Minnesota ADA sign requirements, in plain English

Four rulebooks, one sign

A single sign in a Minnesota building can answer to four rulebooks. The ADA Standards and Minnesota's accessibility code mostly agree on room signs but number their sections differently.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your architect or code consultant decides which signs a project needs, and the local building official has the final word. We build ADA and braille signs to the section 703 tactile and braille specifications; we do not certify buildings.

Which signs need raised characters and braille

Only a few sign types need raised characters and braille. Most signs follow the visual rules alone.

The ADA Standards do not require room signs at all, but any you provide must comply, including in employee-only areas.

Minnesota's replacement for IBC section 1111 (Minn. R. 1341.0011, subp. 9, section 1111.2) requires raised characters and braille on signs identifying toilet, bathing, locker, dressing and fitting rooms, room numbers and room names, and it keeps the same exemptions listed above. Watch the numbering: in A117.1-2009, 703.2 is visual characters, 703.3 raised characters and 703.4 braille.

Raised characters and braille: the numbers

Section 703 sets these numbers for every tactile sign.

Minnesota's A117.1-2009 measures raised stroke at the top (15 percent maximum) and base (30 percent maximum), requires 10 percent minimum when characters are both visual and raised, and measures spacing at the top (1/8 inch minimum) and base (1/16 inch minimum). Minnesota also amended A117.1 section 104.2 to match the ADA's own rule (section 104.1.1): dimensions stated as a range, like braille sizes and mounting heights, get no industry tolerance.

The 2010 Standards set no colors and no contrast percentage; the often-quoted 70 percent came from a 1991 advisory appendix. They do require a non-glare finish, so choose a matte finish, which we offer on our tactile signs.

ADA sign mounting height: 48 to 60 inches, latch side

Section 703.4.1 puts tactile characters 48 inches minimum above the finished floor, measured to the baseline of the lowest tactile character, and 60 inches maximum to the baseline of the highest. Minnesota's A117.1 (section 703.4.5) states the braille rule outright: 48 to 60 inches to the baseline of the braille cells.

• Single door

  Latch side. With no wall space there, the nearest adjacent wall.

• Double doors

  One active leaf: on the inactive leaf. Two active leaves: to the right of the right-hand door.

• Clear floor space

  18 by 18 inches minimum, centered on the characters, outside the door's swing from closed to 45 degrees open, and free of protrusions up to 80 inches.

• On the door

  Allowed on the push side of doors with closers and without hold-open devices such as door-mounted stops, wall hooks or magnetic hold-opens.

• Glass

  A latch-side sidelight can carry the sign if the clear floor space still works.

Older signs centered at 60 inches follow the 1991 rule. Since we do not install, every proof notes each sign's mounting height.

Visual characters: directional and overhead signs

Signs read only by sight (703.5) sit 40 inches minimum above the floor, with conventional upper or lower case letters, stroke 10 to 30 percent of height, spacing 10 to 35 percent and line spacing 135 to 170 percent.

Example: a baseline at 60 inches read from 20 feet needs 5/8 inch plus 1/8 inch for each of the 14 feet beyond 72 inches, or 2 3/8 inches. Overhead signs need 80 inches of headroom (307.4), and a wall sign with its leading edge more than 27 and not more than 80 inches up may project 4 inches at most into a circulation path (307.2). For lettering outside these rules, such as a storefront name, our letter height calculator gives a general rule of thumb. Use Table 703.5.5 for the signs on this page.

Pictograms and accessibility symbols

A pictogram labeling a permanent room needs a field at least 6 inches tall with no characters or braille in it, and a tactile text descriptor directly below (703.6). Accessibility symbols (703.7), such as the International Symbol of Accessibility (ISA), need a non-glare finish and contrast, but the Standards set no color or size, and the ISA has no border. Where the Standards require the ISA, the Access Board says another symbol does not comply without equivalent facilitation (section 103), even if a local code specifies one.

Minnesota's code lists where the ISA is required (1111.2, 1111.6), including accessible passenger loading zones, and entrances and restrooms where not all are accessible. Minn. Stat. 326B.106, subd. 9(e) bars displaying the state symbol on a building, facility or grounds that does not comply.

Restroom signs

• The room name

  WOMEN or RESTROOM is a permanent designation: raised characters, braille and visual characters (216.2; Minnesota 1111.2).

• The ISA

  Not needed where all toilet and bathing rooms are accessible, which the Access Board notes is often the case in new construction (216.8).

• Directional signs

  Inaccessible restrooms point to the nearest accessible one, with the ISA (216.8; 1111.3.1). Minnesota also requires a sign at each separate-sex toilet or bathing room pointing to the nearest family or assisted-use room, where provided.

New since August 15, 2025: where a required adult changing station is in a single-user or family/assisted-use toilet room, that room needs signage indicating “Adult Changing Station” at its entrance meeting A117.1's tactile and visual character requirements, plus weight capacity and operating instructions inside (Minn. R. 1341.0613). The rule cites section 703.2, the visual character section, so ask your building official how the tactile part applies.

