How Tall Can a Fence Be in Wichita, KS?

Up to 8 feet. That's the limit inside Wichita, and it's the same in the front yard as the back. The one cut-down is near streets and driveways, where a solid fence has to drop to 3 feet. A fence over 8 feet needs a building permit. And your HOA, or the suburb you live in, can set a lower number than the city does.

We build fences. We're not lawyers. Everything below comes from the code sections we link, read in September 2026. Rules change, so confirm anything close with MABCD, the building department for Wichita and unincorporated Sedgwick County.

How tall can a fence be in Wichita, KS?

Eight feet. The Wichita-Sedgwick County Unified Zoning Code lists the things you're allowed to put inside a required setback, and fences are on it: "Fences or Screening Walls that do not exceed eight feet in height" (UZC Sec. III-E.1.e(1)(b)).

A setback is the open strip between your house and your property lines. Because a fence up to 8 feet is allowed inside every one of them, there's no separate front yard number and no separate backyard number. Eight feet is the ceiling everywhere on the lot, with the exceptions below.

Is the front yard limit lower than the backyard?

Not in Wichita's code. You'll hear "4 feet in front, 6 feet in back" all the time. We couldn't find that rule anywhere in the zoning code. It's a common HOA covenant, and some suburbs write their own caps.

Haysville is one. Its code caps fences at "Six (6) feet in height in residentially zoned districts" outside sight triangles (Haysville Code Sec. 4-1103(a)(1)). If you're outside Wichita city limits, check your own city's code before you pick a height. Our Wichita fence permit guide lists who handles fences in each suburb.

How is fence height measured on a sloped yard?

From the low side of the fence, which usually means the high side of the ground. The code says fence height "shall be measured on the side with the least vertical exposure above finished grade" (UZC Sec. III-E.1.f). So if the dirt is higher on your side than your neighbor's, the tape goes on your side.

On a hill, that matters. If you're building close to 8 feet on a slope, ask MABCD how they'll measure your run before you order material.

How tall can a fence be on a corner lot?

This is where the 8 foot rule stops. Inside the City, for a fence with "more than 80 percent opacity," the height "along the side Lot Line shall not exceed three feet within 20 feet of its intersection with the street right-of-way line". The same 3 foot cap applies along any lot line within 20 feet of where a driveway meets the street right-of-way (UZC Sec. III-E.1.e(1)(b)).

In plain terms: a privacy fence can't run full height right up to the street corner or right up to a driveway. It has to step down to 3 feet in those 20 foot zones. Open fence, like chain link or ornamental iron, is under 80 percent opacity, so this rule doesn't cut it down.

There's a second rule stacked on top. Wichita bans any fence that blocks the view inside the vision triangle at a street corner. At an uncontrolled intersection, that triangle's sides run "ninety feet measured along the centerlines of the approach streets" (Wichita Code Sec. 11.22.010). Stop-sign corners use a different formula, and the city traffic engineer makes the call. An ornamental fence up to four feet tall is exempt, as long as the solid part to the open part doesn't exceed one to four (Wichita Code Sec. 11.22.020).

When does a taller fence need a permit?

When it goes over 8 feet. Wichita builds houses under the 2018 International Residential Code as amended locally, and the local list of work exempt from a permit includes "other fences not over 8 feet (2438 mm) high" (Ord. 50-833, UBTC Sec. 2.4.030). The city adopts that code by reference (Wichita Code Sec. 18.15.010).

So a 6 foot or 8 foot fence doesn't need a building permit in Wichita. A 9 foot fence does. It also goes past what the zoning code allows inside a setback, and we couldn't find a published path for that in the code we read. If you really need more than 8 feet, call MABCD before you plan anything. It's their call, not ours.

A fence that forms a pool barrier is its own case, because the pool needs a permit. That's covered in our pool fence post.

Can my HOA set a lower height limit than the city?

Yes, and in a lot of Wichita neighborhoods it does. Covenants are separate from city code, and meeting city code doesn't get you out of them. Some cap height. Some cap front yard fences. Some say what material and color you can use.

HOA approval and a city permit are two separate things. Satisfying one doesn't satisfy the other. Pull your covenants before you pick a height, and get the HOA's approval in writing if they want to see plans.

What height do most Wichita homeowners build?

Six feet. Most of what we build is a 6 foot cedar privacy fence. It's tall enough that nobody's looking over it from the yard next door, and it sits well under every limit above.

We'll build 8 feet on request. A taller privacy fence catches a lot more Kansas wind, so an 8 foot job gets engineered for the load instead of just stretching a 6 foot design. Every cedar fence we build already sits on galvanized steel posts, hidden inside the cedar, set 30 inches deep. On an 8 foot fence that steel does real work.

If you want something lower and open, like a 4 foot ornamental iron fence across a front yard, that's usually the easy one on a corner lot, since open fence isn't cut down by the 80 percent opacity rule. More on the whole process is on our fence installation in Wichita page.

How we handle height on a job

• We ask about your HOA and your suburb on the site visit, before we quote
• We measure the corner and driveway zones on corner lots before we lay out posts
• We mark any section that has to drop to 3 feet on the drawing you sign
• We pull the permit on any job that needs one

Wichita fence height questions, answered

Not sure which rule hits your lot? We'll walk it, measure the corner and driveway zones, and put the plan in writing before anything goes in the ground.