Fence laws in Salem, Oregon
What the Salem municipal code says about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line. Where Salem sets no rule of its own, the Oregon rule is shown in its place and marked as such.
Fence laws in Salem, Oregon, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Salem states no setback for a fence from a lot line, so a fence may sit on the boundary, and regulates the boundary through what crosses it instead, and the answer turns on what is crossing the line and which line it is. The figure is 0 feet, for setback from a property line.
- How tall
- A fence or wall in a Salem residential zone may reach eight feet, and the limit tightens as it approaches a street, and the answer turns on the zone, the yard and how close the fence is to a street. The figure is 8 feet, for fence or wall in a residential zone.
- Permits
- The fence section attaches no permit to an ordinary fence anywhere in it, and the answer turns on whether the fence carries electricity.
- Pool barriers
- A public pool in Oregon sits inside an enclosure at least 6 feet tall, meant to keep out people who should not get in. The figure is 6 feet, for minimum height of an enclosure around a public aquatic venue.
- Spite fences
- Salem has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Salem leaves the measuring rule to a municipal ordinance adopted under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code. The figure is 7 feet, for lowest permit threshold a city may set for a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence. It reaches fences of wood, wire mesh or chain link that are not swimming pool barriers only.
- Corner lots
- Salem is the only city in this project that reshapes the corner triangle according to which street has to stop, and the answer turns on whether the intersection is controlled, and by which street. The figure is 30 feet, for leg at an uncontrolled intersection.
- Retaining walls
- Oregon sets the retaining wall rule in two halves. The figure is 4 feet, for height at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a retaining wall, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. It reaches one and two family dwellings only.
- Materials
- Salem writes its material rule as a test rather than a list, and the answer turns on whether the material was made to be a fence. The figure is 6 feet, for height above grade barbed wire must start at.
- Livestock
- Oregon calls the farm standard an adequate fence and says what it has to do rather than how it is built.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Salem?
Compare fences on the property line across all 50 states
Salem answers this, but the answer changes depending on what is crossing the line and which line it is.
Salem states no setback for a fence from a lot line, so a fence may sit on the boundary, and regulates the boundary through what crosses it instead. A gate forming part of a fence, wall or hedge takes the same height limits as the fence, and may not swing open onto a public right-of-way or a vehicle or pedestrian easement. A retaining wall is the one thing given a distance: it may not exceed four feet where it sits at a property line abutting a street, and may exceed four feet anywhere else. Barbed wire slanting toward a public right-of-way has to be set back at least a foot from it and may not extend over a street or alley. Nothing in the section says which side of a fence has to face the neighbor, and a fence that breaks these rules can be declared a public nuisance subject to abatement.
Retaining walls shall not exceed a maximum height of four feet when located at the property line abutting a street. Retaining walls not located at the property line abutting a street may exceed four feet in height.
The answer turns on what is crossing the line and which line it is.
- a fence on the line
- No setback stated. 0 ft
- a retaining wall at a street line
- Four feet. 4 ft
- a gate
- It may not swing into the right-of-way.
- barbed wire leaning outward
- A foot back from the right-of-way.
Also on fences on the property line in Salem
- set in state lawOregon splits the cost of a fence on the line between neighbors. When one person already keeps a good fence there and the neighbor then encloses the other side, that neighbor pays half of what the fence is worth as a fence on the line. The two of them set that value between them. If they cannot agree, the one owed the money may sue for half the cost of building or repairing it, and the winning side also gets attorney fees. ORS 96.010Oregon · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Salem?
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Salem answers this, but the answer changes depending on the zone, the yard and how close the fence is to a street.
A fence or wall in a Salem residential zone may reach eight feet, and the limit tightens as it approaches a street. Within twenty feet of a property line abutting a street in a front yard, the ceiling drops to four feet. Within ten feet of that line the code adds a transparency test rather than another height: anything above thirty inches has to be less than twenty five percent opaque. A side or rear yard abutting a street gets six feet within ten feet of the line. Non-residential zones take twelve feet, falling to eight within ten feet of a street-abutting line with the same transparency test above thirty inches. A hedge has no maximum height at all, and is caught only by the transparency test near a street. The code defines front yard for this section as the strip between the front property line and a line drawn through the furthest part of the main building.
