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Unit Conversions
Area Converter — Square Feet, Acres, Hectares & Metric
Move land, floor and lot sizes between US/imperial and metric units with exact factors
Area is the unit conversion that shows up whenever you measure a surface — a floor plan in square feet, a backyard in square yards, a farm parcel in acres, a European lot in square meters, or a region on a map in square miles and hectares. This converter moves any value between the nine units you actually meet in real estate listings, construction bids, landscaping quotes and atlas figures: square inches (in²), square feet (ft²), square yards (yd²), acres and square miles (mi²) on the US/imperial side, plus square centimeters (cm²), square meters (m²), hectares (ha) and square kilometers (km²) on the metric side.
The method is simple and exact: every unit is first converted to a single base — the square meter — and then back out to the target unit. The key bridge is that area factors are the square of the length factors. Because 1 foot = 0.3048 m exactly, 1 square foot = 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m² exactly. Likewise 1 inch = 0.0254 m, so 1 square inch = 0.0254² = 0.00064516 m².
Formula: value_in_m² = value × (factor to square meters), then result = value_in_m² ÷ (target factor to square meters).
Worked example — convert a 1,500 ft² apartment to square meters. 1,500 × 0.09290304 = 139.35 m². That's the figure a European listing would show for the same place.
The land example everyone needs — how big is an acre? An acre is defined as 43,560 ft² (a chain by a furlong), which equals 4,046.8564224 m², or about 0.4047 hectares. So a 5-acre lot is 5 × 4,046.8564224 = 20,234.28 m² ≈ 2.02 hectares. A hectare (10,000 m², a 100 m × 100 m square) is about 2.471 acres.
The common mistake is forgetting to square the conversion factor. People convert feet to meters with 0.3048 and wrongly use the same number for square feet — but area scales with the square, so the factor is 0.09290304, not 0.3048. The same trap hits inches-to-centimeters: 1 in = 2.54 cm, but 1 in² = 2.54² = 6.4516 cm². This tool uses the exact squared international factors so your floor area, lot size or land parcel matches the official figure. Pick a value, a from unit and a to unit, and you'll also get a quick table showing the same area in every common unit at once.
Calculator
Fill in the fields and click "Calculate" for instant results.
📰 Formula
• Convert to square meters: m² = value × (factor of the FROM unit) • Convert out: result = m² ÷ (factor of the TO unit) • in² = 0.00064516 m² • ft² = 0.09290304 m² • yd² = 0.83612736 m² • acre = 4046.8564224 m² • mi² = 2589988.110336 m² • cm² = 0.0001 m² • m² = 1 m² • hectare = 10000 m² • km² = 1000000 m²
📰 Formula
• Convert to square meters: m² = value × (factor of the FROM unit) • Convert out: result = m² ÷ (factor of the TO unit) • in² = 0.00064516 m² • ft² = 0.09290304 m² • yd² = 0.83612736 m² • acre = 4046.8564224 m² • mi² = 2589988.110336 m² • cm² = 0.0001 m² • m² = 1 m² • hectare = 10000 m² • km² = 1000000 m²
🧪 Worked examples
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Example 2
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Example 3
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Example 4
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Using the length factor instead of its square — 1 ft² = 0.09290304 m², not 0.3048 m².
- Confusing an acre with a hectare — an acre is about 0.405 ha, so they differ by almost 2.5×.
- Mixing square centimeters and square meters — there are 10,000 cm² in 1 m², not 100.
- Reading a square mile as 5,280² feet directly without first checking it equals 640 acres.
- Rounding 0.3048 to 0.3 before squaring, which inflates the square-foot factor by about 3%.
💡 Tips
- Remember area factors are length factors squared — square the 1 ft = 0.3048 m bridge to get 0.09290304 m².
- Lock in the land anchors: 1 acre = 43,560 ft² = 4,046.8564224 m² and 1 hectare = 10,000 m² = 2.471 acres.
- Convert through square meters as a single base; it removes guesswork between any two area units.
- For a quick gut check, 1 m² ≈ 10.764 ft², 1 ha ≈ 2.47 acres, and 1 km² ≈ 0.386 square miles.
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❓ Frequently asked questions
How many square feet are in a square meter?
One square meter equals 10.7639 square feet, because 1 m² ÷ 0.09290304 = 10.7639. So a 50 m² studio is about 538 square feet.
How many square feet are in an acre?
Exactly 43,560 square feet. An acre is historically a chain (66 ft) by a furlong (660 ft), and that equals 4,046.8564224 square meters.
How do I convert acres to hectares?
Multiply acres by 0.40468564224. For example, 10 acres × 0.40468564224 = 4.047 hectares. To go back, divide hectares by that same factor (1 ha ≈ 2.471 acres).
Why isn't the area factor the same as the length factor?
Area is two-dimensional, so its factor is the length factor squared. Since 1 ft = 0.3048 m, 1 ft² = 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m². Using 0.3048 for area is a common and costly mistake.
How many square meters is a 1,500 square foot house?
1,500 × 0.09290304 = 139.35 square meters. That is the figure an international listing would use for the same floor area.
How big is a hectare compared to an acre?
A hectare is 10,000 m² (a 100 m by 100 m square) and equals about 2.471 acres. An acre is the smaller unit at roughly 0.405 hectares.
How many acres are in a square mile?
Exactly 640 acres. A square mile is 5,280 ft × 5,280 ft = 27,878,400 ft², which divided by 43,560 ft² per acre gives 640 acres, or 2.589988 km².
How many square centimeters are in a square meter?
There are 10,000 square centimeters in a square meter, because 100 cm × 100 cm = 10,000 cm². It is easy to misread this as 100, the length ratio.
Are these area conversion factors exact or approximate?
They're exact. The factors come from the defined length values (1 inch = 2.54 cm, 1 foot = 0.3048 m) squared, plus the legal definitions of the acre and hectare, so the results match official figures.