Sign Regulations in Sacramento, CA (2026)
5 verified sign regulations for Sacramento, California, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Political Signs
Sacramento regulates signs under City Code Chapter 15.148 (Sign Ordinance). Political signs on private residential property are broadly protected under the First Amendment and California Election Code §18370. The City cannot prohibit political signs on private property during election periods. Signs in the public right-of-way are prohibited and subject to removal. There are no permit requirements for temporary political signs on private property.
Sacramento Political Sign Regulations
Some RestrictionsCal. Civ. Code § 4710
4710. (a) The governing documents may not prohibit posting or displaying of noncommercial signs, posters, flags, or banners on or in a member’s separate interest, except as required for the protection of public health or safety or if the posting or display would violate a local, state, or federal law. (b) For purposes of this section, a noncommercial sign, poster, flag, or banner may be made of...
Garage Sale Signs
Sacramento treats a garage- or yard-sale sign as a permit-exempt "temporary sign": in residential, agricultural and open-space/business (R, A, OB) zones the total display area of all temporary signs on a parcel is capped at 10 square feet, height at 6 feet, and display at 180 days per calendar year, with strict placement limits.
Garage-Sale Sign Rules in Sacramento
Some RestrictionsSacramento City Code §§ 15.148.600(E), 15.148.630(C)(7)
Temporary signs are allowed on any developed or undeveloped parcel in any R, A, or OB zone so long as the cumulative display area of all temporary signs on the parcel does not exceed ten (10) square feet... a temporary sign may not display general advertising, may not be illuminated, may not be a roof sign, may not exceed six feet in height, and may not be displayed on a parcel more than a tota...
Digital Billboards
Sacramento bans new digital billboards outright except through a city council agreement. Section 15.148.965 lets the council authorize digital billboards only on city-owned or city-leased land next to a freeway, capped at 85 feet to the display face, a 700-square-foot display face, and still images held at least 8 seconds with no motion or flashing.
Digital Billboard Rules in Sacramento
Significant RestrictionsSacramento City Code § 15.148.965(F)
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this chapter, the maximum height of a digital-billboard structure, measured from grade to the top of the digital-display face, is 85 feet; and the overall maximum height, measured from grade to the top of the billboard structure, is 90 feet. ... the maximum area of each digital-display face is 700 square feet, and a digital billboard may have either o...
Window Signs
Sacramento City Code § 15.148.910 caps permanent window signage at two signs per ground-floor occupancy and four square feet of total area, for every building except those in the R residential and A agricultural zones. The signs count on top of whatever exterior signage the rest of Chapter 15.148 already allows that occupancy.
Sacramento Permanent Window Sign Limits
Some RestrictionsSacramento City Code § 15.148.910
Except in the R and A zones, for each ground floor occupancy of a building not more than two permanent signs may be painted on or otherwise displayed from the inside surface of any window, showcase or other similar facility. Such signs shall be in addition to those signs allowed under the other provisions of this chapter. The total area of such signs, however, shall not exceed a maximum sign ar...
Freeway-Facing Signs
Sacramento City Code § 15.148.850 has banned new off-site signs and billboards within 660 feet of any freeway right-of-way, visible to freeway traffic, since April 4, 1970: existing ones may not be altered or relocated either. On-site signs in that same freeway band face separate size and height caps under § 15.148.860, which differ by commercial or industrial zone.
Sacramento Freeway-Facing Off-Site Sign Ban
Heavy RestrictionsSacramento City Code § 15.148.850
After April 4, 1970, no new or additional off-site signs or billboards shall be erected, nor shall any existing off-site sign or billboard be altered or relocated, within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the exterior right-of-way line of any portion of a freeway or of a route for a freeway which has been adopted by the State Highway Commission, if the copy of such off-site sign or billboard is o...
Looking for Sacramento County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Sacramento city rules.
Sign Regulations in Sacramento County →