Fences and walls within a front yard abutting a street shall not exceed a maximum height of four feet when located within 20 feet of the property line abutting the street; provided, however, within ten feet of the property line abutting the street any portion of the fence or wall above 30 inches in height shall be less than 25 percent opaque when viewed at any angle at a point 25 feet away from the fence or wall.
The answer turns on the zone, the yard and how close the fence is to a street.
- a residential lot generally
- Eight feet. 8 ft
- a front yard near a street
- Four feet within twenty. 4 ft
- a non-residential lot
- Twelve feet. 12 ft
- a hedge
- No height limit at all.
Also on fence height in Salem
- no rule, documents checkedOregon sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The fence chapter deals with cost sharing, repair and removal, not size. The residential code names 7 feet, and that figure is a floor on how low a city may set its permit trigger rather than a cap on how tall a fence may be. Cities and counties set the height limit. ORS Chapter 96Oregon · Statute
Do I need a permit for a fence in Salem?
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Salem answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the fence carries electricity.
The fence section attaches no permit to an ordinary fence anywhere in it. The one permit it names belongs to the electric fence allowed around outdoor storage in the General Commercial and industrial zones, which needs an electrical permit and inspection before installation, along with a listing from a state approved testing laboratory, a non-electric perimeter fence of at least six feet around it with a foot of separation, a ten foot ceiling, a manual disconnect outside for the fire department, and warning signs in English and Spanish carrying a pictorial warning at intervals of no more than sixty feet. Enforcement of everything else runs after the fact rather than before, with a fence that breaks the section liable to be declared a public nuisance subject to abatement. Where the vision clearance standards cannot be met because of the shape of the land, an alternative is approved as a Class 2 Adjustment.
An electrical permit and inspection shall be obtained prior to installation.
Section 800.050(d)(3)(B)(ii)(cc)
The answer turns on whether the fence carries electricity.
- an ordinary fence
- No permit named.
- an electric fence
- An electrical permit and inspection.
- a fence that breaks the rules
- A public nuisance, abated after the fact.
- an impossible corner
- A Class 2 Adjustment.
Also on permits in Salem
- set in state lawOregon leaves a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence off the statewide building permit list. A city may pass its own ordinance requiring a permit for one, and the state code puts a floor under that: the city trigger cannot reach a fence 7 feet tall or less. A city may set the trigger higher than 7 feet, and it may regulate a fence made of some other material at any height. One rule holds everywhere in Oregon, that a fence acting as a swimming pool barrier needs a building permit. ORSC R101.2.2, item 1Oregon · Building code
- set in state lawOregon runs one building code for the whole state. The statute makes that code the same in every city and county, and it stops a local government enforcing its own rule on a matter the state code already covers when the local rule asks for something different. The director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services can allow an exception. ORS 455.040Oregon · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Salem
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Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A public pool in Oregon sits inside an enclosure at least 6 feet tall, meant to keep out people who should not get in. The gap under the fence is held to 2 inches over grass or gravel and 4 inches over a solid surface, and openings between bars go no wider than 4 inches. A gate onto a public way closes and latches on its own. A pool open only part of the year may use a 4 foot enclosure. The rules come from the Oregon Health Authority and cover public aquatic facilities.
This one is Oregon law, not Salem law. All Oregon findings
ENCLOSURES shall be no less than 6 feet (1.83 m) in height.
OAR 333-060-1000, Section 4.8.6.2.4A
6 ftminimum height of an enclosure around a public aquatic venue
Spite fence laws in Salem
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Salem law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Oregon has no spite fence law. The fence chapter covers cost sharing, repair, removal and gates, and never mentions a fence built to annoy a neighbor. The property rights chapter has no fence height and no rule about ill will either. A claim of that kind rests on a nuisance case in court or on a local ordinance.
This one is Oregon law, not Salem law. All Oregon findings
Documents read before writing that:
- ORS Chapter 96Oregon Legislative Assembly
- ORS Chapter 105Oregon Legislative Assembly
How fence height is measured in Salem
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Salem does not set this. It leaves it to a municipal ordinance adopted under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code.
Oregon names 7 feet for a fence and never says 7 feet from what. The residential code lists work a city may choose to require a permit for, puts wood, wire mesh and chain link fences on that list, and blocks a city from setting the permit trigger at 7 feet or less. A city may go higher than 7 feet and may regulate fences of other materials at any height. So the measuring point comes from the city ordinance.
