Medford, MA Building Setbacks & Zoning: Setback Rules (2026)

Table B, the Table of Dimensional Requirements referenced in § 94-4.1 of the Medford Revised Ordinances, sets minimum front, side, and rear yard setbacks for each principal use and zoning district in the city. For a detached single-family dwelling in an SF-1 district, the table requires a 15-foot front yard, a side yard of at least 7½ feet, and a 15-foot rear yard, alongside a 7,000 square-foot minimum lot area, 35-foot frontage, and 40 percent maximum lot coverage; detached single-family dwellings in every other residential district use the same 15/7½/15 yard setbacks on a smaller 5,000 square-foot minimum lot.

Other use categories carry their own setback rows, and the Mixed Use Zoning District is a notable exception: under row (h), MUZ front yards are only 15 feet and side and rear yards can be zero, subject to the separate MUZ setback rules in § 94-9.1.5. Section 94-4.1.2 layers supplementary rules on top of the table: no part of a building may sit more than 300 feet from a street in a residential district, or 265 feet in any other district, unless within that distance of an operative fire hydrant, and accessory buildings must keep at least ten feet from a detached single or two-family dwelling and ten feet from another accessory building.

Section 94-4.2 further governs how front, side, and rear yard requirements apply to corner lots, projections like porches and bay windows, and averaging with neighboring setbacks, while accessory structures under § 94-4.3 must sit at least three feet off rear and side lot lines.