This free billboard cost calculator does four things. It estimates a billboard rate range from published sources by format, market size and flight length, calculates a campaign cost from your own CPM and impressions, checks whether a seller's quote looks reasonable against published CPM ranges, and compares a four-week lease with per-play pricing.
Billboard prices are not standardized, and published figures vary a lot from one source to the next, so the estimator returns a range and shows where each number comes from. It runs in your browser, needs no sign-up and keeps the numbers you type to itself. Use it to plan a budget and to prepare questions for sellers, not as a quote.
The calculators
1. Estimate a billboard rate range
Choose a format and market size, then enter the number of boards and the flight length. Ranges are per four-week cycle and come from the published figures listed further down.
2. Calculate cost from your own CPM and impressions
If a seller gives you impressions and you have a target CPM, this works out the total cost. Use impression figures from the same source for every board you compare.
3. Check a seller's quote
Enter the price and the impressions the seller claims for the same period. The tool works out the implied CPM and compares it with published ranges.
4. Lease versus per-play pricing
Turn a digital lease price into a cost per play, then see how many plays the same money would buy at published per-play prices.
How the estimate is built
- Range: the per-cycle range for your format and market size comes from the five-tier table in the next section.
- Flight length: weeks divided by four, so a six-week flight counts as 1.5 cycles. Many sellers bill in whole four-week cycles, so a short flight can cost more than the estimate.
- Long flights: for 13 weeks or more, the low end is reduced by 20 percent and the high end by 10 percent, the range AdQuick gives for long commitments.
- Boards: the range is multiplied by the number of boards. Volume discounts are not modeled.
- Production: design is added once per campaign. Printing, installation and creative swaps are added per board and apply to static boards only.
- Months and four-week cycles: sources use both terms loosely. This tool treats one month as one four-week cycle.
The published figures behind the estimate
Market-size ranges come from business.com's billboard cost guide, updated in January 2026, which compiled them from several industry sources. Static is per four weeks and digital is listed per month.
| Market size | Static | Digital rotation |
|---|---|---|
| Major metro (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami) | $5,000 to $25,000 | $5,000 to $20,000 |
| Large metro (Dallas, Boston, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia) | $3,000 to $10,000 | $2,000 to $10,000 |
| Midsize city (Indianapolis, Orlando, Tampa, Charlotte) | $1,000 to $4,000 | $1,500 to $6,000 |
| Small city or suburb (Fresno, Des Moines, Akron) | $1,000 to $3,000 | $1,200 to $4,000 |
| Rural or small town | $250 to $1,500 | $770 to $2,000 |
Other sources publish overall ranges by format, which the tool uses as a cross-check.
| Source | Format | Published range |
|---|---|---|
| AdQuick (2026) | Static bulletin | $1,500 to $30,000 per four weeks, CPM $2 to $9 |
| AdQuick | Static poster | $750 to $4,000 per four weeks, CPM $2 to $7 |
| AdQuick | Digital billboard | $3,500 to $25,000 per four weeks, CPM $5 to $18 |
| Blindspot (June 2026) | Static | $250 to $14,000 per four weeks |
| Blindspot | Digital billboard | $1,200 to $15,000 per four weeks |
| Royal Display (2026) | Digital billboard | $1,200 to $50,000 or more per month |
Production costs, as published:
| Item | Published range | Used in the tool |
|---|---|---|
| Design | $300 to $1,000 (business.com) | $300 to $1,000, once per campaign |
| Printing, 14 by 48 foot bulletin | About $500 (AdQuick) to $1,200 (business.com) | $500 to $1,200 per board |
| Installation per posting | $200 to $500 (business.com), $200 to $1,000 (AdQuick) | $200 to $1,000 per board |
| Static creative swap | $700 to $1,500 each (AdQuick) | $700 to $1,500 per swap, per board |
Per-play prices in calculator 4 come from Blindspot's published answers (June 2026): about $0.23 for urban panels, $0.50 to $6 for highway digitals and about $40 for Times Square. Our digital billboard cost guide covers what drives these prices and why Times Square figures vary so much.
Where the published figures disagree
- Printing cost. AdQuick puts printing a 14 by 48 foot bulletin at about $500, but its own rate of $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot implies roughly $1,000 to $2,000 for the 672 square feet. Business.com uses $1,200.
- Digital ranges. The top of the typical digital range is $15,000 at Blindspot, $20,000 at business.com and $25,000 at AdQuick, and Royal Display runs past $50,000.
- Independence. One national average, about $3,953 per four-week cycle, appears in many guides. Business.com credits a 2025 Times Square Billboard guide for it, and FitSmallBusiness published the same figure in 2025. Repetition across sites is not independent confirmation.
