Trenton, NJ Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

" That standard is deliberately narrow compared to commercial sign allowances elsewhere in the zoning ordinance. It permits exactly one sign, meaning a home business cannot pair a wall sign with a yard sign or window sign and stay compliant. The sign must be non-illuminated, so internally lit, backlit, or spotlight-illuminated signs are not allowed regardless of size. The sign must also be affixed to a structure, ruling out freestanding or ground-mounted signs such as A-frame or post-and-panel signs, which the code defines and regulates separately elsewhere in Chapter 315.

5-square-foot area cap is small: roughly the size of a large piece of printer paper, intended to let a home business identify itself without projecting a commercial storefront presence into a residential block. L, which requires the entire home business to avoid any exterior display or activity that indicates the structure is being used for anything other than a residence, so the sign is the one narrow exception carved out of that general no-exterior-indicators rule.