This one is Oregon law, not Salem law. All Oregon findings
A municipality may adopt an ordinance to regulate the construction of other fences constructed of wood, wire mesh or chain link, provided that the threshold established for requiring a building permit does not include fences that are 7 feet (2134 mm) or less in height.
7 ftlowest permit threshold a city may set for a wood, wire mesh or chain link fence
The code hands this to a municipal ordinance adopted under the Oregon Residential Specialty Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Also on how height is measured in Salem
- no rule, documents checkedSalem states eight feet, four feet, six feet, twelve feet and thirty inches and never says what any of them is measured from. No grade is named for a fence, a berm is not addressed, and a fence standing on a retaining wall is not addressed even though retaining walls are covered by the same section and carry their own four foot limit at a street line. The contrast with the vision clearance chapter next door is stark. There the datum is fixed twice over, keeping the area clear from thirty inches above curb level to eight and a half feet above curb level, and saying that where there is no curb the height is measured from the street shoulder. The wire rule uses a third reference again, requiring barbed wire to sit more than six feet above grade. So Salem names a datum for everything except the number an owner actually needs. Section 800.050(a)Salem · Zoning code
Fence rules for corner lots in Salem
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Salem answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the intersection is controlled, and by which street.
Salem is the only city in this project that reshapes the corner triangle according to which street has to stop. At an uncontrolled intersection, where neither driver has a sign, the area has thirty foot legs along each street. At a controlled intersection the legs go lopsided: ten feet along the controlled street and fifty feet along the uncontrolled one, because a driver waiting at a stop sign needs to see a long way down the road that is not stopping and barely needs to see along their own. On a one-way street no vision clearance area is required at all on the corners downstream from the flow of traffic, since nothing is coming from that direction. Driveways get their own figures, ten by ten for a house and ten along the driveway by fifty along the street for anything busier. The Central Business zone is exempt entirely.
At controlled intersections, the vision clearance area shall have a ten-foot leg along the controlled street and a 50-foot leg along the uncontrolled street
The answer turns on whether the intersection is controlled, and by which street.
- an uncontrolled intersection
- Thirty feet each way. 30 ft
- a controlled intersection
- Ten and fifty. 50 ft
- downstream on a one-way street
- No clearance area required.
- the Central Business zone
- Exempt.
Also on corner visibility in Salem
- left to the townOregon has no state rule for the clear view at a corner. ORS 227.215 lets a city regulate land development and require a development permit, so a corner triangle comes from the city ordinance. The highway chapter, ORS 374, does use the words sight distance, but only as a test the Department of Transportation applies when it decides whether to allow a new driveway onto a state highway. ORS 227.215Oregon · Zoning code
Retaining wall rules in Salem
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Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oregon sets the retaining wall rule in two halves. Statewide, a wall needs a building permit at any height when it keeps people using a building safe, holds up a regulated building, or holds back dirt that could hit a regulated building if the wall let go. For any other retaining wall a city may pass its own ordinance, and the state code puts a floor under it: the city permit trigger cannot reach a wall 4 feet tall or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. A city may set that trigger higher than 4 feet. The 4 foot floor falls away where the wall holds up a slope steeper than 3 to 1 or carries a load that is not soil.
This one is Oregon law, not Salem law. All Oregon findings
A municipality may adopt an ordinance to regulate other retaining walls, provided that the threshold established for requiring a permit does not include retaining walls 4 feet (1219 mm) or less in height, when measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
4 ftheight at or below which a local ordinance may not require a building permit for a retaining wall, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall
Fence materials allowed in Salem
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Salem answers this, but the answer changes depending on whether the material was made to be a fence.
Salem writes its material rule as a test rather than a list. A fence has to be built of materials specifically designed and manufactured for fencing, and the code gives examples both ways: wooden pickets, vinyl, wrought iron and chain link with or without slats on one side, and on the other corrugated cardboard, corrugated metal, plywood, wooden pallets, garage doors, concrete rubble and other junked material, all prohibited. Walls are held to the same idea, requiring masonry, rock, concrete, concrete block or similar. Chicken wire is allowed in the Residential Agriculture zone for livestock, and a fence protecting new planting is allowed for up to six months. Hazardous materials are banned by effect rather than by name, prohibiting anything that will do bodily harm, with electric wire, barbed wire, upturned barbed selvage, broken glass and spikes given as examples.
