Seattle residential zoning
Seattle residential zoning and setbacks
Seattle now uses a live development-site and zoning screen because a regulated development site can differ from a tax parcel. The one-home numbers below are a starting point; housing configuration, incentives, alleys, trees, shoreline, and environmentally critical areas can change them.
On this page4 sections
Official starting point: Seattle Permit & Site History. Verify the parcel zone, current code, and every applicable footnote before fixing the design.
Seattle residential zoning by zone
| Zone | Minimum lot | Front / street | Rear | Side / interior | Height | Size limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR / Neighborhood Residential | Project-specific | 15 ft | 15 ft | 5 ft | 32 ft base height | 50% building; 60% FAR; One-home baseline. Three-or-more-home, stacked, incentive, alley, tree-retention, green-factor, shoreline, and critical-area paths can use different standards. |
Other rules to check
Other rules that can change the answer
These items link to the city rules behind the guide. They are useful starting points, but they do not replace a property-specific review or a search for private covenants and easements.
| Topic | What it means | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| FAR | The one-home Neighborhood Residential baseline is 0.6 FAR; lots under 5,000 sq ft receive at least 2,500 sq ft or the FAR result, whichever is greater. FAR changes with housing configuration and incentives. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Setbacks | The one- or two-home baseline is 15 ft front, 15 ft rear, and 5 ft sides. Three-or-more-home projects generally use 10-ft front/rear yards, and an alley can change the rear yard. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Lot coverage | Base building coverage is 50%. Some stacked or courtyard housing can use 60%, while mapped critical areas can reduce the lot area used in the calculation. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Impervious / hard surface | Drainage, green-factor, tree, shoreline, and environmentally critical-area rules require separate site calculations; building coverage is not an all-surface allowance. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Height | Base height is 32 ft. Some qualifying three-or-more-home, tree-retention, or green-factor paths can reach 42 ft. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Trees | Tree retention, protection, replacement, or payment depends on the tree and proposal; public imagery does not replace an arborist inventory. | Seattle tree regulations ↗ |
| Existing private views | No general private-view development right is assumed. Recorded easements or covenants require title review. | SMC 23.44 ↗ |
| Wetlands, slopes, and critical areas | Seattle's current Neighborhood Residential lot-coverage calculation excludes riparian corridors, wetlands and their buffers, submerged land and shoreline setbacks, and designated steep-slope nondisturbance areas from the lot area. The code preserves a minimum 625 square feet of coverage or a larger amount approved through ECA relief. Seattle environmentally critical areas can change unit density, lot coverage, setbacks, grading, and where construction is allowed. A mapped wetland or steep slope means the engine needs a confirmed ECA boundary and nondisturbance area before it can turn the 50 percent ratio into a reliable square-foot ceiling. | Seattle Neighborhood Residential and ECA rules ↗ |
Property-specific checks
What can change the table
- The one-home baseline uses 0.6 FAR, with at least 2,500 sq ft on lots under 5,000 sq ft when that is greater than the FAR result.
- Three-or-more-home and stacked projects can use different density, setbacks, floor area, coverage, or height. Do not use the one-home row as a multi-home promise.
- Confirm the live development site, zoning, overlay, environmental mapping, trees, and current SMC 23.44 before fixing a concept.
How to use this guide
How to use the zoning table for a real property
- 1
Find the parcel on the city's current zoning map and copy the complete zone name.
- 2
Read the full row, table footnotes, and definitions. Do not use only the front setback.
- 3
Check corner-lot yards, access easements, critical areas, shorelines, trees, overlays, and recorded restrictions.
- 4
Use a boundary and topographic survey to place the setbacks against the actual lot.
- 5
Have the city or project team confirm any uncertainty before the design is fixed.
Official resources