Sign Regulations in Wisconsin (2026)

Wisconsin protects the display of political signs on private property. Wis. Stat. 12.04 limits how municipalities may…

Madison bars placing political, commercial, or promotional advertising material on public property, public telephone…

Appleton exempts most election signs from its standard yard-sign limits under City Code § 23-507(a)(13)(e)-(f). Instead…

Fitchburg, Wisconsin exempts campaign yard signs from its sign permit system but still caps them at 11 square feet in…

Milwaukee exempts political signs from sign permits, but election and referendum signs must come down within 30 days…

Wisconsin law strongly protects yard signs. During an election campaign period, no county or municipality in Rock…

Waukesha's sign code lets any property display non-commercial signs, including political messages, without a permit and…

Wisconsin state law protects political signs. Under Wis. Stat. 12.04(3), no county or municipality may regulate the…

Political signs in Wausau fall under the yard sign category, City of Wausau Municipal Code Section 23.09.05(4)(a) and…

Winnebago County lets a municipal clerk, election inspector, building inspector, or law officer pull down any political…

Political signs in Milwaukee County are governed by Wisconsin state law. Under Wis. Stat. 12.04, no county or…

The City of Beloit limits garage sale and rummage sale signs under Code of Ordinances § 30.20: no permit is required…

Burlington lets sellers post one rummage-sale sign per lot, two on a corner lot, under City Code § 254-4D. Signs cannot…

Dane County treats a garage-sale sign as a temporary sign under its zoning ordinance: only one sign per parcel, capped…

Green Bay allows two temporary sale signs per property, up to eight square feet each, set back five feet from property…

Garage sale signs in Milton cannot go in the street right-of-way or terrace under City of Milton Code Sec…

In Rock County, garage-sale signs can't legally go in the street or highway right-of-way. Wis. Stat. 86.19 bars any…

Sun Prairie caps every garage-sale sign at six square feet with no more than two faces, requires the sign to state the…

Waukesha County's town zoning sign chapter does not set specific garage-sale-sign rules, and it prohibits signs in the…

Wauwatosa limits each rummage-sale property to one sign of no more than twelve square feet, placed only on the property…

Marathon County requires temporary garage, yard, and estate sale signs to come down on the sale's last day, and bars…

Middleton's Sign Code treats garage sale signs as part of the permit-free Yard Sign Category, letting residents post…

Neenah requires yard-sale signs and display racks to come down within 24 hours of the sale's end, bars sale displays in…

New Berlin lets a rummage sale sign go up without a permit, but Sec. 275-61 G(2), the provision Sec. 275-40 D…

Garage sale signs in Wausau cannot go up within the public right-of-way, including the grass terrace between sidewalk…

Winnebago County allows one yard sale sign per property without a permit, but it can only go up 2 days before the sale…

Temporary signs advertising garage, rummage, or house sales are exempt from Racine County zoning permit requirements…

Wauwatosa bans LED rope lights and similar illuminating string devices on commercial and industrial buildings…

Fitchburg exempts decorative holiday displays from its sign code, but only for a set window: up to 30 days a year tied…

Madison's sign code treats most inflatable displays as regulated signs, but MGO § 31.046(3)(c)3 carves out an…

Marathon County exempts holiday decorations from its exterior lighting standards while they're in season, freeing…

Milwaukee's zoning sign code exempts holiday decorations, lights and displays from the permit, size and illumination…

Temporary holiday decorations or displays carrying no commercial message need no zoning permit anywhere in Racine…

Sun Prairie exempts holiday and civic-event decorations from its sign permit process entirely, with no duration limit…

Dane County limits electronic message components to on-premise ground and pylon signs; since a billboard is defined as…

The City of Milton bans new billboards outright under Sec. 78-09.30(1)(c) and allows only a narrow cap-and-replace swap…

Digital message boards are flatly prohibited in the Downtown Okauchee District: Section 33(h)4.B bans them outright…

Brown County bans flashing or illuminated advertising signs and billboards within three miles of Austin Straubel…

Burlington restricts electronic signs to the B-1, B-2, and B-2A Business Districts, plus the I-1 Industrial District as…

Fitchburg, Wisconsin bans flashing, alternating, rotating, or swinging signs citywide, allowing only narrow exceptions…

Green Bay only allows digital billboards as a conditional use, with message transitions under a second, an eight-second…

Middleton limits electronic message signs, the digital billboards and reader boards businesses use for changing ads, to…

Within the Highway 41 corridor in the Town of Vandenbroek, Outagamie County bans flashing, intermittent or moving…

