Fence Calculator
This fence calculator turns a length, a height and your gates into posts, rails, pickets and bags of concrete. For 100 ft of 6-ft wood privacy fence with one 4-ft gate, it gives 15 posts cut to 8 ft, 38 rails and 215 pickets with 5% waste, and 30 bags of 80-lb mix for 2-ft-deep holes.
Advanced: Picket Width & Gap
13 line + 2 gate, 4x4
With 5% waste: 38 rails, 215 pickets/boards.
Hole: 10 in diameter x 2 ft deep, 0.92 cu ft per post.
Total: 30 bags (80 lb) / 45 bags (60 lb) / 45 bags (50 lb) for 15 posts, 13.81 cu ft.
Measure the run first, gates included, and enter the total; the calculator takes the gate openings out before it spaces the posts. The how to measure for a fence guide covers corners, slopes and property lines. Each material also has its own calculator on the material calculators page, built on the same engine.
How does the fence calculator count posts, rails and pickets?
Every count starts from the fence line, the total length minus gate widths. The right-hand column is the default job: 100 ft of 6-ft wood privacy fence, 8-ft post spacing, one 4-ft gate.
| Part | Rule | 100 ft with one 4-ft gate |
|---|---|---|
| Fence line | total length minus gate widths | 100 − 4 = 96 ft |
| Sections | fence line ÷ post spacing, rounded up | 96 ÷ 8 = 12 |
| Posts | sections + 1, plus 2 per gate | 13 + 2 = 15 |
| Rails | sections × rails per section (2 up to 4 ft, 3 up to 6 ft, 4 above) | 12 × 3 = 36, or 38 with 5% waste |
| Pickets | clear space per section ÷ (board width + gap), rounded up, × sections | 92.5 in ÷ 5.5 in = 17 per section, 204 total, 215 with waste |
| Post length | height + bury, where the calculator's rule makes bury a third of the height, at least 2 ft, rounded up to the next half foot | 6 + 2 = 8-ft posts |
| Concrete | hole volume minus the post, in whole bags per hole | 0.92 cu ft per 10-in hole, 2 bags of 80-lb mix each, 30 in all |
The clear space is 96 in minus the 3.5-in actual width of a 4×4 post. Gate posts are counted on top of line posts. On a straight run one post can serve as both the last line post and a gate post, so 14 may be enough. Waste goes on boards and rails only, since posts are bought at stock length. Concrete is rounded up hole by hole: the 15 holes hold 13.81 cu ft, which would be 24 bags poured as one batch, but each hole takes whole bags, so the fence calculator lists 30.
Fence quantities for 50 to 300 ft
A straight run of 1×6 privacy boards on 8-ft spacing, no gates. Rails and concrete change with height; posts and boards do not.
| Length | Posts | Rails with waste, 4 / 6 / 8 ft | Boards with waste | 80-lb bags, 6 ft / 8 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 ft | 8 | 15 / 23 / 30 | 125 | 16 / 24 |
| 100 ft | 14 | 28 / 41 / 55 | 233 | 28 / 42 |
| 150 ft | 20 | 40 / 60 / 80 | 340 | 40 / 60 |
| 200 ft | 26 | 53 / 79 / 105 | 447 | 52 / 78 |
| 300 ft | 39 | 80 / 120 / 160 | 679 | 78 / 117 |
Above 6 ft the calculator switches the default to 6×6 posts. Under the calculator's rule an 8-ft fence also gets a 3-ft bury, so the posts move from 8-ft to 12-ft stock, the holes widen to 12 in, and each one takes 1.73 cu ft, or three 80-lb bags instead of two. The board count does not change, because 17 boards still fit in the narrower clear space of 90.5 in. The fence post spacing calculator finds an even spacing when your length doesn't divide by 8.
Corners, U-shapes and enclosed yards
A corner needs a post exactly where the line turns, so one total length undercounts a fence with corners. Take a backyard fenced on three sides, 50 ft, 80 ft and 50 ft, with the house closing the fourth. Entered as one 180-ft straight run, it comes to 23 sections and 24 posts. In the Multiple Runs layout the calculator divides each side on its own, into 7, 10 and 7 sections, and shares the two corner posts, which gives 24 sections and 25 posts. With a 4-ft gate, the gate width comes off the longest side and the count rises to 27 posts.
