Every local race eventually comes down to the same order: you need custom political signs in your candidate’s colors, in a size that will actually be visible from the street, and you need them before yard-sign season starts. The decisions that matter most — size, material thickness, quantity, and timing — aren’t complicated, but getting them wrong is expensive. Order too thin a material and half your signs are face-down in the mud by week three. Order too few and you’re placing a rush reorder at a markup during the busiest weeks of the printer’s year.
This guide covers what custom political signs actually cost at different sizes and quantities, what “4mm” and “10mm” mean when a printer asks which coroplast you want, how minimum order quantities work across vendors, and how much lead time to build in before your filing deadline or election day.
Sizes and materials for custom political signs
“Custom political signs” covers a wider range of products than most first-time campaign staffers expect. The workhorse is the 18×24-inch corrugated plastic yard sign, staked into lawns along a commute route. Smaller 12×18 signs cost less per unit and work well for dense residential blocks where you’re placing dozens close together. At the other end, 24×36-inch and 4×8-foot signs are built for roadside visibility at 35+ mph and are usually mounted to a wood frame or stake system rather than a simple wire H-stake.
Material thickness is the spec that actually determines how a sign performs once it’s outdoors for six to ten weeks. Printers default to 4mm corrugated plastic (coroplast) for political runs because it’s rigid enough to stay flat on a wire stake while staying cheap enough to buy in the volumes a campaign needs. It handles normal wind and rain fine for a typical campaign window. Heavier 10mm coroplast costs more per sign but resists the buckling and warping that 4mm can suffer in sustained wind, and it holds up better if signs need to stay up for a longer stretch, such as a primary-to-general campaign that spans several months.
| Coroplast thickness | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| 4mm (standard) | Short-term campaigns in normal weather; the default for high-volume, price-sensitive runs | Can buckle or warp under sustained wind |
| 10mm (heavy-duty) | High-wind areas, roadside placement, or signs that need to survive a full campaign season | Higher per-sign cost and heavier to ship |
What custom political signs cost per sign
Price per sign is driven far more by quantity than by anything else, which is why campaigns that order once for the whole race almost always come out ahead of campaigns that reorder in small batches. Within a given size, bulk pricing guides from sign printers consistently show the same shape: the first handful of signs are the most expensive per unit, and the price drops as the order climbs into the hundreds.
Across vendors, a full-color double-sided 18×24 sign is the reference point most campaigns budget around — it’s readable at normal residential speeds, cheap enough to place in volume, and small enough that a single volunteer can plant dozens in an afternoon. Larger formats trade a higher per-sign price for visibility at higher speeds or greater distances, which is why they’re usually reserved for a smaller number of high-traffic locations rather than blanket neighborhood coverage.
| Size | Bulk price per sign | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 12×18 in | $1 – $3 | Dense residential placement, high sign counts |
| 18×24 in | $2 – $6 | Standard political yard sign size |
| 24×36 in and larger | $4 – $10+ | Roadside and high-visibility placement |
Minimum order quantities and bulk discounts
Most sign printers that serve political campaigns don’t enforce a hard minimum order — you can order a single proof sign to check color and layout before committing to a full run. That said, the pricing structure is built around quantity breaks, and vendors like SignsOnTheCheap publish tiered pricing at 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100-plus signs, with the per-sign cost falling at each threshold. Package deals are common too: several printers sell pre-bundled runs, such as 50 double-sided 18×24 signs with 24-inch metal H-stakes included, as a single line-item purchase rather than a custom quote.
The practical takeaway is to size your order to a published break rather than just above or below one. Fifty-two signs and fifty signs will often cost close to the same total, so rounding down to the tier saves money, and rounding up to the next tier is usually cheaper per sign than ordering a small top-up later.
Lead times: when to place your order
Turnaround varies by vendor and by how close you are to election season. Several national sign printers advertise 24-hour production with signs shipping the next business day, and others run a standard 3-day production cycle that can be compressed to next-day for a rush fee. Across the industry, printers generally tell buyers to plan on roughly 3 to 5 business days from order to delivery once production and standard ground shipping are both accounted for.
That estimate assumes normal volume. During the peak window — roughly August through the first week of November in a general election year — press capacity tightens across the industry and turnaround can stretch past the standard estimate, particularly for large orders or rush color changes late in a race. Printers that serve political campaigns routinely advise ordering well ahead of your target install date rather than assuming rush production will be available on demand closer to election day.
Stakes, mounting, and installation
Standard 18×24 and 12×18 yard signs ship with wire H-stakes included in the base price at most printers — the stake slides into the sign’s flutes and pushes into soil without tools. Larger roadside signs and anything mounted to a wood-frame stake system are typically quoted and shipped separately from the sign itself, since frame hardware adds weight and packaging cost that a wire stake doesn’t. If you’re planning a mix of yard signs and larger road signs, price them as separate line items rather than assuming one per-sign rate covers both.
For placement, coordinate with your state and local sign ordinances before install day — most jurisdictions regulate setback from the road, size limits on public right-of-way, and how early signs can go up relative to an election, and rules vary enough by state that a national printer’s default packaging won’t tell you what’s legal on a given street corner.
Frequently asked questions
What size is a standard political yard sign?
18×24 inches is the most common size for residential yard placement — large enough to read from a car at normal neighborhood speed and small enough for one volunteer to carry and plant dozens per outing.
Is there a minimum order for custom political signs?
Most printers don’t enforce a hard minimum, so you can order a single proof sign. Pricing is still built around quantity breaks — commonly at 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100-plus signs — so ordering right at a tier is more cost-effective than ordering just under one.
Should I order 4mm or 10mm coroplast?
4mm is the standard choice for a typical campaign window in normal weather and is what most bulk political sign pricing assumes. Step up to 10mm if your signs will be in a high-wind area, placed on a roadside, or need to stay up for a longer stretch than a standard campaign cycle.
How far in advance should I order custom political signs?
Plan for 3 to 5 business days from order to delivery under normal conditions, but order well ahead of that during peak season — roughly August through early November in a general election year — when press capacity across the industry tightens and turnaround can run longer than the standard estimate.
Do custom political signs come with stakes?
Standard yard sign sizes typically include wire H-stakes in the base price. Larger road signs and frame-mounted formats are usually priced and shipped as separate hardware.
Are double-sided signs worth the extra cost?
For yard signs viewed from either direction of a street, double-sided printing is worth it — a single-sided sign is unreadable from half the traffic passing it. Several pre-bundled packages already include double-sided printing as the default, so check what’s included before treating it as an upcharge.
The bottom line
The math on custom political signs is straightforward once you separate the two decisions that actually drive cost: size and material determine price per sign, and quantity determines where you land on the pricing tier. Pick 18×24 at 4mm coroplast for standard neighborhood coverage unless you have a specific reason to go heavier or larger, order at a published quantity break rather than just above or below one, and place that order with enough lead time — especially during peak season — that a shipping delay doesn’t become your problem the week before voters start heading to the polls.