Similar to minimum lot sizes and setbacks, another foundational — yet often overlooked — component of zoning codes is the minimum lot width.
Minimum lot widths have long been a staple of land use codes across the United States. Like minimum lot sizes, they’ve evolved over time, often in response to what local planning departments perceive the “market” wants — or what they believe the market should want.
Historically, lot widths were much narrower. In older downtown settings, there were lots as tight as ten feet wide. The featured image for this post is an 1882 Plat of Downtown Colorado Springs where sixteen lots on a four hundred foot long block provided twenty-five foot lots.
In other early neighborhoods, twenty feet was not uncommon. These narrow lots were typically platted before the dominance of the automobile reshaped how Americans lived — and how cities were previously planned.
The Shift for Automobile Storage
In the late twentieth century, zoning codes pivoted toward wider lots — particularly the now-familiar fifty-foot minimum.
Why fifty feet?
Because the typical suburban starter home featured approximately forty feet of façade with a two-car garage, a front door and larger window, plus five-foot side setbacks on each side, the result was fifty feet.
The “move-up” subdivision often included sixty-foot-wide lots — providing room for a third-car garage and a slightly more expansive footprint. Over time, these dimensions became codified assumptions about what a proper single-family lot should be.
A New Urbanist Influence
Around the turn of the twenty-first century, homebuilders began borrowing ideas from New Urbanist communities developed in previous decades.
One of the most impactful design shifts was relocating garages to alleys. When the garage is no longer dominating the front façade, the math changes dramatically. A two-car garage accessed from the rear eliminates the need for a wide street-facing lot.
Suddenly, a two-car garage detached single-family home could fit comfortably on a thirty-two-foot-wide lot while maintaining five-foot side setbacks.
Builders also adopted other New Urbanist concepts — greenways, mews, and homes that front onto shared open space rather than streets.
What We’ve Learned
In recent years, additional lessons have pushed minimum lot widths even lower. For many starter-home buyers, price point now outweighs the need for a two-car garage. Side setbacks can often be reduced to three feet, shaving four feet off total lot width. A sixteen-foot-wide home can comfortably accommodate two bedrooms on an upper floor.
With these adjustments, detached single-family lots as narrow as twenty-two feet are not only possible — they are functioning successfully. Townhomes and duplexes can go even narrower.
Where Codes Are Heading
Thankfully, zoning codes are beginning to reflect this evolution.
Some communities now allow minimum lot widths to be averaged across a subdivision, rather than requiring every single lot to meet a strict numeric threshold. This flexibility is especially valuable when lots are oriented perpendicular to the street or when creative block layouts are used.
Minimum lot width may seem like a minor technical detail in a zoning ordinance. But in practice, it is one of the most powerful levers affecting housing attainability, neighborhood form, and overall community character.
And like setbacks and minimum lot sizes, it deserves a closer look – in particular if city government wants to provide more attainable and affordable housing.