Area converter for floor space and land
This area converter changes a surface measurement between ten units: square millimeters, centimeters, meters and kilometers, hectares, square inches, feet, yards and miles, and acres. It is handy for property listings, floor plans, flooring estimates and land parcels.
Area factors are squared
An area unit is a length unit multiplied by itself, so its conversion factor is the length factor squared. A foot is 0.3048 m, so a square foot is 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m². Likewise, a square inch is 2.54² = 6.4516 cm² and a square yard is 9 square feet.
The squaring is exactly where people slip. Multiplying square meters by 3.28 (the length factor) instead of 10.76 gives an answer that is about three times too small. The length converter is the right tool for the sides of a room; this one is for the result.
Examples
1 m2 = 10.76391042 ft2
100 m2 = 1076.391042 ft2
1500 ft2 = 139.35456 m2
1 ac = 43560 ft2
1 ha = 2.471053815 ac
1 mi2 = 640 acA 1500 square foot home is 139.35 m². Going the other way, a 100 m² apartment is about 1076 ft².
Worked example: a room and a building plot
A room that measures 4.2 m × 3.5 m has an area of 14.7 m². Multiply by 10.7639 to get square feet: 14.7 × 10.7639 ≈ 158.2 ft². Always multiply the lengths first and convert the area afterwards; converting each side to feet and multiplying gives the same answer, but mixing a converted side with an unconverted one is a common slip.
A plot of 120 ft × 250 ft covers 30,000 ft². Divide by 43,560 to get about 0.689 acres, or multiply by 0.09290304 to get 2,787.09 m², which is roughly 0.279 hectares. For an L-shaped room or plot, split it into rectangles, work out each area in the same unit and add them together before converting.
Acres and hectares
The acre is 43,560 square feet. That odd number has a history: it was the area of a strip one furlong (660 ft) long and one chain (66 ft) wide. The acre is a measure of area only; an acre plot can be any shape. With the international foot, 1 acre is exactly 4046.8564224 m².
The hectare is the metric land unit: a square 100 m on each side, or 10,000 m². One hectare is 2.471053815 acres, and 100 hectares make one square kilometer. A square mile holds exactly 640 acres, which is 2.58998811 km².
Tips for accurate results
- Measure in one unit. Convert feet-and-inches dimensions to decimal feet before multiplying, then convert the area.
- Know which area is quoted. Gross, net and usable floor areas can differ widely; the converter cannot fix a mismatch in what was measured.
- Keep sensible precision. A room measured to the nearest inch does not justify ten significant digits in square meters.
Need a volume, such as concrete for a slab? Multiply the area by the thickness and use the volume converter to express the result in cubic meters, cubic feet or liters.