On a closed loop the last post is also the first, so the Enclosed layout drops one: a 260-ft perimeter with a single 4-ft gate takes 34 posts enclosed against 35 as a straight run. To get the perimeter of a square lot, multiply one side by four; a square half acre is 590 ft around and a quarter acre 417 ft. Square footage only matters for finding that perimeter, since every count runs on linear feet.
Other boards, rails and spacing
Changing the board width and gap in the calculator covers other vertical styles. A 1×4 picket with a 2.5-in gap fits 16 per section, so a 4-ft picket fence 100 ft long needs 219 pickets with waste, on 2 rails per section, and the picket fence calculator has that preset. Tightening the spacing to 6 ft on the 100-ft privacy run raises the posts from 14 to 18 and the rails with waste from 41 to 54, while the boards stay at 233. Switching a 6-ft fence to 6×6 posts widens each hole to 12 in, and at a 2-ft bury it still takes two 80-lb bags.
A split-rail or post-and-rail fence has no boards at all. On the split-rail defaults of 10-ft spacing and 10-ft rails, 100 ft of 4-ft fence is 10 sections on 11 posts, with 21 rails including waste for two rails per section or 32 for three. Shadowbox and board-on-board counts are compared on one 100-ft run in the wood fence calculator.
Before you dig
Call 811, or use your state 811 center's website, a few business days before you dig so buried lines can be marked; the service is free. Frost depth can push the bury past the calculator's one-third rule in cold states, which the fence post depth and frost line guide lists by state, and the concrete per fence post calculator reworks the bags for a deeper or wider hole.
Next steps
With the counts in hand, the fence cost calculator prices the same length installed, with gates, removal and your state.
Fence Material Calculators
All Material Calculators →Chain Link Fence Calculator
A 100-ft straight run of 4-ft chain link with one 4-ft walk gate takes 9 line posts, 4 terminal posts, 10 sticks of 10.5-ft top rail and 2 rolls of 50-ft fabric. Enter your length, height, corners and gates below for the whole bill of materials, down to tension bands and tie wire.
Concrete per Fence Post Calculator
Two 80-lb bags set one 4×4 fence post in a 10-inch hole dug 24 inches deep, which holds 0.92 cubic feet of concrete. The same hole takes 3 bags of 60-lb or 50-lb mix and 4 of 40-lb. To work out how many bags of concrete per fence post you need, enter your post size, hole diameter and depth below; the calculator also multiplies by your post count.
Fence Board Calculator
On 100 ft of 6-ft fence with one 4-ft gate, board-on-board takes 265 1×6 boards with 5% waste, shadowbox takes 303 and horizontal takes 152, against 215 for a plain privacy fence. This fence board calculator is set to board-on-board, and the shadowbox and horizontal figures here come from the same formulas, with the overlap and both-faces math shown.
Fence Panel Calculator
To count fence panels, subtract the gate openings, divide what is left by the panel width and round up. A straight 100 ft with no gate takes 13 panels of 8 ft on 14 posts, the last one cut to 4 ft, or 17 panels of 6 ft on 18 posts. The fence panel calculator does that division for wood or vinyl prefab sections and adds 2 posts per gate.
Fence Post Calculator
A 100-ft straight fence at 8-ft spacing with one 4-ft gate takes 15 posts: 11 line posts, 2 end posts and 2 gate posts. On a 6-ft fence each one is an 8-ft post with 2 ft in the ground. This fence post calculator splits a straight run, a rectangle or an L- or U-shaped set of sides into those roles and gives the stock length to buy.
Fence Post Spacing Calculator
The distance between fence posts comes out even when you divide the run by your target spacing, round up to whole sections, then divide the run by that section count. 100 ft at an 8-ft target makes 13 sections with posts 7.69 ft on center, about 7 ft 8-1/4 in. The fence post spacing calculator does both steps and lists 6, 7, 8 and 10-ft targets side by side.
Picket Fence Calculator
A 100-ft picket fence takes 208 pickets at 3.5-in picket width, 2.5-in gaps and 8-ft post spacing, or 219 with 5% waste; 200 ft takes 400, or 420. The calculator below divides each section’s open span by picket width plus gap, so a half inch either way on the gap changes the count in every section.
