Chain link fence cost calculator.
Your run, the posts it calls for, every quote divided by your footage.
Chain link quotes arrive as a total, a price per foot, or both, and rarely over the same footage or with the same posts. Measure the line once here with its fabric height and gates: the page sets out the post diameters the fence industry’s manual calls for at that height, divides each quote by the footage it covers and by yours, names the line one quote prices and another skips, and places the quote you lean toward in what US owners reported spending.
0302 / Comparison
- Line posts, at least
- 1.900 in
- Terminal posts
- 2.375 in
- Gate posts
- 2.375 in · 2.875 in
- Quotes priced
- None priced yet
- Lowest per foot
- —
- Spread between quotes
- —
- Quote you lean toward
- —
Price a quote and pick it as the one you lean toward to place it among what US owners reported spending on fencing or walls (AHS 2023).
0203 / Posts to scale
No quote has a price yet. Calculiva publishes no chain link price per foot: type the total or the rate printed on each quote you hold.
Every quote on the same footage
| Quote | Covers | Fence | Removal | Gates | Survey or staking | Permit | All-in | Per foot covered | Per measured foot | Against the lowest | Line post | Spacing | Mesh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter a total or a price per foot on at least one quote. | |||||||||||||
What the references set for your run
| Part | Reference value | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Line posts, minimum outside diameter | 1.900 in | Table 7, up to 6' 0" of fabric |
| Terminal posts (end, corner, pull, gate) | 2.375 in | Generally one size larger than the line posts |
| Line post spacing | 10 ft on center at most | CLFMI definition of a line post |
| Walk gate: 4.0 ft, one leaf | 2.375 in | Swing gate posts per ASTM F900 |
| Drive gate: 10.0 ft, two leaves of 5.0 ft | 2.875 in | Swing gate posts per ASTM F900 |
| Fabric, 2 1/8 in mesh, 11 1/2 gauge | 0.113 in wire | Table 3: Residential |
| Fabric, 2 in mesh, 11 gauge | 0.120 in wire | Table 3: Residential/light commercial |
| Fabric, 2 in mesh, 9 gauge | 0.148 in wire | Table 3: Residential/commercial/ind. |
| Fabric, 1 1/4 in mesh, 11 gauge | 0.120 in wire | Table 3: Residential/swimming pool |
| Galvanized fabric, ASTM A392 | Class 1 1.2 · Class 2 2.0 oz/ft² | Class 2 in 9 and 6 gauge |
Two rates sit side by side for each quote. The first divides its all-in price by the footage the installer wrote down, which is what the quote really charges per foot. The second divides it by your measurement. A quote that leaves the gate openings out of its footage looks dearer by the first and cheaper by the second, and only the second is the price of your line.
What owners reported spending on fences and walls
| Area | Projects sampled | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | Done by the owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1,792 | $800 | $2,300 | $5,000 | 41.2 % |
| Northeast | 241 | $1,100 | $3,000 | $6,000 | 35.9 % |
| Midwest | 260 | $600 | $2,000 | $5,000 | 49.5 % |
| South | 685 | $850 | $2,300 | $5,000 | 40.8 % |
| West | 606 | $890 | $2,000 | $5,000 | 38.7 % |
In the Census Bureau’s lot and yard group, fencing and walls is a single job type. A chain link run, a cedar privacy fence, a vinyl picket and a stone garden wall all land in these rows, so they say what a fence project typically cost a household, not what chain link costs. Across 1,792 sampled projects the national median was $2,300; the Northeast stood highest at $3,000, and the Midwest and West lowest at $2,000. No length is recorded, so no figure here turns into a price per foot.
41.2 percent of these projects were done by the owners, whose reported cost usually excludes their own labor. The quartiles come from the public use file with household weights; costs on that file are rounded and capped at the top, which understates the largest jobs. The driveway and walkway job type sits in the same group, and Calculiva reads it the same way for paving bids on a drive.
Posts, fabric and coating in the CLFMI Product Manual
| Fabric height | Line post | Terminal post, one size up |
|---|---|---|
| up to 6' 0" | 1.900 in | 2.375 in |
| over 6' 0" to 8' 0" | 2.375 in | 2.875 in |
| over 8' 0" to 10' 0" | 2.875 in | 3.500 in |
| over 10' 0" to 12' 0" | 3.500 in | 4.000 in |
The Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute sizes line posts by the height of the fabric they carry, and it states the basis: Minimum post size based on 2" 9 gauge mesh, 105 mph wind speed, Category B, no icing. Above that wind or on a fence carrying slats, it sends readers to a separate wind load guide, which this page does not use. Terminal posts, the end, corner, gate and pull posts that the fabric is stretched to, are generally one size larger. Between terminal posts, the manual’s definition of a line post sets them no more than 10 feet on center (PDF p. 4, printed 2), so a quote that spaces them wider is worth a question.
