St. Louis County, MO Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 1003.168 sets two size numbers that work together, and residents in unincorporated St. Louis County routinely misread one of them. Eight square feet is the ceiling for any single sign. Sixteen square feet is the ceiling for the lot or unit as a whole. That means the code contemplates roughly two full-size signs per property, or a larger number of small ones, as long as the combined face area stays at or under sixteen square feet. Adding a third four-by-two sign to a yard that already has two of them puts the lot over the total even though no individual sign is oversized.

The placement rule has no gray area: these signs must be erected only on private property. A campaign sign in a median, a tree lawn, or any other portion of the public right-of-way is not authorized by the section, and neither is one on county-owned ground. Permission from the property owner is what makes a location lawful, not proximity to a polling place or an intersection.

The timing rule is stated only on the back end. The signs must be removed within seven days after the election for which they were made, which puts the cleanup duty on the property owner rather than on the campaign, since the sign sits on that owner's private property. A sign for a primary is 'made for' that primary, so the seven-day clock runs from that election rather than from November.

The surrounding sign regulations follow the same logic for other temporary messages. Real estate signs under §1003.168D may be erected only on the property being offered for sale. Garage sale signs are prohibited in the public right-of-way. Decorative holiday displays may go up as much as 30 days before the holiday and must come down within 7 days after it, which mirrors the political sign removal window.