Bernalillo County, NM Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)
Key Facts
- Where billboards are allowed
- C-2 and M-1 zones only
- Flashing/blinking lights
- Prohibited on all billboards
- East Mountain Area
- Off-premise sign illumination banned outright
- Countywide illuminated signs
- Auto timer off 11 p.m.–sunrise
- Albuquerque
- Not covered: has its own IDO
Summary
In the C-2 and M-1 zones of unincorporated Bernalillo County, billboards can't flash, blink, or use intermittent lighting: a bar on animated LED and digital message displays under the county's 1973 zoning ordinance.
(c)No flashing, blinking or intermittent lights shall be permitted, and no billboard shall be illuminated by red, green, or amber lights which interfere with a traffic control signal or device. No power pack units shall be allowed.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 92).
Full Breakdown
Bernalillo County's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance permits billboards only in the C-2 Community Commercial and M-1 Light Industrial zones, and Section 15 bars flashing, blinking, or intermittent lighting on any billboard, plus red, green, or amber illumination that could be mistaken for a traffic signal: language written for incandescent chasing lights but broad enough to block LED changeable-message boards. Separately, in the East Mountain Area (the county's rural eastern end), off-premise sign illumination is banned outright, and any illuminated outdoor advertising sign elsewhere must run on an automatic timer that cuts the lights between 11 p.m. and sunrise. None of this reaches Albuquerque, which regulates its own billboards under the city's Integrated Development Ordinance.
Violations & Fines
Zoning enforcement can order noncompliant billboards altered or removed; East Mountain light-pollution violations carry up to a $300 fine and 90 days in county jail per section 30-215, with each day a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a digital billboard operate in unincorporated Bernalillo County?
Do these rules apply inside Albuquerque?
What's different in the East Mountain Area?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bernalillo County
Compare Bernalillo County to another location·View the New Mexico sign regulations overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.