Long Beach, CA Fence Regulations: Height Limits (2026)

Section 21.43.010 makes fences and garden walls permitted accessory structures in every zone, subject to the conditions in Chapter 21.43. Section 21.43.020 then sets the caps in Table 43-1.

Residential lots carry the most layers. The front yard cap is 3 ft. The other yard area cap is 6 ft. 6 in., and a fence outside the required yard area can reach 10 ft. Where the lot abuts a nonresidential district or use, the cap is 8 ft. The same 8 ft. applies along an alley, flood control channel or other public right-of-way that is not a street, but only for rear and side lines. A rear property line that abuts a regional corridor, boulevard or major avenue named in the General Plan Mobility Element also gets 8 ft., as do the side lines of a reverse corner lot that abuts one, if they form a continuous line with the rear lines of the rest of the block.

Commercial and industrial lots are held to 3 ft. inside the required street frontage setback and to 3 ft. where the fence abuts a residential front yard. A fence abutting a residential side or rear yard tops out at 8 ft., and any other yard allows 12 ft. Industrially zoned properties can build a 12 ft. wrought iron or metal tubing fence inside the street frontage setback. Institutional sites get 3 ft. in the front yard and 8 ft. in any other yard. Parks get 6 ft. within the ten foot yard area abutting a public street and 12 ft. in other yards. Fences in the public right-of-way are set by the City Engineer, and every zone is held to 3 ft. in the corner cutoff area.

The section measures height from grade adjoining the fence on the public right-of-way side when the fence adjoins the right-of-way, and from the average grade of both sides when the fence sits between two private properties. In flood hazard zones where the Building Code requires the finish floor at or above the top of the flood plain, measurement starts at the top of the flood plain.

The table's limits do not apply where any other City ordinance requires a greater height, where a conditional approval of a permit under Title 21 or State or Federal law requires it, or where a wall return of greater height is allowed.