100 ft chain-link, 4 ft tall
Small back yard, pet containment, one walk gate, flat ground
$1,860 to $2,520
$21.89 per linear foot
Fence cost calculator
Fence cost calculator
Enter your fence dimensions and get an itemized estimate instantly, materials, posts, concrete, gates, labor and permit, priced for your state. No email, no phone number, no contractor calls.
- No email required
- No phone number
- No contractor calls
Total estimated cost
$4,220to$5,720
Midpoint $4,970 · range reflects local pricing and site conditions
- Per linear foot
- $33.13
- Posts needed
- 20
- Concrete bags
- 40
- Cost per year
- $284
- Lifespan
- 15-20 years
- Labor rate
- 1.00×
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Panels, pickets & rails150 ft of wood at 6 ft height | $1,800 |
| Posts & concrete20 posts at 8 ft spacing, 40 bags of concrete | $260 |
| Corner post assemblies4 braced corners | $180 |
| Gates & hardware1 walk | $175 |
| Waste allowance10% overage on material for cuts and damage | $180 |
| Installation laborthe national average rate (1.00x national) on flat ground | $2,250 |
| PermitTypical municipal fence permit, verify locally | $125 |
| Estimated total | $4,970 |
Same fence, other materials
- $3,508
- $4,970
- $5,840
- $6,965
- $7,760
- $8,690
Example fence costs
Three common projects, priced at national-average labor rates. Select your state in the calculator above to apply your local rate.
200 ft wood privacy, 6 ft tall
Typical suburban back yard, one walk gate, four corners
$5,490 to $7,430
$32.29 per linear foot
300 ft vinyl, 6 ft tall
Full perimeter on a larger lot, one walk gate, no maintenance
$9,510 to $12,870
$37.29 per linear foot
Fence material comparison
Every material priced against the same 150-foot, 6-foot-tall fence with one walk gate and four corners, at national-average labor rates.
| Material | Total | Per foot | Lifespan | Cost / year | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain-link | $3,508 | $23.39 | 20-25 years | $156 | Almost none; check for rust at cut ends |
| Wood | $4,970 | $33.13 | 15-20 years | $284 | Stain or seal every 2-3 years |
| Vinyl | $5,840 | $38.93 | 25-30 years | $212 | Rinse annually; no sealing required |
| Aluminum | $6,965 | $46.43 | 30+ years | $214 | None; powder coat does not need refinishing |
| Composite | $7,760 | $51.73 | 25-30 years | $282 | Rinse annually; no sealing required |
| Wrought iron | $8,690 | $57.93 | 50+ years | $158 | Sand and repaint rust spots every 3-5 years |
Cost per year divides the installed total by the midpoint of the material's expected lifespan. It does not include the cost of stain, sealer or the labor of applying them, which favours the low-maintenance materials further.
How much does a fence cost?
The average US homeowner spends $4,220 to $5,720 on a professionally installed 150-foot fence. That range covers the middle of the market. Chain-link at $3,508 sits at the bottom, and wrought iron at $8,690 sits at the top, for exactly the same 150 feet of perimeter.
Per linear foot, installed fencing runs roughly $23.39 to $57.93 depending on material and height. Those are national figures. Your state's labor market moves them by as much as 35% in either direction, which is why the calculator above asks for your state rather than showing you a single national number.
How to measure your yard for a fence
Every estimate starts with linear feet, and it is the number people get wrong most often. Walk the boundary you actually intend to enclose and measure it in segments, corner to corner. Do not use the lot dimensions from your deed, because a fence rarely follows all four property lines and almost never runs through the house.
Two shortcuts save a lot of arithmetic. A rectangular yard is simply twice the length plus twice the width, so a 20 by 20 area is 80 linear feet rather than the 400 square feet of ground inside it. A square acre works out to roughly 835 feet of perimeter, and because perimeter grows with the square root of area, five acres needs only about 2.2 times the fencing of one acre, not five times.
Count the corners and the gates separately before you open the fence calculator. Each braced corner assembly adds about $45, a walk gate about $175 and a drive gate about $450, and these fixed items are why a short run always costs more per foot than a long one. Then get a survey if there is any doubt about where the line sits; moving a finished fence costs more than the fence did.
