OOHGuide

How to Start a Billboard Business: Permits, Costs and Revenue

Updated 2026-10-14

The billboard business has real appeal: long-lived assets, recurring rental income, and a market where hundreds of independent operators compete alongside the giants. Of the 423 operators with face counts in the OOHGuide directory, 360 run fewer than 500 faces, and many started with a single board.

But it is a capital-heavy, regulation-heavy business. Here is how it works, step by step.

How a billboard business makes money

A billboard company owns sign structures and rents the advertising faces, usually in 4-week periods. Revenue depends on:

  • Rate per face: from about $250 per 4 weeks in rural areas to $1,500 to $5,000 in most small and midsize cities, and much more in major metros (Business.com).
  • Number of faces: most structures are two-sided, so one board is two faces to sell.
  • Occupancy: the share of time each face is sold.
  • Digital: a digital face sells several advertisers in rotation, so it can earn several times what a static face earns.

Your main costs are ground rent, lighting and electricity, insurance, maintenance, production and installation (often passed to advertisers), sales, and debt on the structures.

Step 1: Learn the rules where you want to build

Billboards are one of the most regulated forms of advertising, and the rules decide where you can build at all.

Federal rules. The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 requires states to control outdoor advertising along Interstate and federal-aid primary highways. In urban areas, control applies within 660 feet of the right-of-way. Outside urban areas, new off-premise billboards are generally limited to commercial or industrial areas, and size, lighting and spacing are set by each state's agreement with the federal government (FHWA).

State rules. Your state department of transportation issues permits (and in some states, operator licenses) for signs along regulated highways. Texas, for example, regulates commercial signs on Interstate and primary highways and on rural roads outside city limits (TxDOT).

Local rules. Cities and counties control zoning, building permits and signs on local roads. Many cities cap or ban new billboards, or only allow them if you remove existing ones.

Four states ban billboards entirely: Hawaii (1927), Vermont (1968), Maine (1977) and Alaska (1998).

Before anything else, call the state DOT outdoor advertising office and the local planning department for the area you are targeting.

Step 2: Find a site

A good billboard site has:

  • Traffic: high daily vehicle counts, ideally on a highway or major arterial
  • Visibility: a clear sight line from far away, on the right side of the road for the approach that matters
  • Legal eligibility: commercial or industrial zoning, and enough distance from other signs to meet spacing rules
  • A willing landowner

State permit maps can show where existing signs are, which helps you find gaps and check spacing. See who owns billboards for the Texas and Florida databases.

Step 3: Sign a ground lease

Most operators lease the land rather than buy it. Typical rents range from a few hundred dollars a year on rural roads to $500 to $2,000 or more a month on urban highways, sometimes paid as 15% to 20% of the sign's revenue. Leases commonly run 10 to 20 years with escalators of about 2% to 5% a year. Make the lease contingent on getting permits. More in billboard lease rates.

Step 4: Get the permits

Expect some combination of:

  • A state outdoor advertising permit for signs along regulated highways
  • A state operator license in some states
  • Local zoning approval and a building permit, with engineering drawings
  • Electrical permits for lighting or digital

Permitting is usually the slowest and most uncertain step. Some applications take months, and many sites simply can't be permitted.

Step 5: Build the structure

Build costs from a 2025 survey of operators (Billboard Insider):

Structure Typical build cost
12' x 25' steel monopole About $40,000 to $50,000+
14' x 48' steel monopole About $80,000 to $100,000+
Digital The structure plus the LED display, power and controllers, often several times a static board

Costs vary with height, soil, region and whether you build in-house. Full breakdown in how much it costs to build a billboard.

Step 6: Sell the space

A board only earns money when it is sold. Plan how you will sell:

  • Local direct sales to businesses on the board's route (law firms, auto dealers, healthcare, restaurants, home services)
  • Agencies and national buyers
  • Marketplaces and programmatic platforms for digital faces
  • A clear rate card and availability calendar, plus photos and traffic counts for each face

A verified OOHGuide listing also puts your boards in front of advertisers searching your market.

The revenue math: a simple example

Assume a two-sided static board in a midsize market:

  • 2 faces x 13 four-week periods x $2,000 per period x 75% occupancy = about $39,000 a year in gross revenue
  • Less ground rent, lighting, insurance, maintenance and sales costs
  • Against a build cost of roughly $80,000 to $100,000

That can pay back in several years, and a strong board can earn for decades. A weak location or low occupancy can stretch the payback a long way. Run the numbers with real local rates and real traffic counts.

Build or buy?

Because permits are scarce, many people buy existing billboards or small billboard companies instead of building:

  • Existing boards come with permits, leases and a revenue history, so they are easier to value and finance.
  • Grandfathered (nonconforming) signs can't always be rebuilt or converted to digital, so check each sign's permit status.
  • Small operators sell regularly, often when an owner retires.

Browse the billboard company directory to see who operates in your region, from national companies to one-board operators.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to start a billboard business?

A single new static board typically costs about $40,000 to $100,000+ to build, plus permits, engineering and ground lease costs. Digital boards cost substantially more. Buying an existing board or company can be a faster route.

Do I need a permit to put up a billboard?

Almost always. Boards along Interstate and federal-aid primary highways need state permits under the Highway Beautification Act, and local zoning and building permits usually apply too. Some states and cities ban new billboards.

How much money does a billboard make?

It depends on location and occupancy. A two-sided board renting at $2,000 per face per 4 weeks at 75% occupancy grosses about $39,000 a year before costs. Rural boards earn less; major-metro and digital boards can earn much more.

Which states ban billboards?

Hawaii, Vermont, Maine and Alaska ban roadside billboards.

Sources

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