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.
Reviewed against official Seattle sources, August 2026Official starting point: Seattle Permit & Site History. Verify the parcel zone, current code, and every applicable footnote before fixing the design.
Seattle residential base-zone screen
| Zone | Minimum lot | Front / street | Rear | Side / interior | Height | Size controls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
Code audit
Verified jurisdiction rule checklist
Each item below links to the official source used by the feasibility-study logic. "No general private-view right identified" is a limited conclusion from the reviewed city code, not a title clearance or statement about private covenants.
| Rule | Verified screen | 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 ↗ |
Parcel-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
Turn a zone row into a useful screen
- 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