Gate posts follow ASTM F900 as the manual’s guide specification lists it (PDF p. 29, printed 32 31 13 - 10). Under fabric up to 6 feet tall, a leaf up to 4 feet wide hangs on 2.375 in posts and a leaf over 4 and up to 10 feet on 2.875 in; over 6 feet tall, a leaf up to 6 feet already takes 2.875 in. A double drive gate is sized by one leaf, half the opening. For the fabric itself, Table 3 (PDF p. 6, printed 4) pairs mesh and wire: 2 1/8 in mesh in 11 1/2 gauge for residential use, 2 in in 11 or 9 gauge for residential to commercial, the lower gauge number being the thicker wire. Galvanized fabric to ASTM A392 comes in Class 1, 1.2 oz of zinc per square foot, or Class 2, 2.0 oz, the heavier class offered in 9 and 6 gauge (PDF p. 23, printed 32 31 13 - 4).
When the chain link is the pool barrier
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s pool barrier guidelines, Publication 362, ask for a barrier at least 48 inches high measured on the side away from the pool (PDF p. 7, printed 5), and note that some states, counties or towns require 60. For chain link the mesh should not exceed 1 1/4 inches square unless slats fastened at the top or bottom close the openings to 1.75 inches or less (PDF p. 9, printed 7). That is the 1 1/4 in, 11 gauge line of the manual’s Table 3, the one it marks for swimming pools, and it is a different fabric from the 2 in mesh most residential quotes assume. The guideline also keeps the bottom of the barrier within 4 inches of a hard surface, 2 over grass or gravel. It is guidance, not a code: the pool code where you live decides.
The worked run: 100 feet of 4 foot fabric with two gates
The preset is a 100-foot line, the length in the first question people also ask on this search, with a 4-foot walk gate and a 10-foot drive gate hung as two leaves. At 4 feet the fabric sits in the first row of Table 7, so line posts start at 1.900 in and terminal posts at 2.375 in. The walk gate’s 4-foot leaf stays in the smallest gate row, 2.375 in; each drive gate leaf is 5 feet, over 4, so its posts are 2.875 in.
On this run every hundred dollars between two quotes is $1.00 a foot, and a fifty-cent gap in rate is $50 on the total. The two gate openings take 14 of the 100 feet, which is why the footage written on each quote matters.
Two footages for one fence
Two quotes for the same fence need not count the same feet. One can price the whole line and add each gate as a line; another can price only the fabric between the gates and fold the gates into its rate. Type the footage each quote states and the page shows both rates, its own and yours, plus the gap in feet, so a difference in measurement shows up before a difference in price.
When a quote prints a total and a rate that do not multiply out over its footage, the total is kept and the gap is printed, because one of the two is not the number on the contract.
Four lines that move a total
Tearing out and hauling away an old fence, the gates, staking or surveying the property line, and the permit are each a field on every quote. A quote that is silent about one of them, where another prices it, is named in the warnings; so is a quote with no gate line when your run has gates. Compare the fence column when the quotes state the same lines and the all-in column when they do not. The spread in the result panel runs from the lowest all-in rate per foot to the highest.
Where the numbers come from
The survey figures were computed from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Housing Survey public use file. The post diameters, spacing, mesh, gauge and coating classes were re-read on 2026-10-13 in the CLFMI Product Manual, edition CLF-PM0610 updated March 2017, and the pool figures in CPSC Publication 362 (08/12) the same day. Of the seven pages ranking first for this search on 13 October 2026, five could be read: none cites the CLFMI manual or an ASTM post size, and none states the CPSC mesh rule in its content. The retail page ranked first and a script-driven calculator ranked fourth could not be read, so nothing is claimed about them. Rounding and units are covered in how Calculiva calculates.
Chain link fence cost questions, answered from your run
How much does 100 ft of chain link fence cost?
