Los Angeles sign permit at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| How big can wall signs be? | On a single-story building, wall signs facing a street can total 2 sq ft per foot of street frontage plus 1 sq ft per foot of building frontage (LAMC §14.4.10) (sizing). Other cities compared. |
| Is there a total cap? | Yes: all your signs together are capped at 4 sq ft per foot of street frontage (§14.4.10 A.5). |
| Channel letters? | Channel letter signs are allowed a 20% increase in area, provided there is no change in the background color (how to apply). |
| Which signs need no permit? | LADBS lists four cases, among them a ground sign of no more than 20 sq ft with no electricity or illumination, and a copy change or face replacement that is not structural (no-permit cases). Other cities compared. |
| What does it cost? | LADBS computes the fee from the total valuation of the work (LAMC §91.113 Table 1-A): a $2,000 valuation is $65.00 (fee table). |
| How long does it take? | LADBS publishes no review or processing time for sign permits. Other cities compared. |
| Who can install it? | Permits for illuminated signs are issued only to a licensed C10 or C45 contractor (P/BC 2023-078). Other cities compared. |
| Window signs? | Temporary signs in a window plus other window signs are limited to 10% of the window area (P/BC 2023-078). Other cities compared. |
| Only swapping the sign face? | A non-structural face change needs no permit; if the sign cabinet is removed, a permit and full compliance with current codes are required (P/BC 2023-078). Other cities compared. |
| Grand opening banner? | Not without a permit; up to 30 days at a time and 90 days in a calendar year. (details) Other cities compared. |
| Digital or LED sign? | 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). Other cities compared. |
Sizing How to apply FAQ Cost & timeline Permit fees No-permit cases Sign companies
How LA sizes your sign
Los Angeles doesn't give each zoning district its own sign table. Instead, LAMC §14.4.10 sets a formula: a single-story building's wall signs facing a street can total 2 sq ft per foot of street frontage plus 1 sq ft per foot of building frontage. Taller buildings earn 10% more per story, capped at 50% over the single-story figure. Channel letter signs are allowed a 20% increase in area, provided there is no change in the background color (LADBS P/BC 2023-078). California gives each city its own sign code rather than one statewide rule, so a location in the capital follows Sacramento’s sign ordinance instead of this formula.
On top of that, §14.4.10 A.5 caps the combined area of all your signs — wall, projecting, monument, pole, roof, window — at 4 sq ft per foot of street frontage. Owners who max out the wall-sign formula and then add a monument or window sign are the ones who blow past the combined cap.
How to apply for a Los Angeles sign permit — 4 steps
LA does not hand you a district table — it hands you a formula, and then a plan check that rewards a complete first submission.
Steps assembled from the confirmed items on this page. Fees and what drives the schedule are covered in "Cost, timeline & temporary banners" below — not repeated here.
What other cities ask you to submit: sign permit application checklists by city.
Questions owners ask — 4 questions
Cost, timeline & temporary banners
Detail
Source: LADBS Information Bulletin P/BC 2023-078 (on-site signs), read 10 October 2026; LAMC §91.113 Table 1-A for the fee footnotes. Fees change — confirm current figures with LADBS before filing.
How much does a Los Angeles sign permit cost?
Los Angeles sets no flat fee for a sign. LADBS charges the building permit fee of LAMC §91.113, Table 1-A, and that table reads off the total valuation of the work rather than the sign’s size or type.
| Total valuation | Fee |
|---|---|
| $0.00 – $100 inclusive | None |
| $100.01 – $2,000 inclusive | $65.00 |
| $2,000.01 – $20,000 inclusive | $40.00 plus $1.25 per $100 or fraction thereof of total valuation. |
| $20,000.01 – $50,000 inclusive | $170.00 plus 6.00 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of total valuation |
| $50,000.01 – $100,000 inclusive | $195.00 plus $5.50 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of total valuation |
| $100,000.01 – $500,000 inclusive | $395.00 plus $3.50 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of total valuation |
| $500,000.01 – $1,000,000 inclusive | $520.00 plus $3.25 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of total valuation |
| Over 1,000,000 | $920.00 plus $2.85 per $1,000 or fraction thereof of total valuation |
Three worked examples
- Total valuation $2,000 → $65.00 (second band).
- Total valuation $6,000 → $40.00 + ($1.25 × 60) = $115.00.
- Total valuation $20,000 → $40.00 + ($1.25 × 200) = $290.00.
The “$1.25 per $100 or fraction thereof of total valuation” in the third band applies to the whole valuation, not to the part above $2,000 — you can verify that reading at the band edges, because the figures meet there: at $2,000 the third band’s formula gives $40.00 + ($1.25 × 20) = $65.00, the same as the band below, and at $20,000 it gives $290.00, the same as $170.00 + (6.00 × 20) = $290.00 in the band above.
Fees change — confirm the current table with LADBS before filing.
Detail
Bands and amounts as Table 1-A prints them. §91.113 was added by Ord. No. 182,850, Eff. 1/3/14; Table 1-A was amended by Ord. No. 185,587, Eff. 7/16/18.
What counts as total valuation is not something this page decides — LADBS sets it when you apply, and the fee follows from it.
Three things the table adds on top, in its own footnotes. Footnote 1: the building permit fee is increased by a surcharge under California Public Resources Code Section 2705 (State Strong Motion Instrumentation Program), and that surcharge is not included in the building permit fee when the plan check fee is worked out. Footnote 2: the fee is increased by 10% “for all construction or work required to comply with the rules and regulations adopted by the California General Resources Conservation and Development Commission,” and that increase is included for the plan checking fee. Footnote 3: the fee is increased by 12.5% “for all construction or work required to comply with the state’s disabled access and adaptability requirements at Part 2, Title 24, of the California Code of Regulations,” and that increase is included for the plan check fee. The 10% and 12.5% increases are written as conditions on the work, so neither is automatic for a sign — whether your sign is work of that kind is for LADBS to determine.
