Four ways to charge Charged yearly No fee published
| City | What the city charges on | Starting figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Building alteration filing fee, plus a charge by sign area and type, and an annual use fee if the sign is lit | $5 for each 100 sq ft on top of the filing fee, not less than $35; from $45 a year if illuminated | Administrative Code § 28-112.2, Table 28-112.2, amendment effective 12/21/2025 |
| Dallas | Flat amounts by sign type | $281 for a premise sign | Permit Fee Schedule, Ordinance 33080, effective July 1, 2025 |
| Fort Worth | Application fee plus add-ons for display area, height above grade and electrical amperage | $38.98 application fee before any add-on | Table 1-K, Ordinance 26-28781, effective October 1, 2026 |
| Houston | Per action, and the on-premise permit is renewed every year | $97.25 plan exam; $69.46 a year to keep the sign | Building Code Enforcement Sign Administration 2026 Fee Schedule, revised January 2026 |
| Phoenix | Staff time for review, then a flat permit fee per sign | $195 per hour with a one-hour minimum; $98 per wall sign | PDD Fee Schedule, approved 12/17/2025, effective 1/20/2026 |
| Seattle | Tiers by sign area | $193.20 for the first 32 sq ft | 2026 Fee Subtitle, Table D-16, effective January 1, 2026 |
| Portland | Tiers by sign area, with one column for illuminated signs and one for non-illuminated | $275 for a non-illuminated sign up to 20 sq ft; $357 if illuminated | Sign, Awning Permit and Registration Fee Schedule, effective July 10, 2026 |
| San Diego | Flat plan check by sign type, with an inspection fee when the sign is electric | $793.95 plan check for one wall sign, plus $737.00 general plan maintenance on every application | Information Bulletin 111, May 2026 |
| Philadelphia | Flat per sign, charged separately by the zoning side and the building side | $253 for an accessory sign on each of the two permits | Summary of zoning and construction permit fees, Rev 7.2026 |
| San Francisco | Flat Planning review fee, with Building Inspection charging its own on top | $246 at Planning; the building permit fee is not published in a document we could open | Planning Department Fee Schedule, effective August 29, 2025, updated June 15, 2026 |
| Denver | Flat zoning fee | $25 | Denver Development Fees page, no date printed |
| Columbus | Flat, by one size break | $500 under 100 sq ft, $600 at or above | 2026 Combined Development Related Fee Schedule |
| Albuquerque | Per square foot of sign area, with a minimum, plus a $10 charge | $10 plus $0.70 per sq ft or $70, whichever is more4 | General Planning Fee Schedule, updated as of 1/17/2025 |
| Baltimore | Per square foot of sign area, or a table by size band, plus an application fee | $1 per sq ft with a $13 minimum for on-premises signs, or $25 to $250 by size band; $50 application fee5 | Building Code §109.5.7 and §109.6.1 |
| Las Vegas | Per square foot of sign area | $0.50 per sq ft | Department of Planning Fee Schedule, Resolution R-21-2008 |
| San Antonio | Line items for area, lighting type and height, plus two percentage fees | $50 inspection + $50 plan review + $10.80 for the first 32 sq ft | Information Bulletin 191, revised March 2025 |
| Nashville | The valuation of the work, from the commercial construction table, with a minimum for a sign | $40.39 for the first $2,000 of valuation; $55.00 minimum for a sign permit | Codes Fee Schedule (BL2022-1215, BL2022-1254), as published |
| Boston | The estimated cost of the work, through a Long Form or Short Form building permit; the fee schedule has no sign line | $50 + $10 per $1,000 (new sign, Long Form)1 | ISD Building Division Permit Fees, with the sign-to-permit link from the Boston Planning page |
| Miami | A flat planning warrant fee; the building permit fee schedule has no sign line | $475 warrant entitlement fee2 | Chapter 62, Article VI, Sec. 62-22, Ordinance 13981 |
| Sacramento | A flat submittal fee; the other fees are named but not priced | $100 submittal fee; other fees not published3 | Sign Permit Application CDD-0274, Revised 01-01-2023 |
| Austin | A flat sign review fee by sign type | $244.97 for a wall sign or awning; $489.94 for a free standing, roof or projecting sign | Other Permits and Fees schedule, effective 10/01/2026 |
| Chicago | A flat zoning review fee plus a building review fee in five sign-area bands | $200.00 zoning review for an on-premise sign plus $50.00 building review under 50 sq ft | Department of Buildings Sign Permits page, no date printed |
| Jacksonville | By sign area for each display face, with a minimum and a plan review fee | $8.25 per 20 sq ft up to 100 sq ft; $80.00 minimum; plan review 31% or $35.00, whichever is greater | City Fees page, Sign Erections, Ordinance Code §320.409(14) |
| Los Angeles | The total valuation of the work, from the building permit fee table; the table has no sign line | $65.00 for a valuation of $100.01 to $2,000; none at $100 or less | LAMC §91.113, Table 1-A, Ord. No. 185,587, effective 7/16/18 |
| Atlanta | Not set in the sign ordinance | No figure published | Chapter 16-28A requires “the applicable fees” but prints no amount |
| Charlotte | Not published for commercial signs | No figure published | Chapter 13 sets a 15-business-day review deadline but prints no amount |
| Indianapolis | A flat permit fee by sign type, plus an application fee | $32 application fee plus $142 for a wall sign | BNS Signs and Advertising Permits, “Sign permit fees” |
1 Boston: the ISD fee schedule never mentions signs; the sign-to-permit link comes from the Boston Planning page, so the figure is a building permit fee on the estimated cost of the work, not a sign fee.
