Fence laws in Wyoming
What Wyoming statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Wyoming, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- In Wyoming a boundary fence becomes a shared fence as soon as it separates the land of two owners. The figure is 50 percent, for the share of construction cost an adjoining owner may be required to pay.
- How tall
- Wyoming sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- Wyoming does not write its own building code.
- Pool barriers
- Wyoming sets no statewide pool barrier rule. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Spite fences
- Wyoming has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Wyoming leaves the measuring rule to the governing body of a city or town, by ordinance.
- Corner lots
- Wyoming leaves corner clearance to the governing body of each city and town under Title 15, and boards of county commissioners under Title 18.
- Retaining walls
- Wyoming leaves retaining walls to each county board of commissioners and each city or town governing body, and whichever version of the International Residential Code it has adopted.
- Materials
- Wyoming names three builds that are lawful fences and puts barbed wire first. The figure is 3 strands, for a barbed wire lawful fence.
- Livestock
- Wyoming names three kinds of lawful fence in statute. The figure is 3 strands, for spans of barbed wire in a lawful barbed wire fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Wyoming?
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Wyoming answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
In Wyoming a boundary fence becomes a shared fence as soon as it separates the land of two owners. The owner of a lawful fence that turns into one can make the neighbor pay half of what the fence cost to build, or half of what building it would cost, and can sue for that half plus the costs of the suit if the neighbor refuses. There is no notice step before building. The remedy comes after the fact, in a civil case. Where private land sits next to state land nobody leases, the Office of State Lands and Investments pays half the building cost, and where the state land is leased, the person leasing it pays.
may require the person to pay for one-half (1/2) of what it would or does actually cost to construct the partition fence
50%the share of construction cost an adjoining owner may be required to pay
Also on fences on the property line in Wyoming
- set in state lawUpkeep is split the way the fence is used. The owners who share a fence on the line pay toward keeping it up in step with their share of it, and a share left unpaid is collected by the same civil case that collects the building share. W.S. 11-28-106(a)Wyoming · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Wyoming?
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Wyoming law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Wyoming sets no limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The fence chapter is written around holding livestock, and it gives wire counts, wire spacing, post width, post depth and post spacing. The only height anywhere in it is the six foot floor for a hay corral outside a lawful enclosure, which is a smallest size for a farm use rather than a cap for a yard. The codes the state has taken up reach public and state owned buildings, and the International Residential Code, where a fence height for a house would normally live, is adopted only by single counties and towns.
Documents read before writing that:
- W.S. 11-28-101 through 11-28-108Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
- Ch. 1, Sec. 2Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, Council on Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety
- W.S. 16-13-101Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
- W.S. 35-9-108(a)Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
Do I need a permit for a fence in Wyoming?
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Wyoming answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Wyoming does not write its own building code. The Council on Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety is told to set minimum fire standards that go no further than the International Fire Code, the International Building Code, the International Mechanical Code, the International Existing Building Code and the International Fuel Gas Code. The International Residential Code, where a fence rule for a house lot would normally sit, is not on that list.