Footnote 4 sets a floor: where a project requires more than one inspection, the minimum permit fee is double the minimum inspection fee specified in LAMC §98.0412(a). That section is not quoted here, so this page gives no dollar figure for it. The footnotes also fix no plan check rate — they only say which of the three increases counts toward the plan check fee and which does not, so this page gives no percentage or amount for the plan check itself.
Source: Los Angeles Municipal Code §91.113 and Table 1-A with its four footnotes, amlegal code library, 2026 Rev. 9, read 30 September 2026. Amounts, bands and footnote wording are reproduced as the code prints them; the three worked examples are arithmetic from the table and are shown with their working.
When LA does not require a permit
The starting rule is broad. LADBS lists a permit as required for a new sign, an alteration, the removal of an existing sign, a sign within a mall, and a temporary sign, pennant, banner, ribbon, streamer or spinner. It lists four cases that need no permit:
- A ground sign of no more than 20 sq ft, no part more than 6 ft 6 in above the ground, with no moving parts and no electricity or illumination, at least 15 ft from the next such sign.
- A board or sign used only for official notices of a court or public officer, or for a legal notice.
- A copy change or face replacement that is not structural. If the sign cabinet is removed, a permit and full compliance with current codes are required.
- A temporary sign with a political, ideological or other noncommercial message; an electrical permit is still needed if it is lit.
Source: LADBS Information Bulletin P/BC 2023-078, Permit Requirements (LABC 101.5, 6201, 6216; LAMC 12.23 C3), read 10 October 2026.
Against that, §91.106.2, amended by Ord. No. 188,797, Eff. 12/31/25, lists work for which permits are not required. Its first item is work regulated by the code “that is valued at $2,500 or less,” and the same sentence carries four conditions that take the exemption away: unless it impacts the structural stability of a building, unless it affects public safety, unless it is performed to comply with a Department order, or unless it involves a change in the use or occupancy.
So this is not a rule that a sign valued at $2,500 or less needs no permit. A wall-mounted sign is fixed to a building and is lit or wired in many cases, and whether that impacts structural stability or affects public safety is exactly what the four conditions ask — LADBS decides it, not the valuation on its own.
Detail
LAMC §91.106.1.1 provides that “no person shall erect, construct, alter, repair, demolish, remove or move any building or structure … unless said person has obtained a permit therefor from the department.” Sign work is handled inside that same scheme: LADBS bulletin P/BC 2023-078 places the building rules for signs in Chapter 62 of the Los Angeles Building Code, and the zoning rules in LAMC Chapter 1, Article 4.4.
The exemption is also narrow in what it covers. §91.106.2 opens by providing that “exemptions from permit requirements of this code shall not be deemed to grant authorization for any work to be done in any manner in violation of the provisions of this code or any other laws or ordinances of the City of Los Angeles,” so a sign that needs no permit still has to obey every other ordinance it falls under. The Article 4.4 sign-area limits this page screens against — the §14.4.10 wall-sign formula and the combined cap on all sign types — and the zoning rules for your district apply to an exempt sign exactly as they do to a permitted one.
Source: Los Angeles Municipal Code §91.106.1.1 and §91.106.2 item 1, amlegal code library, 2026 Rev. 9, read 30 September 2026. The $2,500 figure, the four conditions and the opening sentence are quoted from §91.106.2 as amended by Ord. No. 188,797, Eff. 12/31/25. This page adds no threshold, deadline or rate that the code does not state.
Sources & how this page is maintained
Sources and official references: Los Angeles Municipal Code — Article 4.4 Sign Regulations, §14.4.10 Wall Signs (article cover: Article 4.4). Permit fee: LAMC §91.113 Permit Fees, Table 1-A; permit exemptions: LAMC §91.106 Permits. Measured on 21 September 2026: both sections read as text through our collector, and every sign-area figure on this page — the per-foot wall allowance, the per-story increase and its ceiling, the increase for individual letters, and the combined cap for all sign types — appears in §14.4.10. The code spells several of those figures out in words, so the twice-monthly check, which compares digits, does not always match them. Article 4.4 sets sign size and placement only; permit exemptions and fees live elsewhere, so this page no longer quotes exemption thresholds.
Los Angeles sign companies that say they handle the permit
Compiled from each company's own public website. We are not affiliated with any of them and we are not paid to list them. Confirm licensing and pricing yourself before you hire.
| Company | Phone | Location | What their site says about permits | In-house |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global Signs & Graphics Inc. | (818) 723-4047 | 12424 Montague St. Unit 115 Pacoima, CA 91331 | We handle the entire process for you. | Our team designs, permits, fabricates and installs channel letters, storefront signs, building signs, lobby signs, wall graphics and other commercial signage throughout Greater Los Angeles. |
| Los Angeles Sign Company | (310) 876-0385 | 8929 National Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90034 | we manage the entire permitting process in-house. | Because we manufacture and install, we control the entire process. |
| BlinkSigns | +1 877-433-4466 | - | we manage the complete permitting process with the Los Angeles, CA Department of Buildings. | 3M Certified Installation team |
Each company's website is linked from its name. Source pages read 6 October 2026.
Ask us how the code reads for your sign
Send your dimensions and we will reply with what the Los Angeles code allows for that sign. No charge. We are not a sign contractor and not a permit agent.