Vinyl Fence Calculator
A 100-ft vinyl (PVC) fence with one 4-ft gate needs 16 panels, 19 posts, 19 caps and 57 bags of 80-lb concrete with 6-ft-wide panels, sold as 6×6 kits. With 8-ft panels (6×8 kits) it needs 12 panels, 15 posts, 15 caps and 45 bags. The vinyl fence calculator below opens on 6-ft panels; switch it to 8 ft for 6×8 kits.
Wood Fence Calculator
150 ft of 6-ft wood privacy fence with one 4-ft gate takes 22 posts, 60 rails, 340 dog-ear pickets and 44 bags of 80-lb concrete, with 5% waste on rails and pickets. Enter your own length, height and gates and the calculator returns the same lines for your fence, from post length and 8-ft rails to concrete per hole and a fastener estimate.
Fence Cost Calculators
Aluminum Fence Cost Calculator
150 feet of 6-ft aluminum fence with one walk gate costs about $6,900 installed, the middle of a national spread from $3,690 to $11,900. The fence line alone runs $41 a foot at 6 ft and $33 at 4 ft before gates and the permit. The same 150 ft in wrought iron comes to $21,920, and in steel ornamental to $7,500.
Chain Link Fence Cost Calculator
150 feet of 4-ft galvanized chain link with one walk gate comes to about $2,730 installed at mid-range national rates, inside a range of $1,370 to $4,860. Labor is $1,440 of that. Run your own length, height, coating, gates and state through the chain link fence cost calculator below. The tables underneath cover 100 to 300 ft at 4, 6 and 8 ft.
Cost to Fence an Acre
A square acre is 835 ft around. Fencing all of it at mid-range national prices costs about $3,460 in 4-ft woven farm wire on T-posts, $15,480 in wood split rail and $31,010 in 6-ft wood privacy, permit included and gates extra. The calculator below turns acres and lot shape into feet of fence and prices five materials at once.
Fence Cost Calculator
The estimate below prices the whole fence job: the fence line, gates, tearing out an old fence, the permit and your state. For 150 ft of 6-ft wood privacy fence plus one walk gate, with removal and a permit, the national estimate is $4,440 to $10,250, with $6,900 at mid-range prices. Enter your own material, height, length and gates below.
Fence Cost per Foot
The cost to install a fence runs $10 to $35 per foot for 6-ft galvanized chain link, $25 to $55 for 6-ft wood privacy and $30 to $60 for vinyl privacy, at national 2026 prices for material and labor. Wrought iron is the top of the range at $95 to $175. Going from 6 ft to 8 ft adds about 35% to any of them.
Pool Fence Cost Calculator
A 16 × 32 ft in-ground pool fenced 5 ft back from the water needs 136 ft of barrier. At mid-range national prices, a 4-ft removable mesh pool safety fence costs $17.80 a foot for the fence itself and $3,040 installed with one self-closing gate and the permit. Permanent aluminum around the same pool comes to $5,670. The calculator below prices the mesh version for your length, height, gates and state.
Privacy Fence Cost Calculator
A 6-ft wood privacy fence averages $37 per foot installed at mid-range national prices, inside a $25–55 range. Fencing three sides of a 60 × 100 ft backyard, 220 ft with one walk gate and a permit, comes to about $8,660 in wood. Vinyl runs $10,740 and composite $8,320. Build it 8 ft tall and the price per foot goes up by about a third.
Split Rail Fence Cost Calculator
200 ft of 4-ft wood split rail fence with one walk gate costs about $4,080 installed at mid-range national prices, permit included. The fence line alone runs $18.40 a foot, and vinyl split rail lands within $40 of the wood total. The calculator below prices wood split rail for your length, height, gates and state.
Vinyl Fence Cost Calculator
A 6-ft vinyl privacy fence costs $30–60 a foot installed, or $46 at mid-range national prices. Add one walk gate and the permit, and the vinyl fence installation cost for 150 ft comes to about $7,520. Materials make up three-quarters of that bill and labor less than a fifth, which caps what doing it yourself can save.
Wood Fence Cost Calculator
A 6-ft wood fence costs $28 a foot installed in pressure-treated pine, $37 in standard dog-ear boards and $44 in cedar, at mid-range national prices. On a 150-ft run with one walk gate and a permit, that is $4,660, $6,070 or $7,160. The board style moves the price too: shadowbox comes in under dog-ear, while board-on-board and horizontal cost more.