Exit stairs, areas of refuge and stairwells

Under the ADA, tactile exit signs (216.4.1) are required only at doors to exit stairways, exit passageways and exit discharge, typically as a separate sign, with no wording set. Minnesota's 1111.4 adds that exit door operating instructions must meet the visual rules, and it sends floor designations within exit stairways to A117.1 section 504.9: a raised character and braille floor-level sign at each floor landing in all enclosed stairways, beside the door into the corridor, and a raised character and braille EXIT sign at the door that discharges outside or to the level of exit discharge. Other accessible egress signs go to IBC chapter 10, and Minnesota has not amended section 1013, where the IBC's exit sign rules sit. Longer legends such as EXIT STAIR DOWN and EXIT ROUTE come from California's code, not Minnesota's.

Area of refuge doors get an AREA OF REFUGE sign with the ISA plus raised character and braille signage (IBC 1009.9). Stairways connecting more than three stories also get a stair identification sign (IBC 1023.9).

Accessible parking signs in Minnesota

The federal traffic sign manual (MUTCD) does not govern parking areas (section 1B.01), so the stall sign answers to the ADA, Minnesota's accessibility code and Minn. Stat. 169.346.

• What it must show

  The international symbol of access (the ISA) in white on blue, and that violators are subject to a fine of up to $200 (subd. 2(a)).

• Where and how high

  Centered at the head of the space, no more than 96 inches from it, 60 inches minimum and 66 inches maximum to the bottom of the sign (Minn. R. 1341.0502). The ADA sets only the 60 inch minimum.

• Van accessible

  Minnesota requires it on van space signs where not all accessible spaces have 98 inches of vertical clearance.

• Access aisle

  A no parking sign at the head of each aisle, same height and distance, unless it would obstruct a curb ramp or pedestrian route or the spaces are enclosed or protected from the elements (then it goes on the aisle surface).

• Snow

  Visible from inside the parked vehicle, kept clear of snow, nonmovable (subd. 2(b)). An owner who does not post the space properly, or knowingly lets plowed snow block the space or aisle, commits a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $500 (subd. 2a).

MnDOT's R7-8M design carries that content on a 12 by 18 inch sign (PARKING, VEHICLE ID REQUIRED, UP TO $200 FINE FOR VIOLATION, white on blue), with a 12 by 6 inch VAN ACCESSIBLE plaque below. A painted pavement symbol does not replace the sign. On a site with four or fewer total spaces, the ADA and Minnesota's building code do not require the identification sign, but the ADA still requires the accessible space (Table 208.2), and Minn. Stat. 169.346 still says any space reserved for disabled persons must be designated by signs.

Since August 1, 2025, new lots and replacement signs must use the statewide uniform sign the Minnesota Council on Disability was directed to select, with no variation of the word “handicapped.” Before you reorder, ask the Council which uniform sign it selected, and send us that design with your order. We print parking signs on aluminum, reflective sheeting available, with holes punched for your posts.

What Minnesota adds, and who enforces it

Minnesota has not amended A117.1 section 703 itself. The differences above come from the A117.1-2009 edition it adopted, plus Minnesota's own sign scoping (1111), parking and adult changing station amendments. Under Minn. Stat. 326B.16 the requirements for persons with disabilities apply statewide, even where a city has not adopted the building code (there, the city or county enforces them). In code-enforced areas, the municipal building official does. Cities cannot adopt different building code provisions (326B.121). The federal ADA applies separately: it is a civil rights law, and local building officials do not enforce it.

An update is pending with no date. The Department of Labor and Industry is considering adopting chapter 11 of the 2024 IBC; its request for comments was published January 21, 2025, and later steps read “To be determined” (checked September 22, 2026). Advisory group proposals, not law, include moving the sign section to 1112 and parking signs at 60 to 72 inches.

Checklist for a new tenant space or remodel

• Start from the door schedule

  The main sign naming or numbering each room, suite or floor is tactile. Note each door's latch side, swing and hold-open devices. Send the schedule to us for an ADA sign layout.

• Mark the exit doors

  Exit stairways, exit passageways, exit discharge and area of refuge doors get tactile signs, and so does each floor landing in an enclosed exit stairway.

• Sort the restrooms

  Name signs everywhere; ISA and directional signs where not all are accessible; adult changing station signs where required.

• List the visual-only signs

  40 inches minimum, sized from Table 703.5.5, with 80 inches of headroom.

• Walk the lot

  Count accessible and van spaces, set posts for 60 to 66 inches to the sign bottom, add aisle signs.

• Confirm first

  Ask the building official which signs the project needs before you order.

How we build ADA signs

We lay out every sign in our Buffalo, MN studio from your door schedule or floor plan to the section 703 tactile and braille specifications, matched to the rest of your signage. Raised copy and Grade 2 braille are printed on acrylic, PVC or metal. Signs are made to order; production time depends on the material, and we confirm a ship date with your proof. They ship ready to mount with tape, for your staff or contractor to put up. We do not install permanent building signage or file sign permits. See ADA and braille signs.