Sign ROI calculator
What does a sign
need to earn?
Put in your quote, your location's traffic, and your numbers. See the real monthly cost, what you pay per thousand people reached, and how many extra customers it takes to pay for itself.
Run your numbers
Start with the cost.
Then the break-even.
Defaults come from public data and are cited below. Replace any of them with your own figures; results update as you type and nothing you enter leaves this page.
How it works
The method, in plain numbers.
Total cost of ownership
Project price + financing interest + (electricity + upkeep) × years of use − the optional first-year tax estimate. Electricity is face area × average watts × hours lit × 365 ÷ 1,000 × your rate. Financing uses a standard amortizing loan payment.
Break-even customers
Monthly cost of ownership ÷ (average sale × gross margin). It is the number of extra customers the sign has to bring in each month to pay for itself, with no assumption about how much sales will rise.
People reached and cost per 1,000
Daily traffic (AADT) × people per vehicle × the share who notice, over every day of the sign’s life. Total cost ÷ (views ÷ 1,000) gives a cost per thousand views you can compare with paid media.
Is it big enough?
From the United States Sign Council guidelines: viewing distance = speed × reaction time × 1.47; letter height (inches) = distance ÷ 30; sign area = (reaction time × speed)² ÷ 800 for a 30-letter message. A sign smaller than this is hard to read in time, whatever it costs.
Sources
Every number, traced.
15 public sources, each opened and checked. No sign-company marketing figures. Where only industry data exists, it is labelled.
Electricity & energy use
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Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State
Commercial rates by state, January–July 2026 year to date (US average 13.97¢/kWh).
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Digital Billboard Energy Use in California
LED display draw (16–51 W/sq ft at full white), dimming and content assumptions, LED lumen life.
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2022 Nonresidential Sign Lighting (Title 24, Part 6, §140.8)
Maximum allowed sign lighting power: 12 W/sq ft internally lit, 2.3 W/sq ft externally lit.
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Energy Savings Estimates of Light Emitting Diodes in Niche Lighting Applications
Channel-letter LED strip draw (0.96 W/ft, ~150 ft per sign); 15-year average sign life.
Traffic & reach
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Traffic Monitoring Guide
Definition of annual average daily traffic (AADT).
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Summary of Travel Trends: 2022 National Household Travel Survey, Table 5-2
1.52 people per vehicle, all trip purposes.
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Glossary: Daily Effective Circulation; Visibility Adjustment Index
Outdoor-media method for counting people passing a sign and adjusting for visibility.
Media cost benchmarks
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US Major Media CPM Comparison
Median cost per 1,000 impressions for other media.
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Notice 123: Price List (Every Door Direct Mail retail flats)
$0.260 per piece postage.
Sales impact studies
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The Economic Impact of Exterior Electronic Message Boards
2.1% first-year sales lift, 19 stores vs. 55 controls.
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The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage
4.75% sales per additional sign (162 sites); ~5% typical lift from improved signs.
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The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage
About 60% of businesses that changed signs reported gains averaging about 10% (self-reported survey).
Sign sizing
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Best Practice Standards for On-Premise Signs
Legibility index 30, reaction times, sign-area formula.
Tax treatment
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Publication 946: How To Depreciate Property
Signs listed as Section 179 property; land improvements excluded.
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Revenue Procedure 2025-32, §4.24
2026 Section 179 limit of $2,560,000.
This calculator is an estimate for planning, not a promise of results or financial, tax, or legal advice. Results depend on your location, sign design, local sign code, and business. Published sales-lift figures come from industry-funded studies and vary widely between businesses.
