Is it legal to put up
posters in San Francisco?

Short answer: yes — on some city-owned poles, under specific rules. Posting on public property in San Francisco is prohibited by default. Article 5.6 of the Public Works Code (§184.56–184.68) carves out one narrow exception: signs on qualifying city-owned lamp posts and utility poles, if the sign meets the code’s requirements on size, attachment, dating, and removal. That exception does not allow posting on city-owned benches, hydrants, traffic-control poles, or buildings.

This guide explains the requirements in plain English, with section numbers and links to the city’s sources. Check the current requirements before choosing a location or printing.

Qualifying city-owned lamp posts and utility poles (§184.57). Confirm ownership rather than assuming a streetlight qualifies. Poles carrying traffic-control signs or signals are excluded (§184.56). The code distinguishes commercial and non-commercial streets, but signs 11 inches or under on commercial streets must meet the same posting rules (§184.57(d)). The old registration provision does not provide a way to register a new, larger sign (§184.59).

Bulletin boards designed for neighborhood postings are exempt from this regulation. Signs in café windows or elsewhere on private property need a separate check of the owner’s permission and applicable building or planning rules.

§184.58 names eight groups of historic street lights where posting is flatly prohibited:

• Market Street’s “Path of Gold” — 1 Market St to 2490 Market St
• The Mission Street corridor between 16th and 24th Streets
• The “Dragon Street Lanterns” on Grant Avenue, Bush to Broadway
• The Embarcadero between King and Jefferson Streets
• Fisherman’s Wharf between Hyde and Powell Streets
• Howard Street at Moscone Center, between 3rd and 4th Streets
• Union Square Plaza (Geary, Stockton, Post, and Powell)
• Mason St from Market to Sutter, Sutter St from Mason to Kearny, and Kearny St from Bush to Market

§184.58(c) requires Public Works to maintain a list and map of the covered historic poles and provide copies on request. Do not rely on a pole’s appearance to decide whether it qualifies. Trees and other city property are not covered by the pole-posting exception (§184.57(b), §184.60). Port and park locations can involve separate rules and agency permission; this guide does not establish permission to post there.

Signs and their attachment material must come down within 70 calendar days of the posting date (§184.57(e)). Signs promoting an event or election must come down no more than 10 calendar days after the event — whichever deadline hits first. Schedule removal before posting, including removal of the material used to attach each sign.

Administrative fines escalate per violation: $100 for the first, $200 for a second violation of the same section within a year, and $500 for each additional violation of that section within the same year (§184.63(b)). A violation can also be an infraction carrying $100–$500 or community service in place of the fine (§184.62). The city can bill for removal and damage repair. Unpaid bills can lead to a civil penalty covering those costs, litigation costs, and an additional 50% of that total (§184.63–184.64). Anyone can report an illegal posting through 311, and one more detail worth knowing: for a purely commercial sign, the business named on the poster can be used as evidence of who caused the posting (§184.65).