All 50 states and DC
How fence height is measured
A rule that says six feet is incomplete until it says six feet from what. Grade on which side, the high side or the low, the finished grade or the natural one. Plenty of codes set a height and never answer that, and a few answer it twice in different places with different answers. This page records what each state says, which in most cases is nothing, because measurement is almost always a municipal question.
How fence height is measured, state by state
15 stated, 8 silent, 28 delegated. Every row links the state page and the document behind it.
| State | What the record says | Datum | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | SilentAlabama never says what a fence height is measured from. | none stated | Ala. Code 3-4-1 |
| Alaska | SilentAlaska sets no fence height, so it sets no starting point for one. | none stated | AS 29.40.040 |
| Arizona | Stateda lawful fence on open range land | 50 in | A.R.S. 3-1426(A) |
| Arkansas | Stateda lawful fence inside a small stock fencing district | 20 in | Ark. Code 14-386-203, as set out in Act 594 of 2023 |
| California | DelegatedCalifornia prints a fence height in the Civil Code and never says what it is measured from. | none stated | Cal. Gov. Code 65850(c)(1) |
| Colorado | DelegatedColorado hands height to the municipality and keeps no fence number of its own that would need a datum. | none stated | C.R.S. 31-23-301(1) |
| Connecticut | Statedbarbed wire installed along a sidewalk | 6.5 ft | Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-48 |
| Delaware | DelegatedDelaware sets fence heights in its farm fence law and never says where the measuring starts. | none stated | 22 Del. C. 301 |
| District of Columbia | Statedfences in the District of Columbia | none stated | 12-A DCMR 3112.1.3 |
| Florida | Stateda general fence built with a trench or ditch | 5 ft | Fla. Stat. 588.01 |
| Georgia | Delegatedland inside a Georgia county or city that has adopted zoning | none stated | O.C.G.A. 36-66-3(5) |
| Hawaii | DelegatedHawaii puts fence height with the counties, which is where every land use question in the state ends up. | none stated | HRS 46-4(a)(6) |
| Idaho | Stateda lawful fence under the state fence law | 20 in | Idaho Code 35-101 |
| Illinois | DelegatedIllinois gives height to the municipality in one short line and never defines a starting point. | none stated | 65 ILCS 5/11-13-1 |
| Indiana | DelegatedIndiana hands the measuring question to the same body that sets the number. | none stated | IC 36-7-4-601 |
| Iowa | Stateda lawful fence under the partition fence law | 20 in | Iowa Code 359A.18 |
| Kansas | DelegatedKansas puts height inside local zoning regulations and stops. | none stated | K.S.A. 12-753(a) |
| Kentucky | DelegatedKentucky lists height as content of a local zoning regulation and leaves the measuring in the same hands. | none stated | KRS 100.203(1)(b) |
| Louisiana | DelegatedLouisiana hands height to the municipality and the Civil Code stays out of it. | none stated | La. R.S. 33:4721 |
| Maine | SilentMaine prints a six foot number and never backs it with a surface. | none stated | 17 M.R.S. 2801 |
| Maryland | DelegatedMaryland delegates fence height twice and defines no surface either time. | none stated | Md. Code, Land Use 4-102 |
| Massachusetts | SilentMassachusetts puts a fence height in statute and never says what it is measured from. | none stated | M.G.L. c. 49, s. 21 |
| Michigan | DelegatedMichigan says a zoning ordinance may limit height and leaves everything about measuring it to the ordinance. | none stated | MCL 125.3201(4) |
| Minnesota | Stateda legal fence built of barbed wire | 16 in | Minn. Stat. 344.02 |
| Mississippi | SilentNo Mississippi document that can be reached on a state server says what a fence height is measured from. | none stated | Mississippi uniform building code adoption under Senate Bill 2378 of 2014 |