Fence cost by material
Material is the single biggest lever on the total, spanning $8 to $30 per foot for the panels alone before any labor. Use the wood fence calculator setting for a pressure-treated privacy fence at $33.13 per foot installed, or the chain link fence calculator setting for the cheapest enclosure at $23.39 per foot. The difference is roughly $1,462 across a 150-foot run.
Vinyl, aluminum and composite sit above both. Vinyl trades a higher upfront price for no refinishing, aluminum is the usual answer for pool barriers and front yards where you want a boundary without blocking the view, and composite is the most expensive common privacy material but the closest to real wood in appearance.
Upfront cost and lifetime cost rank differently, and both belong in the decision. Chain-link is cheapest to install. Measured per year of service life the ranking changes: chain-link delivers the lowest annual cost. Maintenance is the hidden variable. Wood needs staining every two to three years, which over a 17-year life is five or six refinishing cycles in money or in weekends, while vinyl, aluminum and composite need almost none.
Privacy fence vs picket fence cost
These are styles rather than materials, and the gap between them is mostly height and board spacing. The privacy fence calculator default, a solid 6-foot wood panel with no gaps, costs $4,970 across 150 feet installed. Reconfigured as a 4-foot picket fence in the same wood, the run drops to roughly $3,682, a saving of about 26%.
That saving comes from two places at once. Spaced pickets leave roughly a third of the panel face open, so the lumber order shrinks, and the shorter posts sit in shallower holes with less concrete. Neither the post count nor the gate hardware changes, which is why the picket fence calculator figure is not simply two thirds of the privacy figure.
Choose on function, not price. A picket fence marks a boundary, keeps a dog in and keeps a front yard open. It does not screen a patio from the neighbours. If privacy is the actual goal, a 4-foot fence will not deliver it at any material, and the money saved is money wasted.
Board on board fence cost
Board on board, sometimes sold as shadowbox or overlap, hangs each vertical board so it laps the one beside it instead of butting against it. That overlap takes about 35% more lumber than a flat panel of the same height, which brings a 150-foot 6-foot fence from $4,970 to roughly $5,663 installed.
The premium buys durability rather than looks. Pressure-treated fence boards shrink across the grain as they dry, and on a butted panel that shrinkage opens visible gaps within a season or two. That is exactly the failure a privacy fence is bought to avoid. Overlapping boards absorb the movement, and the finished fence looks the same from both sides, which matters when a neighbour shares it.
To price one, run the board on board fence calculator inputs as a wood fence at your height and length, then add the material premium above. Posts, concrete, gates, corners and permit are all unchanged. Only the panel line moves.
What actually drives fence cost
Linear footage is the biggest input, and it is the one people estimate wrong most often. Measure the actual perimeter you intend to enclose rather than the lot dimensions, because corners, gates and existing structures all change the number.
Height scales cost non-linearly. Going from 6 feet to 8 feet adds about 32% because taller fences need deeper posts, more concrete and heavier rails, not just more pickets. Dropping from 6 feet to 4 feet saves about 14%.
Terrain is the most underestimated factor. A steep slope adds around 35% to labor because every panel has to be stepped or racked individually. If your yard drops more than about a foot across a single panel, price it as sloped.
Gates cost far more per foot than fence. A walk gate runs about $175 and a drive gate about $450, because each needs its own reinforced posts and hardware. Two gates can add more than 20 feet of fencing would.
Frost depth quietly sets your concrete budget. Posts must go below the local frost line, which ranges from zero inches in Florida to 60 inches in Minnesota. That is a difference of roughly two bags of concrete per post across an entire fence.
Why fence labor costs vary by state
Labor is 45-55% of a professionally installed fence, so where you live moves the total more than most material decisions do. We price that line from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics series for construction earnings, state by state, rather than applying an invented regional percentage. Where BLS does not publish a state figure separately, a curated multiplier is used and labelled as such on the page.
The spread is wide. The same 150-foot wood privacy fence costs $4,374 in Mississippi, the cheapest construction labor market in the country, and $5,801 in Hawaii, for identical material and identical dimensions.
Frost depth compounds it in the opposite direction from what you would expect. Cold northern states need posts set far deeper, so the concrete and digging time rise alongside the wage. Select your state in the calculator above and both adjustments apply at once.
Fence permits and height limits
Most US municipalities require a permit for fences over 6 feet tall, and many require one over 4 feet in a front yard. Rules are set locally rather than nationally, so two towns in the same county can differ. Our estimates carry a $125 permit allowance scaled to your state's fee levels.
Before you buy material, confirm three things with your building department: the height limit for the yard you are fencing, the required setback from the property line, and whether a survey is required. Corner lots and properties on a road frontage frequently have stricter front-yard limits than the rest of the street.
If your property is in an HOA, that review is usually the stricter gate and the slower one. HOA design rules routinely restrict material, color, height and even which side of the fence faces the street, and approval can take several weeks. Start it before you book a contractor.
How we calculated these estimates
Every figure on this page comes from the same open formula the calculator above uses. We start from a 2026 national baseline for materials and installed labor, apply the state labor multiplier published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for construction trades, then add the line items your inputs call for: gates, corners, removal, permits and a waste allowance. Nothing is hidden behind a lead form, and no contractor pays us to appear here. The result is a planning range, not a quote. The low figure assumes straightforward access and an efficient crew, and the high figure assumes obstacles, difficult access, or premium material grades.
Frequently asked questions
How much does 300 feet of fencing cost?
300 feet of fencing costs between $5,540 and $19,420 installed, depending almost entirely on material. Chain-link is the cheapest at about $6,523, a 6-foot wood privacy fence runs about $9,447, and vinyl about $11,187. Those totals include posts, concrete, one walk gate, four braced corners, a 10% waste allowance and a permit, at national-average labor rates. Use the fence calculator above to price your exact material, height and state.
How much would a 200 ft privacy fence cost?
A 200-foot, 6-foot-tall wood privacy fence costs $5,490 to $7,430 professionally installed, about $32.29 per linear foot. The same 200 feet in vinyl runs $6,480 to $8,760 and in composite $8,650 to $11,700. Where you live moves all three by up to 35%: that wood fence is about $5,674 in Mississippi and $7,552 in Hawaii.
How much is a 20x20 fence?
A 20x20 fenced area has an 80-foot perimeter, not 400 feet. You are fencing the boundary, not the area. At that length a 6-foot wood privacy fence costs $2,450 to $3,310 installed and vinyl costs $2,840 to $3,840, both including four corner posts, a walk gate and a permit. Chain-link brings the same enclosure down to $1,790 to $2,420. Short runs cost more per foot than long ones because the gate, corners and permit spread across fewer feet.
How do you estimate the cost of a fence?
Measure the perimeter you actually intend to enclose in linear feet, then multiply by an installed per-foot rate for your material, roughly $23.39 for chain-link up to $57.93 for wrought iron at 6 feet tall. Add the fixed items separately: about $175 per walk gate, $450 per drive gate, $45 per braced corner, a permit, and 10% waste on the material. Then apply your state's labor rate, because labor is 45-55% of a professionally installed fence and varies by more than 50% between the cheapest and dearest states.
Is a 4 foot fence cheaper than a 6-foot fence?
Yes. A 4-foot fence costs about 14% less than the same fence at 6 feet. A 150-foot wood fence drops from $4,970 to $4,271. The saving comes from shorter posts, shallower holes and 1.5 bags of concrete per post instead of 2, less material per panel and slightly lower labor. Going the other way costs more than the extra height suggests: 8 feet adds about 32%.
What is the cheapest fence to install?
Chain-link is the cheapest fence to install at about $23.39 per linear foot including labor, helped by 10-foot post spacing that means fewer holes and less concrete than the 8-foot spacing every other material uses. Among fences that actually give you privacy, pressure-treated wood is the most affordable at about $33.13 per linear foot. You can cut either further by choosing 4 feet instead of 6, which saves about 14%, or by installing it yourself. DIY takes a 150-foot wood fence from $4,970 down to roughly $2,895.
What kind of fence adds the most value?
Wrought iron and wood privacy fences add the most resale value, and vinyl scores well because buyers price in the absence of maintenance. Chain-link adds the least and can reduce curb appeal in a front yard. Condition matters more than material: a well-kept wood fence helps an appraisal, while a leaning, greyed one reads as deferred maintenance regardless of what it cost to build.
Will a fence raise my property value?
A well-maintained fence usually adds 2-5% to a home's resale value and returns roughly 50-70% of what it cost to build. The effect is strongest in markets where buyers with children or pets treat a fenced yard as a requirement rather than a feature. On a $4,970 wood privacy fence that is real value but not a full payback, so build the fence you want to live with rather than the one you think an appraiser wants.
What are the disadvantages of fencing?
Cost comes first: enclosing a typical 150-foot yard runs $2,980 to $9,990 installed depending on material. After that comes maintenance, wood needs staining every two to three years across its entire 15-20 year life, plus municipal height limits and permits, HOA design rules that are frequently stricter than the code, and boundary disputes when a fence goes in without a survey. Replacement also carries a tear-out cost of about $4 per linear foot before the new fence starts.
How much concrete do I need for a fence post?
Budget about 2 bags of 80 lb concrete per post for a standard 6-foot fence. A 10-inch-wide hole 30 inches deep holds roughly 1.2 cubic feet of concrete once the post displaces its share, and an 80 lb bag of Quikrete or Sakrete yields 0.6 cubic feet. A 150-foot wood fence needs 20 posts and 40 bags, about $260 of concrete. Drop to a 4-foot fence and it falls to 1.5 bags per post; go to 8 feet and it rises to 3. Our concrete calculator sizes post holes at any diameter and depth, which matters in states with a deep frost line.
How many fence panels do I need?
Divide your total fence length by the panel width, 6 or 8 feet for most pre-built panels. A 200-foot fence built from 8-foot panels needs 25 panels and 26 posts, because every run takes one more post than it has panels. Post spacing varies by material: wood, vinyl, aluminum and composite sit at 8 feet, chain-link at 10, which is part of why chain-link is cheaper. The fence calculator above works out panel, post and concrete counts from your dimensions automatically, with a 10% waste allowance already included.
How much does it cost to fence one acre?
A square acre has a perimeter of about 835 linear feet. At national-average rates that is roughly $17,283 in chain-link or $25,405 in wood privacy fence. Note that perimeter does not scale with area. Fencing five acres costs roughly 2.2 times what one acre costs, not five times, which is why irregular and multi-acre lots are worth measuring properly before pricing.
Do I need a permit to build a fence?
In most US municipalities, yes, for fences over 6 feet tall, and often over 4 feet in a front yard. Requirements are set locally rather than nationally, and rural counties frequently have none at all. Our estimates include a $125 permit allowance scaled to your state. Confirm the height limit, setback and survey requirement with your building department before buying material, and check your HOA separately, since its design review is usually the stricter gate.
Fence cost by state
Every state page applies its own construction labor multiplier, frost depth and permitting guidance to the calculator above.
- Alabama0.82×
- Alaska1.28×
- Arizona0.95×
- Arkansas0.80×
- California1.25×
- Colorado1.05×
- Connecticut1.18×
- Delaware1.08×
- Florida0.90×
- Georgia0.85×
- Hawaii1.35×
- Idaho0.88×
- Illinois1.05×
- Indiana0.88×
- Iowa0.85×
- Kansas0.85×
- Kentucky0.83×
- Louisiana0.84×
- Maine0.95×
- Maryland1.10×
- Massachusetts1.22×
- Michigan0.95×
- Minnesota1.02×
- Mississippi0.78×
- Missouri0.88×
- Montana0.90×
- Nebraska0.85×
- Nevada1.00×
- New Hampshire1.05×
- New Jersey1.18×
- New Mexico0.88×
- New York1.20×
- North Carolina0.87×
- North Dakota0.90×
- Ohio0.90×
- Oklahoma0.82×
- Oregon1.05×
- Pennsylvania1.00×
- Rhode Island1.10×
- South Carolina0.83×
- South Dakota0.82×
- Tennessee0.84×
- Texas0.88×
- Utah0.92×
- Vermont0.98×
- Virginia0.98×
- Washington1.12×
- West Virginia0.82×
- Wisconsin0.95×
- Wyoming0.90×
The figure beside each state is its construction labor multiplier relative to the national average of 1.00×.
Our estimates are backed by real data
Every figure on this page traces back to a published source. Where a government dataset is available, we fetch it at build time rather than typing in a number and hoping it stays true.
- Labor rates
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, construction average hourly earnings by state, July 2026. National average $41.46/hr. Source
- Material cost trends
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), Producer Price Index, plastic construction products, iron & steel, fabricated structural metal, lumber & wood products, July 2026. Source
- Frost depths
- State and county building-code minimum footing depths, compiled per state. Confirm locally before excavating. Source
Data last updated: August 17, 2026