Which states and cities have banned billboards, and what do businesses use instead?

Which states have banned billboards?

Four. Vermont, Maine, Hawaii and Alaska each have a state law that prohibits billboards and other off-premises outdoor advertising, then lists the signs that are still allowed. The pattern is the same in all four: you can sign your own business, but you can't rent a big roadside board to advertise somewhere else.

You'll see different years on other sites. Scenic America, an advocacy group that works to limit billboards, lists Hawaii's ban as 1927, Maine's as 1978 and Alaska's as 1949. It doesn't say which law each date refers to. The table uses what each statute's own history note says, plus the Alaska vote.

None of the four bans every sign. Each one keeps signs on a business's own property and official or directional signs. Vermont, Maine and Hawaii also list signs on certain vehicles. That's where local advertising goes when billboards are off the table, and it's covered below.

What each state's billboard law says

Vermont billboard ban (1968)

Vermont's rule is one sentence: "No person may erect or maintain outdoor advertising visible to the travelling public except as provided in this chapter." It was added in 1967 and took effect March 23, 1968. Scenic America says the law gave owners five years to take existing boards down, and the last one came down by 1974.

What's left: a business can put on-premises signs on its own property advertising activities there, up to 150 square feet in total area, within 1,500 feet of the main entrance, and no more than 25 feet above the ground. The exempt list starts with "signs located on or in the rolling stock of common carriers," which is why buses and trucks can still carry signs.

Maine billboard ban (1977)

Maine's law reads almost the same: "No person may erect or maintain signs visible to the traveling public from a public way except as provided in this chapter." The section was created by Public Law 1977, chapter 494. So, does Maine have any billboards? Not new roadside ones, outside the exceptions.

What's left: on-premises signs, up to 10 per property (or 10 per business when several share one property), within 1,000 feet of the main building, and no more than 25 feet high. Flashing and moving signs are out, apart from changeable signs that meet the state's rules. Maine also lists signs on the rolling stock of common carriers and on registered, inspected motor vehicles as allowed categories, unless the state finds a sign is circumventing the law.

Hawaii billboard ban

Hawaii's statute opens: "No person shall erect, maintain, or use a billboard or display any outdoor advertising device, except as provided in this section." The current law dates to 1965, with amendments through 2015. Two details matter for advertisers. First, the definitions treat a business that knowingly causes its products to be advertised on a billboard as maintaining that billboard, so the rule reaches the advertiser, not only the sign owner. Second, Hawaii has a separate law on vehicles.

Allowed: signs naming the business on its own premises, signs for goods and services sold there, and signs "carried by persons or placed upon vehicles used for the transportation of persons or goods." But since 2006, section 445-112.5 makes it unlawful to drive or park a vehicle used primarily to display advertising for pay where people can see it. Fines run $200 to $1,000 for a first offense and up to $5,000 for a third. In plain terms: a delivery van with your logo is fine; a truck that exists to carry an ad is not.

Alaska billboard ban (1998)

Alaska's law starts with a finding: billboards visible from its highways endanger "Alaska's uniqueness and its scenic beauty," and "Alaska shall forever remain free of billboards" (AS 19.25.075). Voters put that into law with Measure 5 on November 3, 1998: 160,922 yes to 61,401 no.

The working rule, AS 19.25.105, bars outdoor advertising within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main-traveled way of interstate, primary or secondary highways. Exceptions include official and directional signs and signs advertising the sale or lease of the property they stand on, or activities conducted on it.

Do any states limit billboards without banning them?

Oregon. The state's transportation department says plainly: "Oregon does not issue 'new' permits, except for transit permits." Its outdoor advertising sign program works as a cap-and-replace system. Permits that existed before May 31, 2007 can be rebuilt, moved or sold, but the total doesn't grow. Billboards still exist in Oregon. There just aren't more of them.

Every other state controls billboards too, just more loosely. Since the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, signs next to the Interstate and primary highway systems have been federally controlled "to protect the public investment in such highways, to promote the safety and recreational value of public travel, and to preserve natural beauty." States run those programs, and cities add their own zoning on top.