| Missouri | DelegatedMissouri sets a fence height in statute and still leaves the measuring to the town. | none stated | RSMo 89.020.1 |
| Montana | DelegatedMontana never fixes a point for a fence height to start from. | none stated | MCA 76-2-301 |
| Nebraska | DelegatedNebraska describes six kinds of lawful fence by their parts in chapter 34 and never gives a rule for readin... | none stated | Neb. Rev. Stat. 19-901(1) |
| Nevada | Stateda legal fence for the purposes of livestock trespass, not a residential fence | 48 in | NRS 569.431 |
| New Hampshire | DelegatedNew Hampshire sets no statewide fence height, so it sets no rule for where one begins. | none stated | RSA 674:16, I(a) |
| New Jersey | DelegatedNew Jersey runs its own construction code rather than adopting a model code untouched, and that code states... | none stated | N.J.S.A. 40:55D-65 b |
| New Mexico | Stateda barrier around a residential outdoor swimming pool, spa or hot tub | 48 in | 14.7.3 NMAC, Section R4505.2 |
| New York | Delegatedthe part of a town outside the limits of any incorporated village or city | none stated | N.Y. Town Law 261 |
| North Carolina | DelegatedNorth Carolina keeps its fence law in Chapter 68, which is about stock law fences and impounded animals and... | none stated | G.S. 160D-702(a) |
| North Dakota | Stateda lawful fence under the fence chapter of the property title | 16 in | N.D.C.C. 47-26-01(5) |
| Ohio | DelegatedOhio splits fence questions across two chapters and neither one measures anything. | none stated | ORC 713.06 |
| Oklahoma | Stateda lawful fence under the fence viewer article of the animals title | 54 in | 4 O.S. 4-154 |
| Oregon | Delegatedfences of wood, wire mesh or chain link that are not swimming pool barriers | 7 ft | ORSC Section R105.2 |
| Pennsylvania | DelegatedPennsylvania has no state fence height and no state rule for reading one. | none stated | MPC Section 603(b)(2), 53 P.S. 10603(b)(2) |
| Rhode Island | DelegatedRhode Island requires every zoning ordinance to set height requirements, and the wording of that clause is... | none stated | R.I. Gen. Laws 45-24-33(a)(4)(i) |
| South Carolina | DelegatedSouth Carolina does set a fence height in one corner of state law. | none stated | S.C. Code 6-29-720(A)(2) |
| South Dakota | Stateda legal partition fence where the owners have not agreed on a different kind | 48 in | SDCL 43-23-4 |
| Tennessee | SilentTennessee adopts its building and fire codes through a single rule of the Division of Fire Prevention, and... | none stated | Rule 0780-02-02-.01 |
| Texas | DelegatedTexas states two fence heights in the agriculture code and gives neither one a starting point. | none stated | Tex. Loc. Gov't Code 211.003(a)(1) |
| Utah | SilentUtah never reaches the question at any level of its code. | none stated | Utah Code 10-20-505 |
| Vermont | SilentVermont names a fence height in statute and then never says what it is counted from. | none stated | 24 V.S.A. 3801 |
| Virginia | DelegatedVirginia hands the whole question over in a single clause and never touches it again. | none stated | Va. Code 15.2-2280(2) |
| Washington | Stateda lawful fence for the purposes of animal trespass | 48 in | RCW 16.60.010 |
| West Virginia | Stateda lawful fence as against horses, cattle, sheep, swine and goats | 4 ft | W. Va. Code 19-17-1(d) |
| Wisconsin | DelegatedWisconsin keeps its fence law in chapter 90, which covers partition fences and what a fence viewer does, an... | none stated | Wis. Stat. 62.23(7)(am) |
| Wyoming | DelegatedWyoming is exact about wire spacing and post depth and blank about fence height. | none stated | W.S. 15-1-601(a)(i)(A) |
The other nine questions
A fence rule usually turns on more than one of these, and the answer to one does not settle another.
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and each state page carries the date its documents were read. How findings are made · What the terms mean · Browse by state