Digital and LED signs at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Can I put up an LED message sign? | In most of these cities, yes, but under extra rules. Fort Worth needs a special exception and Phoenix a use permit; Sacramento’s sign handout lists animated or intensely lighted signs as prohibited. Boston forbids them except for a few listed uses, Columbus allows them only in the C-3, C-4, C-5 and M districts, and San Diego only with a Neighborhood Use Permit. |
| How often can the message change? | Each message must hold for at least six seconds in Las Vegas, eight seconds in Charlotte, Columbus, Jacksonville, Nashville, Philadelphia and Phoenix, ten seconds in Atlanta and Indianapolis, 20 seconds in Dallas business zoning, and Fort Worth allows no more than one message every 20 seconds. Seattle allows video portions of two to five seconds, each followed by 20 seconds of still image or blank screen. |
| Are scrolling or animated messages allowed? | Mostly not. Phoenix requires instant change with no moving text, Charlotte and Columbus prohibit transition effects, Indianapolis allows static messages only, Nashville a fixed, static, non-flashing display, and Fort Worth prohibits animated, flashing and running-message signs. Seattle is the exception, allowing short video portions under SMC 23.55.005, and San Antonio allows video only on displays of thirty-two (32) square feet or less. |
What each city says
The bold line is the short answer; the rest is what the city page says, with its section numbers.
| City | Rule |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | Allowed under the changing-sign rules of §16-28A.007(x): each message static for at least ten seconds. Digital and changeable-message displays have their own subsection — §16-28A.007(x), "regulations for changing signs and signs employing changing sign technology" — and its numbered items are cited as §16-28A.007(x)(1) and following. Two of them set the pace: each message on a changing display must stay static for at least ten seconds after it finishes transitioning from the previous message, and where the message changes mechanically the transition must be done in three seconds or less. "Static" is defined in the subsection as a display fixed in one position with no part of it moving or changing in color or light intensity. Many districts limit changing displays further. |
| Austin | Electronically controlled changeable-copy signs are excluded from the ban on flashing light sources (§25-10-103(6)). Austin prohibits signs with an intermittent or flashing light source in every sign district, but excludes electronically controlled changeable-copy signs from that ban (§25-10-103(6)). On a scenic roadway, internal lighting is prohibited except for individual letters (§25-10-124(F)). |
| Boston | Article 11 forbids electronic signs, except lawful ones existing on July 1, 2026 and those for Entertainment/Events, Hospital and certain college or university assembly uses; those are conditional uses that need Comprehensive Sign Review and may operate only between 7:00 AM and 2:00 AM (§11-5). |
| Charlotte | Allowed for all uses in the Neighborhood Center, Activity Center, Innovation Mixed-Use, Commercial, Manufacturing and Logistics, Campus and Transit Oriented Development districts, one per lot; each message static for at least eight seconds, with no scrolling, flashing, animation or transition effect (UDO 22.9.C). |
| Columbus | An automatic changeable copy sign is permitted only in the C-3, C-4, C-5 and M districts; each message shows at least eight (8) seconds, static, with an instant change and no transition effects (C.C. 3377.08(B)). |
| Dallas | The city’s Signs 101 training summarizes §51A-7.216: a digital display’s effective area may not exceed 50 sq ft or 50% of the sign’s total area allowance, whichever is greater; each message must display for at least 20 seconds in business zoning and 20 minutes in non-business zoning, and every application needs a letter from the display manufacturer (Signs 101, April 2023). |
| Fort Worth | An electronic changeable copy sign needs a special exception from the Board of Adjustment, and no more than one message every 20 seconds. Fort Worth prohibits animated, flashing and running-message signs; an electronic changeable copy sign needs a special exception from the Board of Adjustment, with no more than 25% of the sign face as changeable copy and no more than one message every 20 seconds (Zoning Ordinance §6.405 and §6.411). |
| Houston | Only one changeable message sign per business; outside schools, none on a local street, and none on or facing a collector street within 150 feet of the property line of a single-family residence; the changing part is limited to fifty percent of the allowable sign face, not over 100 square feet (Sign Code §4611). |