Establish minimum fire standards not exceeding the standards prescribed by the International Fire Code, the International Building Code, the International Mechanical Code, the International Existing Building Code and the International Fuel Gas Code
Also on permits in Wyoming
- set in state lawThe state fire marshal reviews plans for state and local government buildings, public buildings over five thousand square feet, public buildings with more than one story, larger child care centers, places where the public gathers and fuel stations. One and two family homes are nowhere on that list, which is the clearest sign in Wyoming law that a house, and anything built in its yard, sits outside state plan review. W.S. 35-9-108(a)(ii)Wyoming · Building code
- set in state lawThe council named the editions. Its rules take up the 2024 International Building Code, along with the 2024 fire, mechanical, existing building and fuel gas codes. So the numbers a fence would be judged against at the state level come from a private code and not from Wyoming text. Ch. 1, Sec. 2(a)(i)Wyoming · Building code
- set in state lawThe International Residential Code is pulled in only where the other adopted codes point at it, and only through their own chapters one to ten. Wyoming has not taken up a residential code whole at the state level, which is why a fence at a house is a local question. The misspelling of Conservations is in the rule itself. Ch. 1, Sec. 2(a)(vi)Wyoming · Building code
- set in state lawA second statute gives it away. The chapter that puts deadlines on building permits frames them around a board of county commissioners that has adopted a version of the International Residential Code, wording that only makes sense if some counties have not. Adopting a residential code in Wyoming is a county or town decision, so whether a fence needs a permit is a local answer everywhere in the state. W.S. 16-13-101(a)(i)Wyoming · Statute
- set in state lawWhere a local government does issue home building permits, state law puts a clock on it. It says whether an application is complete no later than ten business days after it arrives, and approves or denies a complete application no later than thirty calendar days after it is turned in. The chapter covers homes up to three stories and three thousand square feet of finished floor per unit. W.S. 16-13-102(b)Wyoming · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Wyoming
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Wyoming law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Wyoming sets no fence rule around a pool at a private home. Pools are run by the Department of Agriculture under the Public Pool and Spa Health and Safety Act, and that act reaches only a pool open to the public or to part of the public. The act sets no fence, barrier or enclosure rule of its own and leaves the details to agency rules. Those rules then say they do not apply to private use pools, and give a pool at a single family home used by the family and invited guests as the first example.
Documents read before writing that:
- Ch. 1, applicabilityWyoming Department of Agriculture
- W.S. 35-28-101(a)(viii)Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
Spite fence laws in Wyoming
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Wyoming law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Wyoming has no spite fence law. A search of the whole Wyoming Statutes for the phrase spite fence returns nothing in any published year. The nuisance article, 6-6-201 through 6-6-209, calls a building a nuisance only where it is used for lewdness, prostitution, gambling, liquor or drugs, and it never mentions a fence, a fence height or a structure put up to annoy a neighbor. The fence chapter itself sets building standards and livestock liability and says nothing about why a fence went up.
Documents read before writing that:
- W.S. 6-6-201 through 6-6-209Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
- W.S. 11-28-101 through 11-28-108Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
- Wyoming Statutes, full text search for the phrase "spite fence", zero resultsWyoming Legislature, Legislative Service Office
How fence height is measured in Wyoming
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Wyoming does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of a city or town, by ordinance.
Wyoming is exact about wire spacing and post depth and blank about fence height. The lawful fence statute puts barbed wire spans ten to fifteen inches apart and posts at least twenty inches into the ground, and it sets no overall height except for a hay corral, which has to be six feet high with nothing said about where the six feet starts. Section 15-1-601 then lets the governing body of a city or town set rules for the height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures, so the starting point is a city matter.
The governing body of any city or town, by ordinance, may: (i) Regulate and restrict the: (A) Height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures;
The code hands this to the governing body of a city or town, by ordinance, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Wyoming
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Wyoming does not set this. It leaves it to the governing body of each city and town under Title 15, and boards of county commissioners under Title 18.
Wyoming does not set a corner triangle. Cities, towns and counties do. A city or town can zone height, how much of a lot gets covered, yards and open spaces, and can set setback lines, which is the tool a corner triangle is built from. Counties get a matching power for the land outside city limits. Title 24, the highways title, was read looking for a duty not to block the view at a crossing, and it has none.
Regulate and restrict the: (A) Height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures; (B) Percentage of lot that may be occupied; (C) Size of yards, courts and other open spaces; (D) Density of population; and (E) Location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes. (ii) Establish setback building lines.
The code hands this to the governing body of each city and town under Title 15, and boards of county commissioners under Title 18, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Wyoming
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Wyoming does not set this. It leaves it to each county board of commissioners and each city or town governing body, and whichever version of the International Residential Code it has adopted.
Wyoming has no building code for houses at the state level, so it has no rule for a wall that holds back earth. The phrase International Residential Code shows up in exactly one chapter of Wyoming law, the one on building permit deadlines, and it shows up there as a condition rather than an order. That chapter reaches a county board or a city council only if that board or council has adopted a version of the code itself. So whether such a wall needs a permit, and at what height, is settled by the county or the town and by whichever edition of the private code it picked. A place that adopted nothing has no state rule to fall back on.
Any governing body of a city or town that regulates and restricts the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, pursuant to W.S. 15-1-601 and that has adopted a version of the International Residential Code.
