Horry County, SC Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

C of the Horry County Zoning Ordinance limits digital displays to 1,000 nits of brightness at night; if the sign sits within 200 feet of a residential zone or use, it must either face away from that area or drop to 250 nits after dark. Every digital sign must include a light-sensing device that automatically adjusts brightness as ambient daylight changes, and permit applications must include manufacturer documentation confirming the sign will auto-dim at night. Animation is tightly restricted: parcels with less than 300 linear feet of road frontage cannot have an animated digital sign at all, and where animation is allowed it is capped at 10 percent of the sign's allowable area in the Highway Commercial (HC) district and 20 percent in the Amusement Commercial (AC) district.

Any message or copy displayed must hold static for at least 8 seconds, and the transition between messages must be instantaneous, with no fade-in or fade-out effect; a malfunctioning sign must default to freezing on one static message. On-premises digital signs cannot exceed 50 percent of the site's total allowable sign area, while off-premises message center signs may use the full permitted area. Only one digital sign is allowed per street frontage, capped at two digital freestanding signs per property, and converting any existing sign to digital requires a new permit.