In New York City, your legal sign size depends on your building's zoning district — and most owners never check. Enter your address. We pull your zoning and flag the risk before you pay for a sign the city makes you take down.
New York City does not set one sign rule for the whole city. The NYC Zoning Resolution ties your maximum legal sign area to the zoning district your building sits in, and then cuts that allowance sharply the moment your sign is illuminated. A 50-foot-wide storefront in a C1 district can run a 150 sq ft non-illuminated sign — but light it up and the cap collapses to 50 sq ft. Owners who size a bright sign off the non-illuminated number are the ones who get the violation notice.
Unpermitted or oversized signs draw daily accruing penalties and removal orders from the Department of Buildings. This tool reads the same zoning rules the city enforces and tells you where your plan stands before you commit to fabrication.
Maximum accessory sign area. "Mult" = multiply by your street frontage in feet; the cap is the hard ceiling.
| District | Non-illuminated | Illuminated | Flashing/LED |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 / C2 | ×3, max 150 | ×3, max 50 | Not allowed |
| C3 | 50 max | Not allowed | Not allowed |
| C4 / C5-4 / C6 / C7 | ×5, max 500 | ×5, max 500 | ×5, max 500 |
| C5-1/2/3/5 | ×3, max 200 | ×3, max 50 | Not allowed |
| C6-1A | ×5, max 500 | ×5, max 500 | Not allowed |
| C6-5 / C6-7 | No size limit | No size limit | No size limit |
| C8 | ×6, max 750 | ×6, max 750 | ×6, max 750 |
Source: NYC Zoning Resolution §32-642, §32-643, §32-644, §32-645. Projection across the street line: 18 in (double-faced) / 12 in (single-faced), §32-652.