Sign Regulations in Washington (2026)

Bellevue allows political signs on private property year-round under BCC 22B.10.120(F), but signs promoting candidates…

Clark County's sign code treats political and other noncommercial messages as on-premises signs. Any sign displaying a…

Edmonds allows campaign signs in every zone as temporary signage, with no numeric cap on off-premises postings…

Everett, Washington treats political and yard signs the same as any other temporary sign: residential lots get up to…

Franklin County lets residents post political signs in every zoning district without a sign permit, capping them at…

Political signs on private property need the owner's written consent, and unincorporated King County requires them…

Kitsap County allows political campaign signs in the county right-of-way up to four square feet and forty inches tall…

Port Townsend lets you post political signs on private property without a permit, but caps their size and gives you 10…

Puyallup treats political signs as freestanding temporary signs under Puyallup Municipal Code § 20.60.070: they are…

Renton allows political signs on private property with the owner's consent and on the public right-of-way, capped at 32…

SMC 23.55.012 sets Seattle's limits on political and other noncommercial signs. Real estate, contractor, and…

A temporary political sign on private land in unincorporated Skagit County is exempt from sign permits under SCC…

In unincorporated Snohomish County political signs are exempt from zone bans and number/square-footage limits, but they…

Tacoma treats political signs as temporary signs: capped at two per issue, 4 square feet per side, 3 feet tall, and…

Thurston County treats a political yard sign as a temporary noncommercial sign under Code Section 20.40.040. On private…

CCC § 18.10.568(B)(8) exempts temporary political and ballot-measure signs from the AG-I zone's regular sign standards…

Federal Way treats campaign and political signs as temporary signs under FWRC 19.140.050: no permit or fee is required…

Political campaign and public-issue ballot signs on private property in unincorporated Grant County are exempt from the…

Lakewood, Washington treats a campaign sign the same as any other temporary sign: LMC 18A.100.010(I) commits the city…

Lynnwood does not require a permit for political campaign signs, but it caps their size and location. Signs over four…

Pasco lets political signs sit in the road right-of-way and on private property, including fences, with the owner's…

Unincorporated Pierce County treats a political sign as a "yard sign" under PCC 18B.10.040, the temporary-sign chapter…

Political signs never need a sign permit in unincorporated Spokane County: Section 14.804.040(6) exempts them entirely…

Auburn exempts temporary political signs from its sign code entirely: any temporary sign limited exclusively to…

Political signs are allowed on private property throughout Benton County with no permit, protected as free speech…

Marysville lets noncommercial copy expressing a personal, political, or religious viewpoint replace commercial copy on…

Spokane Valley does not require a sign permit for political signs supporting a candidate, ballot measure, or political…

Whatcom County and Bellingham broadly allow political and temporary signs on private property as protected speech. Only…

Garage-sale signs are fine on your own property in Benton County, but directional signs staked in a road right-of-way…

Portable and temporary signs, flags and banners are prohibited in unincorporated Clark County unless a temporary sign…

A garage sale sign in Federal Way needs no permit or fee, but it is still a regulated temporary sign: it must come down…

Kirkland regulates garage sale signs as temporary event signs under its zoning code. Each sign can't exceed six square…

Lynnwood caps a garage or yard sale sign at four square feet per side, requires it to be wall-mounted or ground-mounted…

Marysville caps garage sales at two per year, six days each, and requires sale signs removed within 24 hours; signs…

Pasco limits yard sale signs to four per permitted sale, two square feet each, with a legible two-inch address, and…

Port Townsend allows up to three garage sale signs, 3 square feet each, without a permit, but caps display to three…

In unincorporated Snohomish County a single-family residence may display one unlighted name sign up to two square feet…

A garage-sale sign in unincorporated Spokane County is a temporary sign, so it needs no sign permit under SCC…

Thurston County caps garage-sale advertising at two off-property signs, both postable only on the day of the sale and…

A garage sale sign is a temporary sign under YCC § 19.20.110 and is limited to one per street frontage, 32 square feet…

In unincorporated Grant County, a yard-sale or garage-sale sign is exempt from the Unified Development Code's sign…

Kent allows garage-sale signs as a temporary-use sign under KCC 15.08.205(A)(11), with no permit needed. Signs must…

