Yellowstone County, MT Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 27-1009.M, Home Occupations, treats a home-based business as a use that has to stay invisible from the street, and the sign rule is the clearest expression of that. Section 27-1009.M.1(h) states there shall be no sign advertising or calling attention to the home occupation on the premises, full stop; there is no size or lighting exception carved out the way there is for other accessory uses in this same article, such as the community garden identification sign allowed under Section 27-1009.I.3. A home occupation gets zero signage, not a smaller allowance.

The section pairs that with a broader visibility rule in Section 27-1009.M.1(i): there shall be no display, evidence, or activity apparent from the exterior of the lot which would indicate that the premises are being used for any purpose other than that of a dwelling. Read together, the two paragraphs mean a home business has to be undetectable from the curb, not just unsigned; a company vehicle wrapped in advertising, stacked inventory visible through a window, or a sandwich board in the yard could all run afoul of (i) even without a traditional sign. The code does allow one parked business vehicle on the premises under Section 27-1009.M.1(k), but that same paragraph requires anything rated over 12,000 GVW to be stored elsewhere, and nothing in the section exempts that vehicle from the no-advertising and no-exterior-evidence rules if it is used to publicize the business.