Building Setbacks & Zoning in North Carolina (2026)

Alamance County's Unified Development Ordinance sets minimum yard setbacks measured from the right-of-way line. Front…

Apex's UDO defines front, side and rear yard setbacks by measurement rule, then sets minimum building-to-building…

Asheville sets minimum front, side, and rear yard setbacks in each zoning district's development standards, Chapter 7…

For conventional single-family development in unincorporated Brunswick County, UDO Table 4-1 sets a 25-foot minimum…

In the unincorporated county's R-1 Residential district, Buncombe County requires a 20-foot front yard, 10-foot side…

Cabarrus County's Development Ordinance sets minimum front, side and rear yard setbacks for the five nonresidential…

For unincorporated Carteret County lots that have not been assigned to one of the county's numbered zoning districts…

Cary's Land Development Ordinance sets minimum front, side, and rear building setbacks by zoning district in Table…

Catawba County sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district in Table 44-404-1 under Sec. 44-404. A standard R-20…

Chapel Hill's Table 3.8-1 Dimensional Matrix fixes minimum street, interior, and solar setbacks for every zoning…

Charlotte's Neighborhood 1 zoning districts set minimum front setbacks from 10 to 27 feet, a 5-foot side setback across…

In the zoned areas of unincorporated Cleveland County, principal buildings must sit back 30 feet from a street…

Concord's Development Ordinance measures every building setback from the furthest wall projection to the property line…

Setbacks in unincorporated Cumberland County are set by zoning district in the Section 1104 dimensional chart. In the…

In unincorporated Davidson County, the Zoning Ordinance's Table of Dimensional Requirements sets minimum front, side…

Durham's UDO Sec. 7.1.2.B sets minimum yards for a single-family detached house by zoning district: rear yards of 25…

Setbacks in Durham vary by zoning district under the joint City-County UDO. In the Residential Rural (RR) district…

Fayetteville sets minimum setbacks by zoning district in UDO Article 30-3. SF-10 requires 30 feet front and corner…

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County UDO sets minimum yards by zoning district: for example RS9 requires a 20-ft front…

In Franklin County's rural AR district with well and septic, a single-family home needs a 30-foot front setback…

A single-family home in Gaston County's R-1, R-2, or R-3 district needs a 30-foot front setback, a 15-foot side…

Table 04.100B under Sec. 32-262 fixes the minimum street, side and rear yard setbacks by zoning district in…

Greensboro's R-3 Single-family district under Land Development Ordinance Table 7-1 sets a 25-foot front setback (30…

Greenville's zoning ordinance sets a separate front, side and rear setback for every zoning district in Sec. 9-4-94's…

In unincorporated Guilford County's RS-30 residential district, homes must sit back at least 40 feet from local or…

Harnett County's Unified Development Ordinance sets minimum front, rear and side yard setbacks for every residential…

In High Point's R-3 single-family district, homes must sit at least 30 feet from the street, 10 feet from side lines…

Iredell County's Land Development Code sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district in dimensional-requirement tables…

In Johnston County's agricultural-residential district, Section 14-75(d) sets the yard setbacks for…

In Kill Devil Hills' Ocean Impact Residential (OIR) Zone, side yards start at 10 feet on lots under 75 feet wide…

Unincorporated Lee County sets minimum front, side, and rear yard setbacks by zoning district in Table 4.7-1, ranging…

In the City of Mebane, North Carolina, if half or more lots on a block already sit closer to the street than the…

Table 9-4-1 of Nash County's Unified Development Ordinance sets minimum building setbacks for every Agricultural and…

Onslow County sets minimum front, side, and rear setbacks by zoning district in Table 8-1 for residential districts and…

Orange County zones its unincorporated land under the Unified Development Ordinance. In the Rural Buffer, Agricultural…

Table 6-1 of the Pitt County Zoning Ordinance sets uniform yard setbacks across all 11 conventional zoning districts…

Raleigh's UDO sets a district-by-district setback table for the Detached House building type: primary and side-street…

Rose Hill's R-1 Residential District sets specific minimum yard setbacks in Code § 154.041(C): an 8,000-square-foot…

In unincorporated Rowan County's Rural Agricultural (RA) district, the most common base zoning, County Code Sec. 21-84…

In unincorporated Rutherford County, Section 907 of the county's Subdivision Regulations (Appendix B) sets the minimum…

In the Residential (R) zoning district covering unincorporated Sampson County, County Code § 2-25-04 sets a 35-foot…

