Pima County, AZ Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Pima County Code Chapter 18.79 splits window signage into two tracks. Permanent window signs, covered at Section 18.79.080(I), are allowed only on-site and only in non-residential areas: no window sign on a house or apartment. Sign copy may cover up to 30 percent of the window face, though lettering three inches tall or smaller on a permanent sign doesn't count toward that allotment at all. Placement is restricted to first- and second-floor building windows, and a site may run at most two illuminated window signs total, one per street frontage, with internal illumination only, no external floodlighting of the glass.

Temporary window signs, at Section 18.79.090(F), are tighter: a 25-percent-of-window cap, and unlike the permanent rule, a temporary sign is barred from the exterior side of the glass entirely, it must go up on the inside. Section 18.79.040(A)(2) backs this up by separately banning cloth or paper signs stuck to the outside surface of a window or building unless the piece qualifies as a private, temporary sign in a residential area or is permitted as a banner. Every temporary sign, window or otherwise, must also carry the owner's name and phone number, and can't include amplified sound, animation, streamers, or balloons.

A window sign that meets either the 18.79.080(I) or 18.79.090(F) standards is exempt from the chapter's permit and fee requirements under Section 18.79.050(L), though a building or electrical permit can still apply. Anything larger has to come down as a sign-permit violation.