Ch. 5 General Building Heights and Areas — 2025 California Building Code
California Building Code (Title 24, Part 2) · 2025 edition · updated 2026-10-19 · California
CBSC: official editions, supplements and errata
Italicized text is a California amendment to the model code, as printed in the official publication.
Sections in this part
- Section 501 — GENERAL
- Section 502 — BUILDING ADDRESS
- Section 503 — GENERAL BUILDING HEIGHT AND AREA LIMITATIONS
- Section 504 — BUILDING HEIGHT AND NUMBER OF STORIES
- Section 505 — MEZZANINES AND EQUIPMENT PLATFORMS
- Section 506 — BUILDING AREA
- Section 507 — UNLIMITED AREA BUILDINGS
- Section 508 — MIXED USE AND OCCUPANCY
- Section 509 — INCIDENTAL USES
- Section 510 — SPECIAL PROVISIONS
Cite as: 2025 California Building Code (Title 24, Part 2) Chapter 5 · Effective January 1, 2026 · Official source: Building Standards Commission
User notes:
About this chapter: Chapter 5 establishes the limits to which a building can be built. Building height, number of stories and building area are specified in this chapter. Chapter 5 must be used in conjunction with the occupancies established in Chapter 3 and the types of construction established in Chapter 6. This chapter also specifies the impact that mezzanines, accessory occupancies and mixed occupancies have on the overall size of a building.
ICC code development note: Code change proposals to sections preceded by the designation [F] or [BE] will be considered by a code development committee meeting during the 2024 (Group A) Code Development Cycle. All other code change proposals will be considered by a code development committee meeting during the 2025 (Group B) Code Development Cycle.
Continue researching
Related topics
State and federal sources. Edit the document title or filters, then run your search.
Get a plain-English answer with a citation back to this text.
Ask AI about this code