Outdoor Lighting in Washington (2026)

Auburn requires all outdoor lighting fixtures covered by Chapter 18.55 ACC to be shielded on every side so the bulb…

Large retail buildings in Bellingham, Washington must shield and aim outdoor lighting downward: upward-directed…

Clark County requires outdoor lights, except seasonal holiday lights, to be directed or shielded to minimize glare…

Inside Everett's Central Waterfront Planning Area, in the Light Industrial and Heavy Industrial zones, site lighting…

Kennewick requires all outdoor light fixtures installed since Chapter 18.39 took effect to be fully shielded so no…

Kent's citywide performance standards forbid glare, whether from floodlights or from high-temperature processes like…

In the North Highline/White Center design-standards area of unincorporated King County, new and substantially improved…

New development in Kirkland's NE 85th St. Station Area must shield exterior lighting to cut uplight and light trespass…

In nearly every zoning district of unincorporated Kitsap County, Section 17.420.030(C) requires outdoor lighting to be…

Lakewood requires every outdoor luminaire to be fully shielded so no light escapes into the sky, and bans upward-aimed…

Lynnwood's Unified Development Code caps how much light a nonresidential or large multifamily site can put into the…

Marysville requires parking lots with 15 or more spaces to use full cut-off, dark-sky-rated light fixtures, capped at…

Pasco splits the city into two lighting zones and requires every outdoor lighting system to be shielded so the shield's…

New residential, civic, commercial and industrial development in unincorporated Pierce County must shield exterior…

Commercial and mixed-use exterior lighting in Port Townsend must be full cutoff, downward-pointing, and shielded to cut…

Renton requires exterior fixtures to be shielded and directed downward: building lights can't shine above the roofline…

In unincorporated Skagit County, the Unified Development Code requires full cutoff outdoor lighting fixtures within 250…

Snohomish County has no blanket dark-sky law, but its zoning use matrix forces shielded lighting on two specific uses…

Spokane County Zoning Code Chapter 14.826 requires that any outdoor lighting be positioned and shielded so it does not…

Spokane Valley requires new or modified outdoor lighting on commercial and multifamily sites to be shielded so light…

Outdoor light fixtures within 100 feet of a residential district in Tacoma must use full cutoff luminaires meeting the…

Thurston County's Village Center Ordinance requires site lighting in the Lacey Urban Growth Area to limit glare and sky…

Washington has no state dark-sky law, so Yakima relies on its Urban Area Zoning Ordinance. Site lighting must be…

Auburn requires every outdoor light fixture to be shielded on all sides so the bulb itself cannot be seen from or…

In Bellingham's Fountain District urban village, exterior building and aesthetic lighting can't exceed 1.5 footcandles…

Clark County requires outdoor lights (except holiday lights) to be directed or shielded so glare is minimized as seen…

In unincorporated Cowlitz County's Agriculture-Industrial (AG-I) zone, Cowlitz County Code § 18.10.502(H) requires that…

Edmonds requires external lights on any use to be shielded, trained or directed so they minimize glare onto adjacent…

Everett requires parking-area security lighting to use full cut-off, dark-sky-rated fixtures mounted no higher than…

FWRC 7.05.030 makes glare from any artificial surface a public nuisance and code violation whenever it annoys, injures…

Exterior lighting on any use or sign in unincorporated Grant County has to be shielded or recessed so glare and…

Kennewick requires every outdoor light fixture installed since 2007 to be fully shielded so light does not spill above…

Kent's zoning performance standards bar any direct or sky-reflected glare that is visible at a property's own lot…

In unincorporated King County's North Highline design-review area, new commercial and multifamily buildings must aim…

Kirkland requires every development citywide to select, place and direct light sources so glare does not extend onto…

Kitsap County caps how much artificial light a development may throw onto neighboring land: Section 17.420.030(C)(1)…

Lakewood's outdoor lighting code caps how much light a fixture can throw onto a neighbor's property. Under LMC…

Lynnwood requires outdoor lighting fixtures within 50 feet of a residential zone to stay under 15 feet high and be…

In Marysville's Downtown Master Plan Area, every outdoor light fixture must be fully shielded so no glare crosses onto…

Pierce County's exterior illumination standards in PCC 18J.15.085 require lighting to avoid glare and light trespass…

Port Townsend requires shielded, downward-pointed exterior lighting to cut glare and nighttime light pollution on…

In Puyallup's multifamily RM zones, building-mounted lighting must be aimed away from neighboring residences and…

Renton flatly bars any use or activity from causing light trespass beyond a property's boundary lines, and the rule…

Seattle's Land Use Code requires exterior lighting on commercially zoned lots to be shielded and pointed away from…

SCC 14.20.040 caps light spilling onto a neighbor's land at one foot-candle at the property boundary and requires full…

In unincorporated Snohomish County outdoor lighting must be hooded or shaded so that direct light does not glare onto…

Under Spokane County Zoning Code 14.826.100, outdoor lights must be shielded so they do not shine directly onto a…

Spokane Valley requires all outdoor lighting in residential zones to be shielded so it doesn't spill glare onto…

Lighting on non-residential sites in Tacoma cannot exceed 3 lux at the property line of any adjacent residential…

Thurston County's zoning code requires any operation that produces intense heat or glare to run inside an enclosure…

Whatcom County zoning requires outdoor lights be arranged to direct light away from adjoining property and public…

Yakima requires parking lot lighting near homes to use down-shielding so no glare or light pollution spills onto…

Every exterior light fixture on a use or sign in unincorporated Yakima County has to be shielded and aimed downward…

Franklin County requires outdoor residential lighting in all residential zoning districts to be arranged so it does not…

Within Sammamish's shoreline jurisdiction along Lake Sammamish, Pine Lake, and Beaver Lake, SMC 25.06.020(6) bars…

Port Townsend's sign code defines billboard signs as off-premises advertising displays and prohibits them outright…

Billboards are banned outright in every zone in unincorporated Spokane County under SCC 14.804.050(10), so there is no…

Lynnwood bans erecting any new billboard citywide, and every illuminated sign, including a legally existing billboard…

SCC 30.27.080(8) caps digital billboard brightness at 5,000 nits by day and only 500 nits between sunset and sunrise as…

Tacoma bans internally illuminated and flashing billboards and requires all billboard lighting to shut off between…

Billboards within one hundred fifty to three hundred feet of a residential district in Yakima must be capped at one…

Yakima County bars illuminated billboards near homes under Code § 19.20.130. Off-premises signs, including billboards…

Everett requires billboard lighting to be shielded so it doesn't affect nearby homes or drivers, bans blinking and…

Unincorporated King County allows billboards to be illuminated, but light sources must sit no farther from the sign…

Lakewood, Washington restricts billboard illumination under LMC 18A.100.080(D)(6)(c). Billboards may not carry…

Pasco's outdoor lighting chapter expressly includes billboard lighting as a regulated fixture. Illuminating an outdoor…

Pierce County bans flashing, intermittent or moving billboard lights outright under PCC 18A.55.010.E. Any other…

SMC 23.55.014(E)(3) caps how brightly Seattle billboards and other off-premises signs can be lit: incandescent…

Spokane Valley has no lighting standard written specifically for billboards; instead, the general sign-lighting rule in…