Cook County, IL Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

1(A) governs where and how tall a privacy screen can be on residential property in unincorporated Cook County. Fences, walls, hedges and shrubbery may be erected, placed, maintained or grown within ten feet of a lot line on property abutting or located in a residential district, and the general height ceiling is six feet above ground level. That ceiling drops sharply in visibility-sensitive locations: any fence, wall, hedge or shrubbery placed in a required front yard or corner side yard is capped at three feet, so a homeowner cannot build a six-foot privacy wall facing the street the way they can along a rear property line.

1(C) reinforces this by barring any fence, wall, hedge or shrubbery from exceeding three feet above street grade when located within 35 feet of a right-of-way line, which effectively extends the low-height zone beyond the immediate yard setback on corner and through lots. 1(D), fences must be built with poles, supports and braces facing the installing owner's own property, so the finished (unbraced) side faces the neighbor, unless the Building Commissioner approves otherwise. Placement, height and orientation are all part of the same Article 8 general provisions that apply across the R-1 through R-9 residential districts of unincorporated Cook County, and are administered by the Department of Building and Zoning, which reviews fence permits against these limits before work begins.