The code hands this to each county board of commissioners and each city or town governing body, and whichever version of the International Residential Code it has adopted, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Wyoming
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Wyoming answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Wyoming names three builds that are lawful fences and puts barbed wire first. It takes steel, concrete or sound wooden posts carrying three spans of barbed wire ten to fifteen inches apart, or two spans with a wooden rail on top, with the posts set twenty inches deep and no more than twenty two feet apart, or thirty three feet with two stays in between. The other two builds are post and board and a four pole fence. Any other fence of board, rail, pole, stone or hedge counts where it is shown to be just as strong. A hay corral outside a fenced field has its own rule and needs seven spans of wire if it is barbed. Putting up a wire fence that misses the standard is a misdemeanor, and the owner answers for animals hurt by it.
A fence made of steel, concrete or sound wooden posts and three (3) spans of barbed wire not more than fifteen (15) inches or less than ten (10) inches apart, or two (2) spans of barbed wire with a wooden rail on top.
3 strandsa barbed wire lawful fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Wyoming
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Wyoming answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Wyoming names three kinds of lawful fence in statute. The barbed wire kind runs on steel, concrete or sound wooden posts and carries three spans of barbed wire, no more than fifteen inches and no less than ten inches apart, or two spans with a wooden rail on top. A hay corral outside a lawful enclosure is held to a different standard: at least six feet high with at least seven spans of wire.
three (3) spans of barbed wire not more than fifteen (15) inches or less than ten (10) inches apart, or two (2) spans of barbed wire
3 strandsspans of barbed wire in a lawful barbed wire fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Wyoming
- set in state lawPosts in a lawful fence sit no more than twenty two feet apart. That stretches to thirty three feet where at least two iron or wooden stays go in between the posts. W.S. 11-28-102(a)(i)Wyoming · Statute
- set in state lawA wooden post in a lawful fence measures at least four inches across. That is the only size the statute puts on the post itself, and it is a smallest size rather than a largest one. W.S. 11-28-102(a)(i)Wyoming · Statute
- set in state lawPosts in a lawful fence go at least twenty inches into the ground and are set firmly. The depth is written into the statute the same way the wire count and the post spacing are, so a fence that meets every other part of the test and sits shallow is not a lawful fence. W.S. 11-28-102(a)(i)Wyoming · Statute
- set in state lawThe owner of an animal that breaks into someone else's lawful enclosure pays for it. The statute covers livestock and farmed buffalo, and the damages cover every injury the break in causes. Where the argument goes to arbitration under the same section, each side picks a property holder, those two pick a third, the three look at the fence under oath, and the finding is filed with a circuit court judge within three days. W.S. 11-28-108(a)Wyoming · Statute
- set in state lawThat rule has a hard condition on it. A landowner who sues over animal damage loses if the enclosure was not a lawful fence, and the judgment then runs the other way, with the costs of the suit and damages going to the animal owner. The fence decides the case before the damage is ever weighed. W.S. 11-28-108(d)Wyoming · Statute
Documents behind this page
10 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, Title 11 (Agriculture, Livestock and Other Animals), Chapter 28, Fences and Cattle Guards
- Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, Council on Fire Prevention and Electrical SafetyChapter 1, General Provisions, Reference Number 041.0002.1.06262024, effective 06/26/2024 to current
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, Title 16, Chapter 13, Building Permit Timelines
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 9, Article 1, Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety
- Wyoming Department of AgriculturePublic Swimming Pools rules, Chapter 1, General Provisions, Reference Number 010.0008.1.10092003, effective 10/09/2003 to current
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, Title 35, Chapter 28, Public Pool and Spa Health and Safety
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, Title 6, Chapter 6, Article 2, Nuisances
- Wyoming Legislature, Legislative Service OfficeWyoming Statutes, full text search for the phrase "spite fence", zero results
- Wyoming LegislatureWyoming Statutes, Title 15, Cities and Towns, Chapter 1, Article 6, Zoning
- Wyoming LegislatureWyoming Statutes, Title 11, Agriculture, Livestock and Other Animals, Chapter 28, Fences and Cattle Guards
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 the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean