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…

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…

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 sets minimum front, side, and rear yards for a single-family detached house by zoning district, from…

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…

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…

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

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…

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 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…

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…

In Durham's RS-20, RS-10, RS-8, and RS-M districts, the Unified Development Ordinance caps principal residential…

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…

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

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

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…

Iredell County caps residential structures at 35 feet in its core zoning districts. Table 2.5 sets a 35-foot maximum…

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…

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 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…

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…

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

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

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…

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…

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…