In the Town of Stedman, North Carolina, no residential structure can sit closer than fifty feet from the centerline of…

Surry County regulates yard setbacks district by district under § 154.006-15's dimensional table, but the Village of…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance sets minimum yard setbacks by residential zoning…

Wake County's UDO sets minimum front, side and rear yard setbacks by residential district, ranging from 40 feet in R-80…

For new subdivisions in unincorporated Wayne County, Sec. 70-103(c) sets minimum building setbacks of 30 feet from the…

Front, rear and side yard setbacks in Wilmington shrink as residential zoning gets denser: R-20 requires a 30-foot…

Single-family homes in Apex's Rural Residential district are capped at 36 feet under the Unified Development…

In Asheville's RS-2 and RS-4 single-family districts, the city zoning code caps structures at 40 feet. The limit…

In unincorporated Brunswick County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps conventional residential buildings at 40…

Homes built inside Buncombe County's Steep Slope/High Elevation Overlay District, land above 2,500 feet with a natural…

Cabarrus County lets a principal or accessory structure exceed its zoning district's height limit if the front, side…

Cary's Land Development Ordinance caps residential building height at 35 feet across the R-80 through R-8 and TR…

Catawba County caps residential structure height at 45 feet in every district from RCon through R-7 under Table…

Chapel Hill measures building height two ways under Table 3.8-1: a setback height at the perimeter setback line and a…

Charlotte caps single-family and duplex/triplex buildings in its Neighborhood 1 zoning districts at 40 to 48 feet, and…

Concord caps building height by zoning district in Table 7.6.2-A, from 35 feet in the AG, RE, RL, RM-1 and RM-2…

Near Coastal Carolina Regional Airport, Craven County caps structure heights by zone: the horizontal zone tops out at…

Cumberland County does not cap the height of multifamily, office, commercial, or industrial buildings, but each foot…

In unincorporated Davidson County, the Zoning Ordinance's Table of Dimensional Requirements caps building height at 35…

Durham's Residential Suburban districts (RS-20, RS-10, RS-8 and RS-M) cap buildings at 3 stories and 40 feet under UDO…

In Durham's Residential Rural (RR) district the joint City-County UDO caps buildings at 40 feet, or 3 stories for…

Fayetteville caps buildings at 35 feet in the SF-15, SF-10, and SF-6 single-family districts. Accessory structures stop…

In unincorporated Forsyth County, a detached accessory structure is limited to 17 feet maximum height under the UDO; a…

Franklin County's Table 5-2 caps residential structure height at 35 feet in the R-80 and R-8 districts alike, matching…

Gaston County caps single-family and two-family homes at 45 feet in every conventional residential zoning district…

Sec. 32-262(d) and Table 04.100B cap most buildings in unincorporated Granville County at 35 feet, with no height limit…

Greensboro caps single-family homes in the R-3 district at 50 feet or 3 stories under Land Development Ordinance Table…

Greenville caps residential building height by zoning district in Sec. 9-4-94's Schedule of Development Standards. Most…

In unincorporated Guilford County's RS-30 residential district, single-family homes and other principal structures…

Harnett County caps residential building height at 35 feet in the RA-40, RA-30, RA-20M and RA-20R districts under §…

In High Point's R-3 single-family zoning district, principal buildings are capped at 50 feet, the same maximum whether…

In Iredell County's R-A Residential Agricultural District, every principal structure is capped at 35 feet, whether it…

Johnston County caps building height in the agricultural-residential district at a flat 40 feet for residential…

In the Town of Kill Devil Hills' Ocean Impact Residential (OIR) Zone, the oceanfront strip along NC 12, a house cannot…

Unincorporated Lee County caps building height at 40 feet in every single-family district, 60 feet in the Multi-Family…

In the City of Mebane, North Carolina, every zoning district in the Unified Development Ordinance carries its own…

Every residential zoning district in Onslow County caps principal structure height at 45 feet under Table 8-1, while…

Orange County caps buildings in its rural and low-density residential districts at 25 feet, well below the 35-foot norm…

Pitt County sets no flat maximum height for buildings in any conventional zoning district. Instead, once a building…

A Detached House principal building in any of Raleigh's five conventional residential districts, R-1, R-2, R-4, R-6 and…

Rose Hill caps building height at 35 feet in its R-1 Residential District under Code § 154.041(D), but the cap is not…

In unincorporated Rutherford County, the Airport Zoning Ordinance in Appendix A caps structure and tree height around…

Sampson County caps stick-built home height at 40 feet in both the Residential (R) and Residential Agricultural (RA)…

In the Town of Stedman, North Carolina, multi-family dwellings and office, commercial and industrial buildings face no…

In Surry County's core residential zoning districts, RA, RE, RR, RL and RG, the Dimensional Table at § 154.006-15 caps…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps residential building height at 35 feet in the…

Wake County caps residential building height at 35 feet in the R-80 through R-10 and HD districts, per the UDO's…

Homes in Wilmington's single-family districts top out at 35 feet, the ceiling set in the R-20 through R-3 dimensional…

Rowan County sets no maximum building height for planned unit developments in its 85-ED Economic Development districts…

Lot coverage in Orange County is governed by watershed impervious limits, not a flat percentage. Most protected…

Inside Harnett County's water supply watershed districts, residential and nonresidential development is capped at 24%…

Buncombe County's base zoning districts do not fix a single lot-coverage percentage, but the Steep Slope/High Elevation…

Nonresidential development in unincorporated Cabarrus County is capped at 75 percent impervious surface coverage under…

In the Town of Cary's Jordan Lake Watershed overlay, low-density projects cap impervious surface at 24% of project…

Catawba County's Watershed Protection Overlay District (WP-O) caps built-upon area for nonresidential and multifamily…

Chapel Hill caps how much of a lot can be paved or built over: single-family and two-family lots are limited to 50…

Charlotte does not use a generic lot-coverage percentage. Instead its Unified Development Ordinance caps built-upon…

Inside the water supply watersheds mapped under Cleveland County's Water Supply Overlay district, most development…

Concord's Development Ordinance limits impervious coverage through the Impervious Surface Ratio column of Table…

Cumberland County's zoning ordinance defines building lot coverage as the percentage of a lot covered by principal…

In unincorporated Davidson County, the zoning ordinance caps how much of a lot buildings can cover, from 30% in RA-1…

Durham has no citywide lot-coverage cap, but land inside the city's six Watershed Protection Overlays -- a regime…

Durham limits development intensity mainly through watershed impervious-surface caps rather than a single lot-coverage…

Fayetteville's Unified Development Ordinance caps lot coverage by zoning district: 25 percent in SF-15, 30 percent in…

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County single-family districts cap impervious surface cover at 40% of the zoning lot. Detached…

Single-family detached homes in unincorporated Franklin County cannot cover more than 70% of the building envelope, the…

Gaston County's standard zoning tables set no maximum lot-coverage percentage; Tables 7.1-2 through 7.1-5 regulate lot…

In unincorporated Granville County, general residential zoning districts set no lot-coverage percentage, but land…

In Greensboro's R-3 Residential Single-family district, buildings and roofed structures may cover no more than 30…

Greenville's Schedule of Development Standards caps lot coverage, excluding drives and parking, at 40% of the lot for…

In unincorporated Guilford County's RS-30 residential district, the combined footprint of all buildings on a lot cannot…

High Point caps building coverage at 60 percent of the lot for homes built under the conservation subdivision option in…

Inside Johnston County's Water Supply Watershed Protection District (WSW), lot coverage is capped by how much of a…

In Kill Devil Hills' Ocean Impact Residential (OIR) Zone, the combined footprint of the house, every accessory…

Unincorporated Lee County caps non-residential lot coverage through an impervious surface ratio, not a simple…

In the City of Mebane, North Carolina, properties inside the Highway Corridor Overlay District face a hard…

Land in Nash County's WS-III and WS-IV public water supply watersheds is capped at 24 percent built-upon area, or two…

Pitt County's Zoning Ordinance sets no general lot-coverage cap for the standard zoning districts in Table 6-1, but…

Raleigh caps how much of a lot can be covered by impervious surface, scaled to base zoning district: 20% in R-1, 25% in…

In Rowan County's 85-ED Economic Development districts along I-85, Section 21-34 caps building and pavement coverage at…

Inside the designated public water supply watershed of unincorporated Rutherford County, the Watershed Protection…

Surry County Code § 154.003-02 defines lot coverage as the percent of a lot covered by impervious surface, but the base…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance caps the combined footprint of all buildings and…

Residential lots in Wake County's non-watershed zoning districts may not exceed 30 percent impervious surface coverage…

In unincorporated Wayne County's WS-IV Neuse River and Little River watershed areas, § 30-57 caps most new development…

Wilmington caps how much of a residential lot a home and its accessory structures can cover, running 50 percent in the…