Atlanta Zoning | Districts

Atlanta Residential Zoning Districts R-1 to R-5, RG and MR Explained

Atlanta's Zoning Ordinance gives every residential district its own chapter. This page reads each chapter for five things: how many homes the district permits on a lot, the minimum lot, the yards, the floor area limit and the height. The numbers come from the code as updated September 24, 2026. The short version: R-1 through R-4B permit one house, R-4 and R-4A add a detached accessory dwelling unit (ADU), R-5 permits two homes, and RG, R-LC and MR permit three or more.

The Words the Code Uses

Five terms appear in every chapter. Frontage is the width of the lot along the street. Yards are the required open distances between a building and the front, side and rear lot lines; planners also call them setbacks. Floor area ratio (FAR) is the floor area of the buildings divided by the area of the lot, so a ratio of 0.50 on 9,000 square feet is 4,500 square feet of floor area. Lot coverage is the largest share of the lot that may be covered, as the code defines coverage. A lot of record is a lot that already existed in the public records when the ordinance took effect.

The definitions chapter also sorts buildings by the number of homes, which the code calls dwelling units. A multi-family dwelling is "a building containing three or more dwelling units." A duplex is two units in one building that either share a vertical wall, with each unit facing the street, or sit on more than one floor of the same structure. A two-family dwelling is "a residential building containing two dwelling units but which is not defined as a duplex." The same section limits a family to six persons unless all members are related by blood, marriage or adoption.

R-1 to R-5 in One Table

Source: each district's chapter in the Atlanta Zoning Ordinance (Sections .003, .004, .007, .008 and .009 of each chapter), linked from the district name. Code as updated September 24, 2026.

The Large-Lot Districts: R-1 to R-3A

Six districts cover Atlanta's larger house lots. R-1 is written for "development at a density of not more than one dwelling unit per two acres." It needs a two-acre lot with 200 feet of frontage, a 60-foot front yard, two side yards of 25 feet and a 35-foot rear yard. Its floor area ratio is 0.25 and its lot coverage 25 percent.

The minimum lot then gets smaller: one acre in R-2, 30,000 square feet in R-2A, 28,000 in R-2B, 18,000 in R-3 and 13,500 in R-3A. R-2B was created by Ord. No. 2005-07 on January 24, 2005. As the lots get smaller, the floor area ratio rises from 0.30 in R-2 to 0.45 in R-3A, and the front yard drops from 60 feet to 50.

All six permit one single-family house per lot. None lists an accessory dwelling unit among its accessory uses. An owner in one of these districts who wants a second home has one option under the current code: a rezoning.

R-4 and R-4A: One House Plus a Detached ADU

R-4 is written for "a density of not more than one dwelling unit per 9,000 square feet." Section 16-06.003 says "in no case shall there be more than one main building and one main use on a lot." Every lot needs 9,000 square feet and 70 feet of frontage. The yards are 35 feet in front, 7 feet on each side and 15 feet at the rear. Under Section 16-26.008, staff may reduce side yards by up to 50 percent when the City Arborist finds it is needed to save trees of 6 inches or more. The floor area ratio is 0.50, lot coverage is 50 percent and the height limit is 35 feet.

R-4A applies the same idea to a smaller lot: 7,500 square feet and 50 feet of frontage, with a 30-foot front yard. Its floor area ratio is 0.50 on a full-size lot. On a smaller lot of record, the cap is the lesser of 3,750 square feet of floor area or a ratio of 0.65 of the net lot area. Coverage may reach 55 percent of the net lot area.

Both districts list one accessory use that adds a home: an accessory dwelling unit, "where the total number of dwelling units on any parcel, including the accessory dwelling unit, does not exceed two." Ord. No. 2019-09, adopted January 31, 2019, added that line. The ADU page covers the 750 square foot and 20-foot limits.

The same 2019 ordinance added design rules in Section 16-06.012. A front porch or stoop is required when a majority of the single-family houses on the block face have one. A required porch must be at least 12 feet wide or one-third of the front wall, whichever is greater, and 8 feet deep. A garage door that faces the street must sit at least 10 feet behind the front wall. Windows must make up at least 10 percent of the front wall. Short-term rentals are a permitted use in R-4, subject to City Code Section 20-1001, and the chapter states that using a building as a party house "is expressly prohibited."

R-4B: Small Lots for One House

R-4B states its purpose in its own words: "To increase the affordability of single-family residential dwellings in close-in neighborhoods by permitting such dwellings on small lots with reduced setback requirements." The minimum lot is 2,800 square feet with 40 feet of frontage. The yards are 20 feet in front and 5 feet at each side and at the rear. The floor area ratio is 0.75, or on a smaller lot of record the lesser of 2,100 square feet or 0.90. Coverage may reach 85 percent of the net lot area.

R-4B allows one house per lot. Accessory dwelling units are absent from its list of accessory uses, so an R-4B lot stays at one home even though its lots are the smallest of the single-family districts.

