Fence rules by city

What the numbers show

Put side by side, these cities follow a clear pattern, with some real exceptions:

• Front yards are kept low. Of the 45 cities that give a number for a solid front-yard fence, 41 stop at 4 feet or less.
• Back yards get more room. The most common back-yard limit is 6 feet, in 21 cities, and 24 allow more than 6 feet, up to 10 feet. The lowest back-yard limit in the table is 6 feet.
• A plain backyard fence often needs no building permit. In 33 of the 50 cities, a 6-foot fence in the back yard doesn't call for one.
• Some cities still want paperwork. 9 ask for a permit or zoning clearance on any new fence, and 3 set the line at 5 feet or less.

The table mixes large cities, suburbs and a few small towns. It's a sample, not a national average, and a suburb can differ from the city next door.

How to read the table

Front yard usually means the setback between the street and the house, but each city draws its own line. Colorado Springs measures from the front wall of the house, for example, while Portland uses the front building setback.

Solid or open often changes the number. Many cities let a see-through fence go higher because drivers can still see past it. The percentages in the table say how much of the fence's surface can be solid, or has to be open.

The permit column is mostly about the building permit. A fence that needs no building permit still has to follow the height limits, as Austin, Minneapolis and Sacramento all point out.

What the table leaves out: corner sight lines, easements, floodplains, historic districts and retaining walls. Any of them can change the answer for your lot. Our guide on how close a fence can be to the property line covers the first two.

How we checked

Every row comes from the city's own web page, handout or code, read on the date shown, and the link goes to that document. The one exception is Coalville, whose code we read as published by Zoneomics. Where a city's documents disagreed, we went with the zoning text or the newer document.

Where a city doesn't state something, the table says so instead of filling the gap from a contractor's blog. We also left out large cities whose official text we couldn't open.

Some of these documents are old. Phoenix's handouts are from 2013, Arlington's and Long Beach's bulletins from 2018 and Philadelphia's from 2021, and any of them may have changed something since. If you spot a row that's out of date, tell us and we'll check it again.

If your city isn't here

1. Search your city or county name with "fence permit" or "fence regulations", and look for a result on its official site.
2. If nothing turns up, call the planning or zoning department and give them your address.
3. If you live outside city limits, the county usually sets the rules.

Our guide on whether you need a permit for a fence goes through what to ask.

Fair questions

Can I go taller than the limit?

Sometimes, with approval. Tulsa calls it a special exception, Phoenix a variance, and in Dallas anything over 9 feet goes to the Board of Adjustment. Expect an application, a fee and no guarantee.

Do posts and decorative tops count toward the height?

It depends on the city. Portland counts posts, lattice and anything else on top. Chicago and Philadelphia let posts rise 6 inches above the limit. Colorado Springs allows an extra 12 inches for posts at least 8 feet apart, and Seattle allows 2 feet of arbors or trellises.

What about a fence on a slope?

Cities handle this differently too. On a sloping site, Seattle allows 8 feet if the height between posts averages 6. Phoenix measures from the average of the nearby ground. Ask yours before you step a fence down a hill, and see our guide to fence height.

Do pool fences follow these limits?

No, they have rules of their own. Federal safety guidelines call for at least 48 inches, and some cities, including Portland and Minneapolis, need a permit for a pool fence of any height.

What will my fence cost?

Height is one of the biggest factors in the price. The fence cost calculator shows what each height costs for your length.

Sources

• International Residential Code, Section R105.2: the model list of work that needs no building permit, including fences up to 7 feet and small detached decks. States and cities adopt it with their own changes.
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Safety Barrier Guidelines for Residential Pools: fence height, picket spacing and gate rules for pool barriers.
• Call 811: the national call-before-you-dig service, for when and how to have buried utilities marked.