Sun Prairie does not allow new billboards outright, but Section 17.40.080(C)(1) lets the owner of a legal nonconforming…

Off-premise digital billboards need a Billboard Sign permit from the City Planner, and Waukesha caps the total citywide…

Wauwatosa bans off-premises billboards outright but allows on-premises electronic message boards as changeable copy…

Appleton allows digital signage only as an on-premises 'electronic message board,' not as a freestanding billboard…

Digital signage in Ashwaubenon is allowed only as an electronic message center built into a permanent sign, capped at…

Beloit's Outdoor Sign Ordinance regulates digital billboards as "electronically variable-message (EVM) signs" under…

De Pere will not let an electronic message sign (EMS) stand alone: it must be built into an already-allowed wall or…

Section 15.15 of Kenosha's sign code allows Digital Display Off-Premises Signs but requires each message to hold for at…

Little Chute limits electronic message center signs to on-premises advertising or public service messages, requiring…

Madison allows electronic changeable copy signs, LED reader boards, digital marquees and message centers, on walls…

Marathon County allows electronic message center signs on single-tenant ground signs in nonresidential districts, but…

Off-premise electronic billboards in Milwaukee can't change their message more than once every 8 seconds and must sit…

Mosinee allows electronic message unit signs, the code's term for digital billboards and changeable-message displays…

New Berlin's sign code allows electronic message centers only as part of a ground or monument sign, caps them at 24…

Racine County zoning staff can approve converting an existing nonconforming sign to a digital display without…

Rothschild allows electronic reader boards and changeable-message signs, exempting them from the Village's ban on…

Wausau allows one electronic message sign per site, but only on nonresidential land, under City of Wausau Municipal…

West Allis limits electronic message centers and changeable-copy signs to 35% of the sign face, one per lot, and…

Winnebago County limits electronic message signs to static displays lasting at least two minutes, bans scrolling or…

Temporary window signs in Appleton cannot cover more than half a storefront's glass. City Code § 23-507(a)(14) caps…

A window sign in Ashwaubenon needs no separate permit until it covers more than 30 percent of the window's transparent…

In Green Bay's Commercial districts (C1, C2, C3), window signs are capped at one per window, not exceeding 50 percent…

Kenosha's Sign Code lets window signs go up without a size cap, but only in commercial and industrial zones. Table 1 of…

Window signs in Madison's Group 2 and 3 zoning districts don't need a permit, but MGO § 31.10 caps their coverage…

Milwaukee caps temporary window signs at 25% of a window's glazed area and limits display to 30 days per calendar year…

Neenah caps window signs at 50 percent of ground-floor window area in business, commercial and industrial districts…

In Racine County business and industrial districts, window signs that require a permit cannot cover more than 20…

Rothschild caps every window sign at 50% of the individual window's glass area under Village Code § 590-176D. Window…

Window signs in the City of Sun Prairie cannot cover more than fifty percent of the glass on any building plane. The…

Permanent window signs in Waukesha can't cover more than 40% of the window they're mounted in, and only one neon sign…

In the Downtown Okauchee District, storefront window sign lettering cannot cover more than 40% of the window area under…

Wausau caps window signs at 50% of any single window's area and 20% of total window area per building facade per story…

Wauwatosa caps window signs at 20 percent of the total net glazed front window area per business premises, and bars…

West Allis limits window signs to 20% of a storefront's window space, with no permit required as long as the sign is…

Beloit's Code of Ordinances caps window signs at 25 percent of the window's area under §30.44(2)(c). No permit or fee…

Burlington limits window signage to 30% of the glass area used for building exits and entrances under City Code Section…

De Pere's zoning ordinance regulates window signs by placement, not area: a window sign must sit on the interior…

Winnebago County lets banner, wall, and window signs go up without a zoning permit in commercial, mixed-use, and…

The Village of Little Chute exempts temporary window signs advertising a sale or special event from its sign-permit…

The City of Mosinee requires a zoning inspector permit before any sign goes up, but Sec. 42-929(f)(2) carves out window…

Temporary window signs advertising a sale or special event at an individual commercial establishment are exempt…

MGO § 31.045(3)(j) bans any sign, including hand-carried signs, on a bridge or overpass over a freeway, expressway or…

Off-premise signs near Milwaukee freeways face fixed setbacks, 500 feet in commercial districts, more in industrial…

Along Interstate 41 and State Highway 441, Appleton lets on-premises ground signs grow well past its citywide caps…

In the Freeway Commercial sign district, a parcel gets two freestanding signs at most: one facing the freeway and one…

Waukesha bars billboards from any street with a speed limit under 45 miles per hour and keeps them at least 400 feet…