Fences shall be constructed of materials specifically designed and manufactured for fencing purposes, including, but not limited to, wooden pickets, vinyl, wrought iron, and chainlink fencing, with or without plastic or wood slats. Materials not specifically designed as fencing material, including, but not limited to, corrugated cardboard, corrugated metal, plywood, wooden pallets, garage doors, concrete rubble, and other junked material, are prohibited.
The answer turns on whether the material was made to be a fence.
- anything made for fencing
- Allowed.
- pallets, plywood or garage doors
- Prohibited as fencing.
- barbed wire on business land
- Above six feet, signs every fifteen. 6 ft
- chicken wire
- Residential Agriculture, for livestock.
Also on materials in Salem
- no rule, documents checkedOregon never says what a fence may be built from. The line and partition fence chapter runs six sections and names no material at all. Its only test is whether the fence is the sort a careful farmer would keep on the line. The estray chapter in the animal title calls an adequate fence a continuous barrier of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire or a mix of them, and then tests it by whether it holds cattle and horses in or out. Neither chapter says a word about barbed wire, razor wire or an electric fence. ORS 96.010 to 96.060Oregon · Statute
Livestock and boundary fence law in Salem
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Oregon answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Oregon calls the farm standard an adequate fence and says what it has to do rather than how it is built. It is a continuous barrier made of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire, or a mix of them, kept up so it stands as a continuous guard against cattle or horses getting in or out. A hedge, ditch, river, stream, pond or lake can serve as the natural barrier. The definition gives no height, no wire count and no post spacing.
This one is Oregon law, not Salem law. All Oregon findings
means a continuous barrier consisting of natural barriers, structures, masonry, rails, poles, planks, wire or the combination thereof, installed and maintained in a condition so as to form a continuous guard and defense against the ingress or egress of cattle or equines into or from the lands enclosed by the barrier.
Also on agricultural fencing in Salem
- left to the townBecause the statute gives no numbers, whether a fence was good enough gets decided case by case. When cattle or horses break through a fence on open range and the answer matters, the State Department of Agriculture makes that call, and it weighs how good farmers in that particular area build and keep their fences. The department may charge a fee for making the call. ORS 607.300Oregon · Statute
- depends, see the pageOregon runs both systems at once and a map decides which one applies. A livestock district is an area where a class of livestock may not run loose. Open range is an area where livestock may lawfully run loose. Every incorporated city is a livestock district. The county governing body forms a district, adds land to it, takes land out and dissolves it, and it publishes notice when it does. ORS 607.045(1)Oregon · Statute
Documents behind this page
9 documents, of which 2 were published by Salem itself. Each was read on the date shown.
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 96, Line and Partition Fences, 2025 Edition, Section 96.010
- City of SalemSalem Revised Code, Title X, Unified Development Code, Chapter 800, General Development Standards, Section 800.050, Fences, walls, hedges, gates, and retaining walls
- Oregon Building Codes Division, Department of Consumer and Business Services2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code, Chapter 1, Scope and Administration
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 455, Building Codes, 2025 Edition, Section 455.040
- Oregon Health Authority, Public Pool ProgramOregon Public Aquatic Facility Rules, OAR 333-060-1000, Aquatic Facility Design Standards and Construction, effective April 1, 2025
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 105, Property Rights, 2025 Edition
- City of SalemSalem Revised Code, Title X, Unified Development Code, Chapter 805, Vision Clearance
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 227, City Planning and Zoning
- Oregon Legislative AssemblyOregon Revised Statutes, Chapter 607, Livestock Districts; Estrays; Animals at Large
What this page does not cover
A city ordinance is not the only rule that reaches a fence. The zoning district a parcel sits in can change the height allowed on it, and so can an overlay district, a recorded easement, a fire hazard severity zone or a coastal zone. A homeowner association can be stricter than the city and nothing in the municipal code will say so. None of those appear here.
The rules above are the ones Salem publishes, plus the Oregon rules that apply where the city sets none. Fence laws in Oregon has the state layer in full.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, ordinances are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean