Vanderburgh County, IN Fence Regulations: Material Restrictions (2026)
Key Facts
- Barbed wire minimum fence height
- 6 feet, angled inward
- Razor wire minimum fence height
- 8 feet, angled inward
- Electric fence use
- farm animals only
- Electric fence perimeter
- non-electric, 4 ft min height
- Governing sections
- §§ 15.20.060, 15.20.080
Summary
Vanderburgh County bars barbed wire, razor wire and electrically charged fences on ordinary residential property. Barbed wire is allowed only above 6 feet and razor wire only above 8 feet, angled inward over private ground, and electric fences are limited to farm-animal enclosures.
15.20.060 Security fences. No person shall construct or cause to be constructed or maintain a barbed wire, razor wire, or similar material fence, partially or wholly around any area in any street, alley, public highway, or right-of-way... However, fences at least six feet (6') high may have barbed wire and fences at least eight feet (8') high may have razor wire or similar material attached to arms or brackets extending inward over the private property... but no barbed wire shall be placed at a point any nearer than six feet (6') from the ground nor any razor wire or similar material shall be placed at a point any nearer than eight feet (8') from the ground. ... 15.20.080 Electric fences. No person being the owner, lessee, or agent of any property located within Vanderburgh County, shall erect or maintain on his property any fence which is electrically charged... unless it is for the sole use of restraining farm animals and is completely contained within the perimeter of a non-electric fence.
Full Breakdown
060 flatly bars anyone from constructing or maintaining a barbed wire, razor wire, or similar-material fence around any street, alley, public highway, right-of-way, or in front of any public space, and bars nailing or fastening such wire onto partition fences generally. The one carve-out: a fence at least six feet high may carry barbed wire, and a fence at least eight feet high may carry razor wire or similar material, but only on arms or brackets angled inward over the property of the person paying for the fence, with the wire itself never closer than six feet (barbed) or eight feet (razor) from the ground.
080 separately bars any owner, lessee, or agent from erecting or maintaining an electrically charged fence anywhere in the county, with one exception: containing farm animals, and even then only if the electric fence sits entirely inside a non-electric perimeter fence at least four feet high with openings no larger than four inches, marked with a visible sign warning of the electric fence, and built with UL-listed or equivalently tested electrical components. 040 gives the joint Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Commissioner authority to order removal or replacement of any fence built from old or used material that is not reasonably sound in the Commissioner's judgment.
Violations & Fines
The fences chapter does not carry its own fine schedule; enforcement runs through the joint Building Commissioner's order-and-removal authority under Section 15.20.040, and a fence installed in violation can be ordered removed or replaced. Related drainage-easement fence violations under Section 15.20.090 are treated as a major code violation subject to the fines set in Section 15.08.170 of the county code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put barbed wire on my residential fence in Vanderburgh County?
Are electric fences legal around a house in the county?
Can I run razor wire along my property line?
Who decides if my used-material fence is safe?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Vanderburgh County
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