R-5: The Two-Family District

R-5 is the only R district whose first permitted use is a "single-family or two-family dwelling." One of its stated purposes is "to encourage neighborhood maintenance and preservation by allowing the conversion of large single-family homes to two-family use." The minimum lot is 7,500 square feet with 50 feet of frontage. The yards are 30 feet in front and 7 feet at the sides and rear. Coverage may reach 55 percent of the net lot area and the height limit is 35 feet.

Floor area in R-5 depends on what you build. Section 16-07.008(5) gives three cases:

• A duplex: a floor area ratio of 0.60 of the net lot area.
• A single-family house, including any ADU: a ratio of 0.50.
• A two-family dwelling that is not a duplex: the main home is held to 0.50, and the second home "shall not exceed 750 square feet."

Parking follows the size of the homes. Section 16-07.010 requires one space per home where one of the two homes is 750 square feet or less. Otherwise it requires one space per home with up to three bedrooms, plus one for each bedroom above three. An ADU in R-5 needs side and rear yards of only 4 feet.

R-5 also has a zero-lot-line option, which means homes built up to a shared lot line on separate small lots. A single lot may be 2,500 square feet where the combined area is at least 7,500 square feet. Splitting a lot that already holds a two-family dwelling this way needs a special administrative permit. An R-5 lot of record smaller than 7,500 square feet may still hold a single-family house, a two-family dwelling or a duplex.

RG, R-LC and MR: Three or More Homes

Sources: Chapter 8 (RG), Chapter 9 (R-LC) and Chapter 35 (MR).

RG, Residential General

RG permits single-family detached dwellings, two-family dwellings and multi-family dwellings. A single-family or two-family lot needs a width of 20 feet and a net area of 1,000 square feet. The front yard is 40 feet. The official zoning map gives each RG area a sector number, and the code's "Land Use Intensity Ratios" table sets the floor area and parking for that sector.

Source: Sec. 16-08.010, Table I.

Parking in the same table falls as the ratio rises, from 2.2 spaces per home at the lowest Sector 1 ratio to 0.54 at the top of Sector 5. RG has no fixed height limit. Where RG land sits next to R-1 to R-5, RG-1, RG-2, MR-1, MR-2 or MR-MU land, a transitional height plane applies: a sloped line that rises at 45 degrees over the RG lot, which the building must stay under.

R-LC, Residential-Limited Commercial

R-LC exists "to provide for the transition of areas from residential to office and limited commercial retail services." It permits multi-family dwellings, offices and small personal services. Single-family and two-family dwellings need a lot 50 feet wide with 5,000 square feet. Multi-family buildings follow the Sector 2 ratios from the RG table. The yards are 30 feet in front, 7 feet at the side (20 feet next to a residential district) and 20 feet at the rear. Height is limited to 35 feet.

MR, Multi-family Residential, and MR-MU

The MR chapter has nine sub-districts. In all of them, single-family, two-family and multi-family dwellings are permitted principal uses. Commercial uses are not permitted in MR-1, MR-2 and MR-MU. MR-1 has a floor area ratio of 0.162 and MR-2 of 0.348. Both need a 2,000 square foot lot with 25 feet of frontage, and both cap height at 35 feet.

MR-MU is the sub-district for small apartment buildings. The code describes it as "Two- to three-story multi-unit buildings targeting 'Missing Middle' housing needs," and Ord. No. 2019-09 added it on January 31, 2019. Four rules define it. A lot "may not contain less than four nor more than 12 dwelling units." Only one principal building is permitted on a lot. No structure may exceed 35 feet. And the minimum parking is "0.5 parking space per dwelling." Side yards are 5 feet and rear yards 10 feet. Attached homes on their own lots (zero-lot-line development) are prohibited in MR-MU. Because of the four-home minimum, a triplex cannot use MR-MU and needs MR-1, MR-2, RG or R-LC.

What Has Stayed the Same, and What Is Proposed

The history notes printed under the R-1 through R-5 and RG chapters run no later than 2021. The latest is Ord. No. 2021-60, adopted December 15, 2021, on short-term rentals. No ordinance from 2022 to 2026 changed the number of homes these districts allow. VanPlex found no official count of how many Atlanta lots are in each district.

The proposed rewrite, ATL Zoning 2.0, would replace the R names with form districts. It has not been adopted. Its Draft V2 keeps the lot sizes of R-1 to R-3A in districts named H1 to H6, each with one home per lot. Its N1 district has the same 9,000 square foot minimum lot and 0.50 floor area ratio as today's R-4, and its N2B district has the same 7,500 square foot lot, two homes and 0.60 ratio as an R-5 duplex. These are comparisons of numbers. The draft zoning map decides which district a lot would receive. The ATL Zoning 2.0 page has the full proposed table.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Atlanta multiplex guide overview, the Texas multiplex guide and the missing middle guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)