In San Francisco, your wall-sign limit depends on your neighborhood-commercial district — NC-1 storefronts get far less than NC-3, and flashing signs are banned citywide. Enter your address. We pull your zoning and flag the risk before you file a permit that bounces.
This checks on-premise business signs — a sign identifying your own business at your location. Billboards / off-premise signs are not covered.
The width of your lot/tenant space along the street. Your total sign allowance is this × a district multiplier.
Why San Francisco signs get rejected
San Francisco ties your wall-sign area to your neighborhood-commercial district and your frontage, under Planning Code Article 6, taking whichever is less of a per-foot multiplier or a hard cap. NC-1 gets 1 sq ft per foot up to 50; NC-2 gets 2× up to 100; NC-3 and busy corridors get 3× up to 150 (Planning Code §607.1). Flashing and animated signs are prohibited in these districts. If your second storefront is up the valley, none of this carries over — Sacramento runs its own sign ordinance, which we walk through in the Sacramento sign rules.
This tool reads the same zoning rules the Department of Buildings enforces and tells you where your plan stands before you pay for fabrication or file a permit.
San Francisco sign allowance by district
Maximum total on-premise sign area. "Mult" = multiply by your street frontage in feet; cap is the hard ceiling.
District
Max wall sign area
Flashing
NC-1
×1, max 50 (lesser)
Prohibited
NC-2 / NC-S / RC / NCT-2
×2, max 100 (lesser)
Prohibited
NC-3 / NCT-3 / C-2
×3, max 150 (lesser)
Prohibited
Source: SF Planning Code Article 6 (§602–607). "Lesser" = smaller of frontage×multiplier or the cap. Flashing and animated signs are prohibited.
How to apply for a San Francisco sign permit
San Francisco reviews your sign twice — Planning first, then Building — and one piece of paperwork can stop the permit from issuing at all.
1. Pull your neighborhood-commercial district
Article 6 takes whichever is less of a per-foot multiplier or a hard cap: NC-1 is 1 sq ft per foot up to 50, NC-2 is 2× up to 100, NC-3 and busy corridors are 3× up to 150.
2. Check the window-sign limit
Article 6 caps window signs at one-third of the area of the window they are placed on or in.
3. Rule out prohibited sign types
Flashing, animated, and moving-light signs are prohibited in commercial districts and digital displays in most. Illuminated signs must be off when you are closed.
4. Get your Business Registration Certificate
A permit will not issue without a valid San Francisco Business Registration Certificate.
5. File Planning review first, then DBI
Most signs go through Planning Department review under Article 6, then DBI for building-code review. San Francisco requires a licensed sign hanger for installation.
Steps assembled from the confirmed items on this page. Fees and what drives the schedule are covered in "Cost, timeline & temporary banners" below — not repeated here.
Questions owners ask
Does illumination cut my allowance like in NYC?
No. SF prohibits flashing, animated, and moving-light signs in commercial districts, and digital displays in most. Illuminated signs must be off when you're closed.
How much of my window can a sign cover?
In the neighborhood-commercial districts Article 6 limits all window signs together to one-third of the area of the window they are placed on or in. The 75% figure in Article 6 is something else — it caps how far a projecting sign may reach over the sidewalk, not how much of a wall a sign may cover.
Who can install it?
San Francisco requires a licensed sign hanger. An unlicensed installation creates liability exposure and can void commercial insurance.
Is this an official ruling?
No. This is a first-pass risk filter on public zoning data, not a permit and not legal advice. Final dimensions are confirmed by a licensed San Francisco sign professional.
Cost, timeline & temporary banners
What does an SF sign permit cost?
SF doesn't use a single flat fee — permit fees come from the San Francisco Building Code fee table (Table 1A-H), which scales with the sign and whether it's electric. Two SF-specific gotchas: a permit won't issue without a valid San Francisco Business Registration Certificate, and if you need a variance for an exception to the sign rules, the variance application carries its own fee on top of the sign permit — we publish no amount because San Francisco Planning's fee schedule did not resolve for us, so confirm it with SF Planning before you budget. Most signs go through Planning Department review (Article 6) first, then DBI for building-code review.
How long does approval take?
The city publishes no review or processing time for a sign permit, so this page gives no number. What sets the length is the path: an over-the-counter replacement, a standard Planning-then-DBI review, a historic-district review, and anything triggering neighborhood notification are four different queues. Ask Planning and DBI for the current wait on your path before you commit to an opening date.
Can I hang a "Grand Opening" banner first?
Temporary banners and sidewalk A-frames are handled outside Article 6 and need their own permits — check with Planning and Public Works before putting one out. Article 6 does cap window signs at one-third of the window area. Banners on City streetlight poles go through Public Works and are limited to non-profit, cultural, or civic organizations — not standard business promotion.
Source: SF Planning (Signs, Planning Code Article 6); SF Department of Building Inspection (Building Code Table 1A-H); SF Public Works (banners). Fees and timelines change — confirm current figures with SF Planning and DBI before filing.
Sources and official references:San Francisco Planning Code — SEC. 607.1, Neighborhood Commercial and Residential-Commercial Districts and Article 6 Signs, definitions and exempted signs. Measured on 21 September 2026: both nodes read as text through our collector. SEC. 607.1 carries the district multipliers and caps quoted here, whichever is less, and caps window signs at one-third of the window area. Figures this page used to quote that are not in Article 6 — a wall-coverage ceiling, a permit validity period, and a temporary-banner threshold — have been removed; the wall-coverage figure was Article 6’s limit on how far a projecting sign may reach over the sidewalk.
Last inspected against the official code: June 2026 · confirm current rules with the city before you file