| Indianapolis | Static messages only, each shown at least 10 seconds and changed in one second or less; no digital display in or within 600 feet of a historic district or historic site, and none within 400 feet of a Protected District (§744-907.C). |
| Jacksonville | A changing message device may be part of any allowable sign unless otherwise prohibited; the changing part must stay static for at least eight seconds and change all at once within one second (§656.1302, §656.1303). They are prohibited in residential districts and in the CO and CRO districts. |
| Las Vegas | Electronic message signs must show static images for at least six seconds each, with no more than two seconds between messages and no motion during the change; LED brightness must adjust to surrounding light (LVMC 19.08.120). |
| Los Angeles | A digital display needs a recorded affidavit with LADBS signed by the property owner, the covenant and agreement on maintaining on-site digital signs (P/BC 2023-078, LAMC §14.4.2). |
| Nashville | Each message must stay fixed for eight seconds, and digital displays are prohibited outright in some districts. The chapter does not ban them outright — it conditions them. Under §17.32.050(G)(1) a sign whose copy, graphics or digital display changes by electronic or mechanical means is prohibited unless the display stays “fixed, static, motionless, and non-flashing for a period of eight seconds,” with each change instantaneous and without special effects. §17.32.050(G)(2) then adds distance requirements in a named list of districts. Both are set out in “Signs Nashville prohibits” below. LED message boards and digital displays are prohibited outright in the districts listed in §17.32.050(H)(2), which include the §17.32.110 and §17.32.120 districts, CL and SCC. |
| Philadelphia | Only in the districts listed in Table 14-904-1, with each message lasting at least eight seconds. Signs with animated illumination are allowed only in the districts listed in Table 14-904-1, are prohibited within 200 ft of any street intersection and within 150 ft of a residential district, and under §14-904(1)(b) each message must last at least eight seconds. The table allows digital signs only on walls and freestanding signs in CMX-4/5, CA and the industrial districts, and on all three sign types in I-2/I-3/I-P. |
| Phoenix | Electronic message displays need a use permit, and each message must show for at least eight seconds. Electronic message displays need a use permit and are allowed only in commercial and industrial land use designations and for nonresidential uses in residential districts; copy must change instantly with no moving text, and each message must show for at least eight seconds (§705.C.13). |
| Sacramento | The city’s sign handout lists animated or intensely lighted signs and moving signs as prohibited. The city's sign handout lists animated or intensely lighted signs and moving signs as prohibited (City of Sacramento CDD-0295 "What is a Sign?" (Revised 09-08-2026)). Confirm any digital display with Community Development before ordering. |
| San Antonio | Allowed on premises under §28-48: no more than one (1) two-sided digital display per freestanding sign structure and per street frontage, at least two hundred (200) feet between electronic message centers, no video or projection on displays over thirty-two (32) square feet, and no flashing, scrolling text or sound. In a historic district or on a historic landmark, electronic changeable message boards are prohibited (UDC §35-612(a)(4)). |
| San Diego | Changeable copy may not be changed remotely or electronically, except public service messages, gasoline price signs, and signs with automatic changing copy allowed with a Neighborhood Use Permit (§142.1210, §141.1105). |
| Seattle | A sign using a video display must be an on-premises sign and may not be in a residential, NC1 or NC2 zone, Special Review District, Historical District, Preservation District or shoreline environment; each video portion runs two to five seconds and is followed by 20 seconds of still image or blank screen, brightness is held to 500 nits after dusk, and the video may run after dusk only until 11 p.m. (SMC 23.55.005). |
Cities not listed
For the other cities we cover, the city page does not yet state the digital sign rule, so this page says nothing about them. For those cities, ask the zoning office before you order a digital sign.
Each answer is taken from the city page, which links the code text it was read from.
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