Kitsap County exempts garage sale, estate sale, and similar temporary event signs under four square feet from…

Renton lets residents post garage sale signs without a permit, but only for a 24-hour window before and after the sale…

Garage sale signs are temporary signs under PCC 18B.10.040 in unincorporated Pierce County. They need no permit, but…

Everett's sign code bans balloons or inflated displays over 24 inches in diameter as prohibited 'carnival'-style…

Reasonable seasonal decorations are exempt from Bellevue's Sign Code within the appropriate holiday season, but BCC…

Kennewick's outdoor lighting ordinance excludes seasonal decorations from its glare and shielding rules only while…

Hanging decorative or seasonal string lights on a Seattle street tree is allowed without a permit if the installation…

Purely decorative seasonal and holiday displays are exempt from Edmonds' sign code. ECDC 20.60.095(D) excuses holiday…

Seasonal decorations, lighting, and other display features are exempt from Marysville's sign permit if they carry no…

Pasco exempts private and commercial holiday lighting from its outdoor lighting chapter entirely, so the citywide…

Seasonal decorations displayed on private property are exempt from Tacoma's sign permit requirements under TMC §…

Thurston County places no time limit on holiday lighting or seasonal decorations in the unincorporated Olympia Urban…

Bellingham allows billboards only in designated overlay zones, and its performance standards bar any billboard face…

Kent City Code flatly bans off-premises billboards that use electronic video displays resembling a television screen…

Unincorporated Kitsap County bans billboards outright under Section 17.510.040(K), stationary or mobile. Because a…

Lakewood, Washington bans new billboards outright, and the ones grandfathered in from before the city's 1996…

Port Townsend prohibits billboards, flashing or moving signs, and portable readerboard signs citywide, effectively…

Seattle's sign code SMC 23.55 bans new off-premises billboards citywide, prohibits digital conversion of existing…

Unincorporated Skagit County bans billboards outright under SCC 14.29.070(1) except where a zone specifically permits…

Spokane County's sign code flatly bans both billboards and video boards in every zoning district, unincorporated…

Tacoma bans off-premises digital billboards outright as a prohibited sign type, while allowing smaller on-site…

Thurston County's Lacey UGA sign code bans off-premises billboards outright, along with animated and flashing signs, so…

Auburn allows electronic changing message center signs only in specific commercial and industrial zones, one per…

Bellevue bans digital billboards outright but allows LED readerboards only as noncommercial public service signs…

Edmonds tightly restricts electronic reader board and digital message signs under its sign code. Messages that change…

Electronic changing message signs are legal in Everett but tightly boxed in: no animation or video imaging, a mandatory…

Federal Way bans billboards outright in every zone under FWRC 19.140.085(2), except for signs already legally…

Grant County requires a Conditional Use permit for any sign using animation or flashing lights, and a separate…

Unincorporated King County limits electronic changing-message signs to commercial and industrial zones and freezes the…

Kirkland bans any sign that rotates, turns or moves by electrical or mechanical means, which sweeps in electronic…

Pasco caps digital billboards at an 8-second minimum message change, a 2-second transition, and 0.3 foot-candle…

Pierce County limits digital billboards, called "electronic message signs" under PCC 18B.20.080, to specific civic uses…

Puyallup bans true billboards outright and instead regulates on-premise digital signs tightly. Electronic message signs…

Renton bars animated, blinking, flashing signs, and fast-revolving signs (more than 8 revolutions per minute) within 75…

SCC 30.27.080(8) caps a digital billboard face at 500 square feet, requires an eight-second minimum message hold with a…

Spokane Valley prohibits new billboards outright, including digital ones, under SVMC § 22.110.130(A). The only path to…

Electronic message and changeable-copy signs are capped at 30 percent of sign area, one per street frontage, and can't…

Yakima caps electronic message signs at fifty percent of the area a property's freestanding sign is otherwise allowed…

Auburn caps any window sign meant to be seen from the street at half the window's area, and treats permanent window…

Bellevue caps window signs at 15 square feet total, or 10 percent of the window area, whichever applies, under BCC…

In the Barkley urban village, BMC 20.37.680 treats any interior sign within 12 inches of a window as a regulated sign…

