Memphis, TN Sign Regulations: Digital Billboards (2026)

Memphis Code Section 12-36-6, the general CBID sign standards, governs all signage within the Central Business Improvement District, an area generally bounded by the Wolf River, Crump Boulevard, the Tennessee state line and Danny Thomas Boulevard, with an extension covering the medical center. Subsection G addresses ground signs, defined as freestanding elements including pole-mounted and monument signs, permitted only where an activity is set back at least 35 feet from the street or public right-of-way. Pole signs are capped at 20 feet tall with a sign cabinet no larger than 45 square feet and must sit at least 300 feet from any other pole sign; monument signs are capped at 35 square feet and six feet tall.

Item 3 of subsection G then imposes a flat ban: changeable copy signs of any type are not allowed, expressly including individual cabinets built into a pole sign or portable readerboard signs, the provision that reaches digital or electronic message displays on ground signs. The CBID sign code is administered by the design review board referenced throughout Section 12-36-6, and all signs are otherwise required to be scaled to their context and to avoid intruding on a building's architectural detail. Section 12-36-1 established this uniform CBID sign code by Ordinance No.

4750 in 2000, and the design regulations apply to any property located within the CBID boundaries mapped in Section 12-36-4, layered atop the general Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code sign rules that apply citywide.