Pierce County, WA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Pierce County Code 18B.10.040 defines temporary signs to include banners, garage sale signs, pennants, feather/sail signs, window signs, A-boards, and yard signs, built from cloth, paper, plastic, or similar material and not intended for ongoing advertising. Subsection A.1 caps most temporary signs at one per road frontage per establishment at any one time, but it carves out yard signs entirely: "any number of yard signs may be displayed." That makes a political yard sign the least-regulated sign type in the county code. Table 18B.10.040-1 lists the duration for a yard sign as "Not Applicable," meaning no consecutive-day or cumulative-day limit applies most of the year; the only exception, printed as a footnote to the table, is that an event-related yard sign, which covers a candidate's or measure's election sign, "must be removed within 10 days following completion of the event." Placement is still restricted: subsection A.2 bars any temporary sign from a public right-of-way, and PCC 18B.20.030.A.2.i lists "Temporary signs as described in PCC 18B.10.040" among the sign types exempt from the county's sign permit requirement, so a resident does not file a permit application before posting a yard sign.

Signs may not flash, blink, spin, block traffic visibility, or create a public nuisance, and PCC 18B.10.060.A.3 separately bars any sign from being attached to a utility pole, traffic sign, or fire hydrant in the right-of-way, citing RCW 70.54.090. A property owner who wants to deviate from a numeric limit, such as displaying more than one non-yard temporary sign per frontage, can apply for an administrative sign variance under PCC 18B.10.080 if the deviation is 20 percent or less, or seek a Hearing Examiner variance for larger deviations, with appeals running through Chapter 1.22 PCC.