ContractorHandbook

How Much Fence for One Acre?

Posts needed

106 posts

An acre is 43,560 square feet. Square, that is 209 feet a side and about 835 feet of perimeter.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the fence material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

post spacingtotal run, ftsections + 1 = posts, and each hole takes its own concrete
Posts are sections plus one, and every corner and gate adds another. The concrete is the part people underbuy: a ten inch hole thirty inches deep takes more than a bag per post, and the page counts the whole job in bags.

How that number is worked out

These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.

  • Total fence length835 ft
  • Post spacing8 ft
  • Rails per section3
  • Picket width, 0 for panels5.5 in
  • Gap between pickets0 in
  • Post hole depth30 in
  • Post hole diameter10 in

Posts needed106 posts

Sections105
Posts, plus one per corner and gate106
Rails315
Pickets1,822
Concrete per hole1.15 cu ft
50 lb concrete bags, whole job424

The material list this produces

Posts106
Rails315
Pickets1,822
Concrete, 50 lb bags424

Post spacing compared

Closer posts mean a bigger post and concrete bill. Same run, three spacings.

Post spacingPosts needed50 lb concrete bags, whole job
6 ft141 posts564
7 ft121 posts484
8 ft106 posts424

What else matters here

Eight hundred and thirty five feet of fence is 1,822 pickets, and 424 bags of concrete is over ten tons on its own.

What this calculator assumes

  • Sections are the length divided by the spacing, and posts are sections plus one. Corners and gates each add a post on top of that.
  • Concrete per hole is the hole volume less the post, figured at a 4x4.
  • Set posts a third of their length in the ground in frost country, and check your local frost depth before you dig.

Questions people ask

How many feet of fence for one acre?

About 835 feet if the acre is square. A long narrow acre can need well over a thousand, so measure rather than assume.

Different numbers?

The fence calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes