monument or nothing. Several codes decide the structure for you. Reno allows monument signs only in its residential, neighborhood commercial, professional office, public facility, parks and unincorporated transition districts. Baltimore lists no pole sign in C-1 and C-1-VC. Charlotte requires monument construction outside CG, CR and the manufacturing districts. Indianapolis bars pole signs in Mixed-Use and in every central business district. Albuquerque’s La Cueva area allows monuments only, and Los Angeles C1 and C1.5 allow neither monument nor pole signs.
Typical ranges. We took the lowest and highest single-sign figure each page gives. For area that works for 18 cities (Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Fort Collins, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland, Raleigh, Reno, San Antonio, San Diego and Tucson); the middle city’s lowest cap is 50 sq ft and its highest is 165 sq ft. For height it works for 21 cities (the same list without Honolulu, plus Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis and San Francisco); the middle lowest limit is 8 ft and the middle highest is 30 ft. Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis and Jacksonville are left out of the area figures because their pages give a formula or a single cap rather than a range. These medians describe the pages, not every parcel: they depend on which zones each page covers.
How frontage formulas work
Where a code sizes the sign from your lot, the steps are the same: measure the street frontage the sign faces, multiply by the city’s square feet per foot, then apply the cap for your zone. The lower of the two is your limit. Cities differ in what they multiply and how many caps they stack.
- One rate, one cap. Austin’s commercial district gives 0.7 sq ft per foot up to 200 sq ft, so 150 ft of frontage works out to 105 sq ft (our example). Portland gives 1 sq ft per foot of arterial frontage, so 80 ft in CM2 gives 80 sq ft, under the 100 sq ft cap.
- A rate that drops. Indianapolis pays 1.5 sq ft per foot for the first 50 ft and 0.5 after that, with ceilings of 200 and then 300 sq ft. For 120 ft of oriented frontage that is 75 plus 35, or 110 sq ft (our example).
- A share of a total. Chicago works out a lot’s total sign area first and lets the freestanding sign use half. The page’s own example: 50 ft of B1 frontage gives 150 sq ft in total and no more than 75 sq ft freestanding.
- A table by lot width. Nashville reads the sign from a lot-frontage table for the district group, which also fixes how many signs and how large the biggest one may be.
- Street class instead of frontage. Houston, San Antonio and San Diego size the sign by the street, not the lot: a local street gets the least and an expressway or freeway the most.
- A shared pot. Tucson and Fort Collins count the freestanding sign against one allowance with the wall signs, and then cap each sign type separately. Denver counts every permanent sign toward one total for the use.
Before you apply: a checklist
- Find your zoning district and, where the city uses it, your street class or sign category. Several cities give different figures to two neighbors on the same block.
- Measure the frontage the sign will face, not the whole lot, and check any minimum frontage (Albuquerque 100 ft, Baltimore 50 ft for a monument, Raleigh 100 or 200 ft for medium and high profile signs, Tucson 225 ft for a pole).
- Decide the structure early. Monument, pylon, pole and low profile signs have separate area and height caps in Indianapolis, Raleigh, Tucson and Baltimore.
- Count the signs you already have. Many codes allow one per frontage, and a second needs extra frontage or a corner lot.
- Measure the setback from the curb or property line and from driveways, buildings and the next sign (Boston, Fort Collins, Tucson and San Antonio all name distances).
- Check what the freestanding sign takes from your wall or projecting allowance.
- Expect engineering. Footing details and a stamped design come up for taller signs in Albuquerque (over 6 ft), Portland (any freestanding sign needs an engineer’s calculations) and San Antonio (over 8 ft), and Seattle inspects the footing before the pour.
- Read the city page for overlays, historic districts and special sign districts, which can replace the base numbers. Then confirm with the city before you order.
Cities where our page gives no figure
Dallas, Washington, DC, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Sacramento and Seattle do not state a size or height for a freestanding sign on our city page, and we do not fill the gap from memory. Dallas, Fort Worth, Phoenix and Sacramento keep their checkers to attached signs, so the detached rules are not on those pages. Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Seattle give only side facts such as counts, bans or an exemption. Open the city page and its source links, or ask the city, for the figure.
Questions people ask
Can I use these figures to size a sign?
Use them to compare and to know what to ask. Each figure is for the zone shown and the sections the city page cites, and overlays, planned developments and variances can change it. Confirm with the city before fabrication.
What is the difference between a monument, a pole and a ground sign?
A monument sits on a solid base. A pole sign is lifted on one or more posts and usually runs taller. “Ground sign” is the broad term many codes use for both. Charlotte, Raleigh, Tucson and Indianapolis give each its own caps.
Why do some pages say “Not stated on our page”?
Because the city page does not state the figure. We built this table only from what the 33 city pages already publish, each tied to an official source, and left the gaps open.
How is the area of a freestanding sign measured?
Each code has its own method. Indianapolis uses the smallest rectangle around the message area, and Honolulu leaves out poles and supports. See how to measure sign area.
Each figure is taken from the city page, which links the code text it was read from.
Want to know what your city will ask for? Send your sign details and we will tell you →
Ask us how the code reads for your sign
Send your sign's dimensions and the city you are in, and we will reply with what that city's code allows for that sign. No charge. We are not a sign contractor and not a permit agent.