No public survey prices chain link by the foot, so the answer is in the quotes you hold: on a 100-foot run, each dollar per foot between two quotes is $100 on the total. The 2023 American Housing Survey only frames the budget: owners reported a national median of $2,300 for a fencing or wall project, half of them between $800 and $5,000, every material and length together.
How much does 200 ft of chain link fence cost installed?
Installed means the all-in figure: the fence price plus the gate, removal, survey and permit lines a quote states, divided by the footage. At 200 feet a one-dollar gap per foot is $200. Check that each quote covers the same 200 feet, gate openings included or not, and names the same line post size. The survey's national 75th percentile, $5,000, covers fences of every length and material, so a 200-foot quote above it says little by itself.
Is chainlink cheaper than wood fence?
Nothing read for this page can settle it. The household survey files every fence material and garden walls under one job type, so it cannot set chain link against wood, and no public source publishes either price per foot. Ask for one quote of each over the same measured run and compare their all-in rates per foot here; the post and mesh checks apply to the chain link quote only.
How much does a 50 ft roll of chain link fence cost?
Calculiva publishes no retail price. What a roll price tells you is narrow: divided by 50 it is the fabric cost per foot, without posts, rails, fittings, gates or labor. Read the label against Table 3 of the CLFMI manual: 2 1/8 in mesh in 11 1/2 gauge is listed for residential use, 2 in in 9 gauge for residential to industrial, 1 1/4 in in 11 gauge for residential and pool use.
What does this chain link fence cost calculator do?
It takes your run, its fabric height, its gates and whether it encloses a pool, then lists the post diameters the CLFMI Product Manual sets for that run. Up to three quotes are brought to a price per linear foot of what each covers and of what you measured, the lines one quote leaves out are named, and the quote you favor is placed among what US owners reported spending.
How is chain link fence cost per foot worked out?
Add every line the quote states to its fence price, then divide twice: by the footage written on the quote, which is the rate it charges, and by the footage you measured, which is what you pay per foot of your own line. A rate printed on a quote can cover fabric and posts alone; a gate or a tear-out line on top can move it by several dollars a foot on a short run.
How much does 500 ft of chain link fence cost?
Each dollar per foot is $500 on a run that long, so small rate gaps decide the total. Long runs also add terminal posts in the middle: the CLFMI manual counts pull posts, set at intervals on long stretches or where the grade changes, among the terminal posts, which are heavier than line posts. Ask each quote how many it includes.
What does a 6 ft chain link fence cost per foot installed?
Six feet is the top of the first row of CLFMI Table 7: line posts of at least 1.900 in in Schedule 40 pipe. Go to 7 or 8 feet and the minimum becomes 2.375 in, with terminal posts one size up again, so a quote for a taller fence should show heavier pipe as well as more fabric. The page prints no rate; enter the quotes you received.
What does a 4 ft chain link fence cost per foot installed?
A 4-foot fence takes the same 1.900 in minimum line post as a 6-foot one in Table 7, so the height mostly changes the fabric and the gates. At 48 inches it also meets exactly the barrier height the CPSC guideline sets for a pool, though some towns require 60. Compare the quotes per foot over the same footage.
What does a chain link fence cost near me?
The survey gives a regional frame, not a local price. For a fencing or wall project, owners reported a median of $3,000 in the Northeast, $2,300 in the South, and $2,000 in both the Midwest and the West. Pick your region in the calculator and the quote you lean toward is placed in its row.
Is a DIY chain link fence cheaper?
Owners did 41.2 percent of the fencing and wall projects in the 2023 survey themselves, and the Census Bureau notes that their reported cost usually leaves labor out, which pulls the survey medians down. For a do-it-yourself run, enter the supplier's materials quote as one of the three and an installer's quote as another: the per-foot gap is what your own labor is worth on this fence.
What this comparison leaves out
- Calculiva publishes no fence price: no rate per foot, no material price, no labor rate. Every dollar in the comparison is from your quotes.
- Post diameters are the manual’s minimums for Schedule 40 pipe at the wind basis it states; lighter tube grades, C-sections, slats and windier sites call for its wind load guide, which is not read here.
- No post count, concrete per hole, fabric roll count or other material quantity is computed.
- Lengths are taken as typed along the line; slope, steps and grade changes are not added.
- The pool checks follow a federal guideline, not a code; the local pool-barrier code governs, and some require 60 inches.
- Survey figures are self-reported, combine every fence material with garden walls, include owner jobs that usually exclude labor, describe projects from 2021 to 2023, carry no length, and are capped at the top on the public file.