Convert between square feet, meters, acres, hectares, and other area units
Area measures the size of a two-dimensional surface. Whether you're buying land, measuring a room for flooring, or comparing property sizes across countries, understanding area conversions is essential. Different regions use different units—acres in the US, hectares internationally, and square meters for smaller spaces.
The metric system uses square meters (m²) as the base unit, scaling up to hectares (10,000 m²) and square kilometers for land. The imperial system uses square feet for rooms, acres for properties, and square miles for regions. Real estate, construction, agriculture, and urban planning all rely on accurate area conversions.
This converter handles all common area units, making it easy to compare international property listings, convert architectural plans, or calculate material needs for any project.
Standard for US real estate. Average US home is 2,300 ft². 1 ft² = 0.0929 m².
Metric standard for buildings. Average European apartment is 80-100 m². 1 m² = 10.764 ft².
US land measurement. Originally the area one man could plow in a day. 1 acre = 43,560 ft².
International land unit. 1 ha = 10,000 m² = 2.471 acres. Used for farms and parks.
| From | To | Multiply By | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Feet | Square Meters | 0.0929 | 1000 ft² = 92.9 m² |
| Square Meters | Square Feet | 10.764 | 100 m² = 1076 ft² |
| Acres | Hectares | 0.4047 | 5 acres = 2.02 ha |
| Hectares | Acres | 2.471 | 10 ha = 24.7 acres |
| Square Miles | Square Km | 2.59 | 1 mi² = 2.59 km² |
| Square Yards | Square Meters | 0.836 | 100 yd² = 83.6 m² |
Compare international listings. A 150 m² European apartment = 1,615 ft². A 0.25-acre US lot = 0.1 hectares.
Calculate coverage needs. Paint typically covers 350-400 ft² (32-37 m²) per gallon.
Sod, mulch, and fertilizer are sold by coverage area. Know your lawn size in both units.
1 acre ≈ a football field (minus end zones). 1 hectare ≈ 2.5 football fields.
An acre is about 90% of a football field, or roughly 208 feet × 208 feet square. It's the area of about 16 tennis courts, or 75% of a soccer field.
Hectares are metric (1 ha = 10,000 m²), while acres are imperial. 1 hectare = 2.471 acres, so hectares are about 2.5× larger than acres. Hectares are used internationally; acres primarily in the US and UK.
Break it into rectangles and triangles, calculate each, and add them together. For complex shapes, use the grid method: overlay a grid and count squares. For land, surveyors use GPS and specialized software.
Historical measurement systems persist. The US uses square feet and acres (imperial), most other countries use square meters and hectares (metric). Always convert to compare properties internationally.
A 2,400 ft² single-family home is listed in a US real-estate ad. A prospective buyer relocating from Europe wants the floor area in square meters to compare against local listings.
Result222.97 m²
Multiply 2,400 ft² by the exact factor 0.09290304 m²/ft² (NIST SP 811): 2,400 × 0.09290304 ≈ 222.97 m². For a quick mental check, divide by 10.764 (the inverse factor): 2,400 ÷ 10.764 ≈ 223 m². Both methods agree to within rounding.
The defined factor is 1 ft² = 0.09290304 m² (since 1 ft = 0.3048 m by international agreement, and the square of that is exact). The inverse is 1 m² ≈ 10.7639 ft². Calculators typically round to 0.0929 and 10.764, which is accurate to four significant figures.
1 acre = 43,560 ft² = 4,046.8564224 m² exactly (per NIST SP 811). Historically, an acre was a chain (66 ft) by a furlong (660 ft) = 43,560 ft²—roughly the area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day. The acre is still the standard US land unit; the hectare (10,000 m²) is its metric counterpart.
Use metric (m², ha, km²) for international comparisons, scientific or engineering work, and any country outside the US, UK, and Myanmar. Use imperial (ft², acres, mi²) for US real estate, US agriculture, and US federal land records. For US construction drawings, both systems often appear side by side.
Multiply hectares by 2.4710538 (NIST factor) to get acres. Example: a 5-hectare smallholding = 5 × 2.471 ≈ 12.36 acres. Going the other direction, multiply acres by 0.4046856 to get hectares: a 5-acre property = 5 × 0.4047 ≈ 2.023 hectares.
Yes, slightly. The US survey foot (1 ft = 1200/3937 m ≈ 0.30480061 m) was used in legacy land-survey records and differs from the international foot (exactly 0.3048 m) by about 2 ppm. NIST officially retired the US survey foot at the end of 2022, so new survey and real-estate work uses the international foot. For most consumer conversions the difference is invisible.
Because area scales with the square of linear distance. 1 km = 1,000 m, so 1 km² = 1,000 m × 1,000 m = 1,000,000 m². A hectare is 10,000 m², so 1,000,000 ÷ 10,000 = 100 hectares per km². The same principle is why 1 m² = 10,000 cm², not 100.
Each input value is converted to square meters using the exact factor for its unit (from NIST SP 811 and the BIPM SI Brochure), then divided by the factor for the target unit. Internal constants used: 1 ft² = 0.092903 m², 1 yd² = 0.836127 m², 1 acre = 4,046.86 m², 1 hectare = 10,000 m², 1 km² = 1,000,000 m², 1 mi² = 2,589,988.11 m², 1 in² = 0.00064516 m². Results are rounded for display but computed at full double precision.
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