In the AG-I zoning district of unincorporated Cowlitz County, CCC § 18.10.568(D)(3) bans window signs advertising…

Edmonds caps window signage by zoning district under ECDC 20.60.035. Residential lots in the LDR and RM zones may…

Everett Municipal Code § 19.36.050(E) caps commercial window signs, permanent and temporary combined, at twenty-five…

Kennewick treats window signs as graphic signs, capping coverage at 33 percent of the window or wall area under the…

Kent counts window signs toward a property's overall sign area and sign count, so a business cannot dodge its aggregate…

Window signs in unincorporated Kitsap County are capped by Section 17.510.100(I): permanent window signage can cover up…

Marysville caps window signs at 25 percent of the storefront window, with 12-inch letters and neon-tube illumination…

Pasco caps window signs in office and commercial districts at 25 percent coverage of the transparent window area, no…

Pierce County counts window signs as part of a building's overall sign allotment rather than regulating them on their…

Window signs need a city sign permit unless the lettering is under six inches tall, and upper-floor window signs are…

Window signs in Puyallup need no sign permit as long as they, alone or combined, cover no more than 25 percent of a…

In the Urban Center zone, SCC Table 30.27.047(1) caps any single window sign at 25 percent of the window area, and…

Tacoma exempts window signs from sign permits, but they can't cover more than 25% of the window area in commercial and…

Inside the Grand Mound Urban Growth Area's Arterial Commercial, Planned Industrial, and Light Industrial districts…

Yakima caps window signs in nonresidential zones at fifty percent of the window area, while residential properties are…

Federal Way exempts window signs from permitting only when they cover no more than 25 percent of the window area and…

Lakewood, Washington exempts window signs from its sign permit requirement, but caps how much glass they can cover. LMC…

Renton exempts window signs from most of its Sign Code because they sit inside a building, but Category C signage in…

Small window signs in unincorporated Whatcom County businesses are exempt from the zoning code's sign permit rules only…

Window signs in unincorporated Yakima County do not need a sign permit, application, or fee. YCC § 19.20.040(1) exempts…

A sign placed inside a window or on the windowpane, and visible from outside, is exempt from Grant County's sign permit…

Kirkland's sign code does not regulate signs placed on the interior side of a window, so there is no citywide…

Auburn bans billboards outright citywide: the large off-premises advertising signs typically aimed at freeway traffic…

Bellingham allows only one freeway-oriented sign per parcel of record as it existed on June 18, 1984, for planned…

In unincorporated Benton County, outdoor advertising signs near highways fall under the Highway Scenic District…

Grant County will not permit an outdoor advertising sign within three hundred feet of a highway intersection or…

Pierce County bans new billboards visible from the main traveled way of ten named state routes and county roads under…

SMC 23.55.042 bars new off-premises and business signs within 660 feet of designated scenic freeway sections, including…

Thurston County allows billboards only in its Arterial Commercial, Highway Commercial, Planned Industrial, and Light…

Off-premises billboards facing Interstate 5 in unincorporated Whatcom County can sit as close as five feet from the…

Signs within Bellevue's 375-foot freeway corridor along each side of the right-of-way face extra design-review criteria…

Any sign within 660 feet of Interstate 5 in Everett, Washington may need Washington State DOT sign-off before the city…

Non-residential property within 1,320 feet of the I-5 right-of-way may add one extra wall sign oriented to the freeway…

In unincorporated King County, billboards facing traffic corridors may only sit on CB, RB, or I zoned land, must be…

Commercial and industrial properties in Lakewood, Washington that front a freeway get an extra pole sign beyond what…

Lynnwood pushes pole and monument signs away from I-5, I-405 and SR-525, then rewards that distance with extra height…

In unincorporated Skagit County's Rural Freeway Services zone, a tourist-oriented business may put up one…

Parcels fronting Interstate 90 and seven other named roadways fall under Spokane County's Aesthetic Corridor Overlay…

Spokane Valley allows one freestanding freeway sign per parcel, but only if the lot is adjacent and contiguous to…

Yakima allows one freeway sign per parcel for businesses near I-82 or listed arterials, substituting for a freestanding…

Yakima County Code § 19.20.150 lets hotels, motels, restaurants, service stations, and fruit stands near Interstate 82…