How many sign shops are in the Boston area?

Name: Sign shops in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, 2024
Creator: Sign Trade Data
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

77 sign shops

in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area in 2024. The BLS withheld employment and pay for this area to protect individual employers. Sign shops make up a 31% smaller share of local private employers than they do nationally.

Shops vs 2023+4.1%3 more shops than 2023

Concentration0.69×the national share of employers

Employees—withheld by BLS

Average pay—withheld by BLS

The Boston area among U.S. metro areas

#	Metro area	Sign shops	Employees	Avg pay	Concentration
13	Seattle areaWA	86	875	$66,032	1.11×
14	Minneapolis areaMN-WI	84	—	—	1.22×
15	Orlando areaFL	80	703	$59,193	1.33×
16	Boston areaMA-NH	77	—	—	0.69×
16	San Diego areaCA	77	613	$79,003	0.92×
18	Portland areaOR-WA	74	—	—	1.15×
18	Washington areaDC-VA-MD-WV	74	—	—	0.54×

All 383 metro areas are ranked on the metro list. The Boston area crosses state lines (Massachusetts, New Hampshire) and is counted whole. For Massachusetts as a whole, with 2025 figures and the trend since 2014, see the Massachusetts page.

Other metro areas in Massachusetts

Metro area	Sign shops	Employees	Avg pay	Concentration
Providence area	32	—	—	0.82×
Worcester area	15	124	$65,848	0.86×
Springfield area	7	42	$70,606	0.59×
Barnstable Town area	6	19	$75,984	0.97×
Amherst Town area	1	—	—	0.32×
Pittsfield area	1	—	—	0.29×

Sign permits in Boston

Every city in the area permits signs under its own code. For Boston, PrinterFlo's summary of the Boston sign code covers which signs need a permit, the size and height limits, and what the city checks before a sign goes up.

Questions

How many sign shops are in the Boston area?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 77 sign manufacturing establishments in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area in 2024 (annual average, private employers), rank 16 of 383 U.S. metro areas.

What do sign shops pay in the Boston area?

The BLS withheld employment and pay for sign shops in the Boston area in 2024, to protect individual employers. Statewide, Massachusetts's sign shops paid an average of $103,470 that year.

Does the Boston area have more sign shops than average?

Relative to its size, no: sign shops make up a 31% smaller share of the Boston area's private employers than they do across the U.S. (a location quotient of 0.69, where 1.00 is the national share).

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), annual averages, private ownership, NAICS 339950 Sign Manufacturing, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan statistical area, 2024 and 2023 annual averages, read September 24, 2026. 2024 is the latest year the BLS has published for metro areas. Concentration is the BLS location quotient for establishments. Ranks computed from the 383 metro areas with a published count; tied areas share a rank.