IN THIS PAPER, A NEW EXACT FORMULATION FOR CALCULATING THE ELASTIC BUCKLING LOAD OF SEMI-RIGID STEEL FRAMES WITH TAPERED COLUMNS WILL BE OBTAINED. THE PRESENTED METHODOLOGY IS BASED ON THE PRECISE SOLUTION OF THE GOVERNING DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS FOR BUCKLING OF THE UNIFORM AND NON-UNIFORM FRAMES. THEN, THE EFFECTS OF THE NON-PRISMATIC MEMBERS, WITH A PARABOLIC STIFFNESS VARIATION, FLEXIBILITY OF CONNECTIONS, AND LATERAL BRACING ON THE BUCKLING LENGTH factor AND CORRESPONDING CRITICAL LOAD OF A PORTAL FRAME WILL BE INVESTIGATED PARAMETRICALLY. RESULTS SHOW THE COMBINED EFFECT OF AFORENAMED PARAMETER ON THE CRITICAL BUCKLING LOAD AND CORRESPONDING equivalent BUCKLING LENGTH factor OF PORTAL STEEL FRAMES IS VERY SIGNIFICANT.