Which cities have banned billboards?

Many more cities restrict billboards than states do. Scenic America estimates about 700 communities have billboard bans. That's an advocacy group's estimate, not a government count, and city sign codes vary a lot. Some ban new boards, some cap them, some limit size or lighting. Read the code itself before you call a place a ban.

San Francisco

San Francisco's Planning Code section 611 is titled "General advertising signs prohibited." It says: "No new general advertising signs shall be permitted at any location within the City as of March 5, 2002, except as provided in Subsection (b)." The section also lets the Board of Supervisors make agreements with sign companies to relocate existing, legally permitted signs. Subsection (b) says it doesn't prohibit "the placement of signs on motor vehicles or in the public right-of-way as permitted by local law" (section 611).

That's one California city whose code uses the word. Plenty of other California cities regulate billboards through permits, zones and size limits. Those are rules, not bans, unless the code says otherwise.

São Paulo billboard ban (2006)

The big international example is São Paulo, Brazil. Its 2006 Clean City Law, Lei 14.223, article 18, prohibits advertising on public and private property, built on or not, across the city. A business may keep one identifying sign on its own property, sized by the width of the lot (article 13). Ads on street furniture, like bus shelters and newsstands, are handled under a separate law (articles 21 and 22). That's the same split you see everywhere: own-premises signs stay, and city-run furniture becomes the ad space.

What do local businesses advertise with instead?

When roadside billboards are off the table, local advertising doesn't stop. It moves into the formats the laws still allow. Three show up in almost every ban.

On-premises signs

Every one of the four state laws keeps signs on a business's own property. Vermont allows up to 150 square feet for activity signs; Maine allows up to 10 per property within 1,000 feet of the building; Hawaii exempts signs naming the business and what it sells on its premises; Alaska exempts signs for activities conducted on the property. For a shop on a busy road, the sign out front does much of what a billboard would. It just can't sit a mile up the highway.

Transit and street furniture

Cities that ban billboards often still sell ads on things the city owns or contracts out. In San Francisco, JCDecaux pays to design, install and maintain 25 public toilets under a 20-year agreement and in return may install 114 sidewalk advertising kiosks downtown, in the Financial District and in tourist areas. Oregon carves transit permits out of its cap. In Alaska, the Municipality of Anchorage lists a sales contact for ads on People Mover buses.

Not every transit system sells ads, and rules on shelters vary by state. In Maine, for example, a 2011 bill sought to let towns allow ads inside bus shelters, which the state's billboard law prohibited. Ask the transit agency before you plan around shelters. For how bus and bench ads are bought, read advertising on buses, bus bench advertising and bus shelter advertising.

Signs on working vehicles

Vehicles are the other big exception. Vermont exempts signs on the rolling stock of common carriers. Maine exempts those plus signs on registered, inspected motor vehicles. Hawaii allows signs on vehicles that carry people or goods. San Francisco's ban says it doesn't reach signs on motor vehicles that local law permits.

The line in most places is between a working vehicle that carries a sign and a vehicle whose job is the sign. Hawaii draws it in section 445-112.5; Maine reserves the right to reject vehicle signs that circumvent its law. Your own wrapped van is the safest bet. A mobile billboard truck is a different question with its own local rules: read billboard truck rental and ads on trucks before you book one.

Where does garbage truck advertising fit?

Garbage truck advertising is one more vehicle format: a framed sign on the side of a city collection truck, not a wrap. In each city, every ad will be checked against that city's written ad policy before it runs. Whether it's allowed in any given place depends on that city's contracts and on state and local sign law, so we don't say it's allowed anywhere specific.

No city is open yet. There is no Roadway advertiser case study yet. If you want to see what a panel would look like, see your ad on a garbage truck, read how garbage truck advertising works, or join the list for your city. For a broader plan that doesn't depend on billboards at all, read how to advertise a small business locally and are billboards worth it.