- Tier ranges. Only one guide publishes digital ranges by market size, so the digital tier ranges rest on a single source.
For these reasons the calculator gives a range, and a seller's actual quote can fall outside it. Premium locations, taxes, permits, agency fees and negotiated discounts are not included. To judge a quote against your own impression figures, use calculator 3 or the DOOH CPM calculator, and see our guide to ad verification and viewability for how impression numbers are produced.
Worked examples
Static board, midsize city. One static board for four weeks in a midsize city lists at $1,000 to $4,000. Adding design plus printing and installation brings production to $1,000 to $3,200, so the estimate is $2,000 to $7,200.
Digital boards, long flight. Two digital boards in a large metro for 13 weeks count as 3.25 cycles each. At $2,000 to $10,000 per cycle, with the long-flight reduction of 20 percent on the low end and 10 percent on the high end, media costs $10,400 to $58,500.
Your own CPM. Two boards at 30,000 impressions a day for 28 days deliver 1,680,000 impressions. At a $7 CPM that costs $11,760.
Checking a quote. A digital seller quotes $6,000 and claims 700,000 impressions. The implied CPM is $8.57, inside AdQuick's published range of $5 to $18.
Lease versus per play. A $5,000 lease on a 120-second loop, running 24 hours a day for 28 days, plays 20,160 times, or about $0.25 per play. At $0.23 a play, the same $5,000 would buy about 21,739 plays.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to rent a billboard?
Published ranges run from about $250 per four-week cycle for a rural static board to $25,000 or more in a major metro. Digital rotation lists from about $770 to $25,000, depending on the source. This calculator narrows that by format, market size and flight length, but it returns a range, not a quote.
Is a billboard priced per month or per four weeks?
Most billboards are sold in four-week cycles, so per month usually means per four weeks. Some guides quote calendar months, which is one reason figures from different sources do not line up exactly.
How much more does a digital billboard cost than a static one?
AdQuick and Penneco Outdoor both put digital at about 30 to 50 percent more than a comparable static board in the same location. The tier ranges in this calculator overlap, and in the largest markets one guide lists static higher than digital, so the premium is not a fixed percentage.
Do longer flights cost less?
AdQuick says flights of 13 weeks or more typically earn a 10 to 20 percent rate reduction. The estimator applies that range, 20 percent off the low end and 10 percent off the high end, to flights of 13 weeks or longer.
What does the estimate leave out?
Premium and marquee locations, taxes, permits, agency or platform fees, seasonal peaks and negotiated discounts. Digital creative may also need motion design. Ask any seller for an all-in quote that itemizes media, production and fees.
How do I know if a billboard quote is fair?
Divide the price by the impressions the seller claims and multiply by 1,000 to get the CPM, then compare it with published ranges. The quote checker on this page does that. A figure outside the range is a reason to ask how impressions were counted, not a verdict.
What is per-play pricing?
Some marketplaces sell individual plays of a digital ad instead of a four-week lease. Blindspot lists about $0.23 per play for urban panels, $0.50 to $6 for highway digitals and about $40 for Times Square, as of June 2026.
Does this calculator store my numbers?
No. The numbers you type stay in your browser and are not saved or sent anywhere. The site's analytics records that a calculator was used, but never the values you entered.
If you are planning a first buy, our guide to self-service programmatic DOOH covers buying in smaller increments, and our programmatic DOOH statistics roundup has CPM benchmarks for digital screens. The programmatic DOOH glossary defines the terms used here.
Disclaimer and disclosures
- Estimates, not quotes. The results are planning estimates built from published third-party figures. They are not quotes, offers or guarantees, and a seller's actual price can fall outside any range shown here.
- Source accuracy. Figures come from the sources named on this page, which are mostly companies that sell or broker billboard space. They may be out of date, incomplete or favorable to the seller, and we do not guarantee their accuracy. Confirm every number with the seller before you commit budget.
- Not professional advice. This page is general information, not financial, legal or media-buying advice. Decisions you make using it are your own.
- Independence. pDOOH.Space is an independent site. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by AdQuick, Blindspot, business.com, Royal Display, FitSmallBusiness, Penneco Outdoor or any other company mentioned, and their names and trademarks belong to their owners. Links are provided for reference.
- No paid placement. This page contains no affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid listings.
- How this page was made. It was researched and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by Dinesh. Figures were last checked in October 2026.
- Your data. The numbers you enter stay in your browser. The site's analytics records that a calculator was used, but not the values. See our Privacy Policy.
- Corrections. If you spot an outdated or incorrect figure, tell us through the Contact page and we will review it.