Tool-first calculator
Fence cost: five materials, priced per foot.
Chain-link, wood privacy, vinyl, aluminum, and wrought iron, each priced from its own bill of materials: post setting and rail labor at your metro's BLS wage, materials at current prices, and the permit fee where your city charges one. Set your run length and compare.
Independent FatBook v3 cost indexVerified permit/source data where availableReviewed by Leonard "Chuck" Thompson
National Average · Wood privacy
$5,138
Range $4,625 to $5,691 · lowest realistic price $4,625
How to use this result
- Fence pricing rides a per-foot curve with a fixed setup cost, so short runs cost more per foot than long ones. The comparison strip prices every material at YOUR run length.
- Gates are not in the index yet. Budget separately per gate and make sure any bid itemizes them; a gate is post-setting plus hardware, not just more fence.
- Corner posts, slopes, and rock digging add labor a straight-line calculator cannot see. If your yard has any of the three, expect the high end of the range.
Cost-index version: 2026-07-23. Read the FatBook methodology, or use the bid and true cost calculators for an installed bid check.
Data Sources Used On This Page
- Independent FatBook v3 cost index for fence cost calculator.
- BLS OEWS wage inputs (https://www.bls.gov/oes/) and FRED PPI material inflation (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/) references.
- Craftsman labor-hour references and contractor overhead benchmarks.
- Permit assumptions are included only where verified permit/source data is available.
Cost-index version: 2026-07-23
Updated: Jul 2026
Sources: BLS, Craftsman, FRED
Reviewed by: Leonard "Chuck" Thompson
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Cost index built by David Olson, Creator of the Cost Index & Permit Dataset · Methodology reviewed by Leonard "Chuck" Thompson, LC Thompson Construction Co., Owner (retired) · 2026-07-23