Outdoor Lighting in Nashville, TN (2026)
3 verified outdoor lighting rules for Nashville, Tennessee, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Dark Sky Rules
Metro Nashville requires full cutoff outdoor light fixtures and lets commercial developers meet International Dark-Sky Association model lighting standards instead of the code's own foot-candle and lumen caps.
Metro Nashville Outdoor Lighting Dark-Sky Rules
Some RestrictionsMetropolitan Code of Laws § 17.28.100(E)(1)(c)
As an alternative to compliance with the foregoing provisions of this section, an applicant may choose to comply with The International Dark Sky Association (IDA) model legislation of June 2011 (located at https://www.darksky.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/16_MLO_FINAL_JUNE2011.PDF.) except no special permit referenced in section VI.B of the model legislation shall be required. For spec...
Light Trespass & Shielding
Metro Nashville requires all outdoor lighting, including residential security floodlights, to be full cutoff and shielded so light stays on the property, capping spill at adjacent residential lines at 0.5 foot-candles.
Security Light Shielding Rules in Nashville
Some RestrictionsMetropolitan Code of Laws § 17.28.100(E)(4)(a) and (F)(1)
4.Light Trespass:a.All site lighting shall be shielded so that substantially all directly emitted light falls within the property line. No illumination in excess of one-half foot-candle shall be permitted across the boundary of any adjacent residential property or the mid-line of a public street.b.No illumination shall produce direct, incident or reflected light that interferes with the safe mo...
Billboard Lighting
Metro Nashville caps billboard brightness at 200 foot-lamberts for internally lit signs or 75 footcandles for indirect lighting, and requires billboards within 500 feet of residential zoning to go dark from midnight to 6 a.m.
Nashville Billboard Lighting Limits
Some RestrictionsMetropolitan Code of Laws § 17.32.150(B)(16)
The brightness and surface illumination shall not exceed two hundred-foot lamberts for a billboard having internal illumination or seventy-five footcandles for a billboard having indirect illumination. Billboards located within five hundred feet of property classified in a residential district shall not be illuminated between the hours of twelve a.m. and six a.m. (Ord. BL2019-...