5 Baltimore: the Building Code prints both a size table (item j) and a $1 per sq ft rate for on-premises advertising signs (item k) without saying how they combine; the Housing Department adds a 5% permit tax in its fee estimator.
2 Miami: only the warrant entitlement fee is shown; the separate Warrant – Sign Package line is left out because the published table does not say which printed figure is the flat fee and which is the per-square-foot rate.
3 Sacramento: the city names its sign fees but prints the amounts only in a Development Fee Schedule we could not find on a public path; $100 is the one amount the application form prints.
4 Albuquerque: the schedule prints the $10 in its Facilitated Meeting Fee column; any Building Safety fee for the structural or electrical review is separate, and we could not find it published for signs.
Each city page carries that city's full fee table and the link to the document itself.
Four different ways of charging
Put the twenty-seven side by side and the fees fall into four shapes. Denver, Columbus, Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego and San Francisco charge a flat amount by permit or sign type. Seattle, Portland, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Las Vegas, San Antonio and Jacksonville charge on how big the sign is, and Chicago adds a building review fee by size band to a flat zoning fee. Phoenix charges for the hours its staff spend reviewing. Fort Worth, San Antonio and New York stack add-ons on top of a base fee, so two signs of the same size can cost very different amounts depending on height, lighting and amperage. Nashville, Boston and Los Angeles do not price the sign itself: they price the work, by valuation in Nashville and Los Angeles and by estimated cost in Boston, from a general building table. Miami and Sacramento publish a single flat fee each.
That is why a quoted figure from one city tells you nothing about another, and why a sign contractor who works in one metro will guess wrong in the next.
A zoning sign permit in Denver is $25. The plan check on a single wall sign in San Diego is $793.95, before the $737.00 that lands on every application there. Same sign, same country, thirty times the money.
The ones that charge you every year
Six of the twenty-seven keep charging after the sign is up. Houston does not sell you a permit once: an on-premise sign permit there is an annual operating permit renewed every year, with fees subject to an automatic increase each January 1. New York charges an annual use fee on any illuminated sign, from $45 a year for a small one. Dallas charges an annual registration on non-premise signs, and $2,817 a year on a detached non-premise digital display. San Francisco charges $349 a year per general advertising sign just to keep it on the inventory. Austin charges $166.93 for a city outdoor advertising (sign) license, new or at each annual renewal. Albuquerque makes an electronic sign permit an annual permit, priced like a sign permit. Budget those as running costs, not install costs.
The cities that publish nothing
Charlotte requires a sign permit but prints no amount we could tie to commercial signs. Its ordinance says only that all fees in accordance with the associated fee schedule shall be paid, and puts a 15-business-day deadline on the city's review. Ask the department before you order the sign. Atlanta is the same: Chapter 16-28A says an application must be accompanied by the applicable fees established by the governing authority from time to time, and prints no amount. Indianapolis was in this group until 9 October 2026, when we found its fee list on the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services sign permit page; its regulations still leave the fee out.
Every figure on this page is taken from the city's own published fee schedule and was read on 7 October 2026 (Indianapolis on 9 October 2026; Chicago on 2 October 2026; Los Angeles on 30 September 2026; Austin and Jacksonville on 10 October 2026). The last column links that document, and each city page links it too. Cities revise these schedules; confirm the current amount before you file.
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