Area Converter
Convert area between metric and imperial units, including hectares and acres. Choose two units, type a value and see the answer at once.
Select two units to see the conversion factor.
This tool converts area. It uses area factors, not length factors. For Indian land units such as bigha, biswa, guntha and cent, use the Hectare to Bigha tool and other state-based tools on this site.
Area Formula
Every area unit is a fixed part of the square meter. Result = value × (size of source unit in m² ÷ size of target unit in m²). A square unit is its length unit squared, so the factor is squared too: 1 ft = 0.3048 m, so 1 ft² = 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m². An acre is 43,560 ft², which is exactly 4,046.8564224 m². A hectare is 10,000 m².
What Is Area?
Area is the size of a flat surface, such as a floor, a plot of land or a field. The SI unit is the square meter (m²).
This converter supports four groups. Metric: square meter, square kilometer and smaller square units, plus the are (100 m²) and the hectare (10,000 m²). Imperial and US: square inch, foot, yard and mile, the acre, rood, square chain and square rod. US survey units: acre, square foot and square mile as used in US land surveys. Special units: circular inch and circular mil for wire sizes, and the barn and the electron cross section in nuclear physics.
Square units are not length units. If 1 foot is 0.3048 m, then 1 square foot is 0.3048 × 0.3048 = 0.09290304 m², not 0.3048 m². This tool applies the correct square factor for every unit, so you never need to square anything yourself.
Acre and hectare. One hectare is about 2.471 acres, and one acre is about 0.4047 hectares. The international acre and the US survey acre are slightly different (about 2 parts per million). Both are listed and labelled. Regional Indian land units are not included here, because their size changes from state to state.
Supported Units
This converter supports the following 31 area units. The last column gives the size of each unit in square meters.
| Unit | Symbol | Value in m² |
|---|---|---|
| Square meter | m² | 1 |
| Square kilometer | km² | 1,000,000 |
| Square hectometer | hm² | 10,000 |
| Square dekameter | dam² | 100 |
| Square decimeter | dm² | 0.01 |
| Square centimeter | cm² | 0.0001 |
| Square millimeter | mm² | 1e-6 |
| Square micrometer | µm² | 1e-12 |
| Square nanometer | nm² | 1e-18 |
| Hectare | ha | 10,000 |
| Are | a | 100 |
| Barn | b | 1e-28 |
| Acre | ac | 4,046.856422 |
| Acre (US survey) | ac (US survey) | 4,046.87261 |
| Rood | rood | 1,011.714106 |
| Square mile | mi² | 2,589,988.11 |
| Square mile (US survey) | mi² (US survey) | 2,589,998.47 |
| Section (1 square mile) | section | 2,589,988.11 |
| Township (36 square miles) | township | 93,239,571.97 |
| Homestead (160 acres) | homestead | 647,497.0276 |
| Square yard | yd² | 0.83612736 |
| Square foot | ft² | 0.09290304 |
| Square inch | in² | 0.00064516 |
| Square foot (US survey) | ft² (US survey) | 0.09290341161 |
| Square chain | ch² | 404.6856422 |
| Square rod (pole, perch) | rd² | 25.29285264 |
| Square rod (US survey) | rd² (US survey) | 25.29295381 |
| Square mil | mil² | 6.4516e-10 |
| Circular inch | circ in | 0.0005067074791 |
| Circular mil | circ mil | 5.067074791e-10 |
| Electron cross section (Thomson) | σₑ | 6.652458705e-29 |
How to Use the Area Converter
- Type the area in the value box. Decimals and scientific notation such as 0.0025 or 2.5e-3 are accepted.
- Choose the From unit and the To unit.
- The result appears instantly, or press Convert Now. Very large or very small results are shown in scientific notation.
- Use Swap Units to reverse the conversion, Copy Result to copy the answer, open Show this value in all units for a full list, and Clear to start again.
Step-by-step by hand
- Find the size of each unit in the common base unit (m²): 1 ac = 4,046.856422 m² and 1 ha = 10,000 m².
- Divide the source size by the target size to get the conversion factor: 4,046.856422 ÷ 10,000 = 0.4046856422, so 1 ac = 0.4046856422 ha.
- Multiply by your value: 5 ac × 0.4046856422 = 2.023428211 ha.
Area cannot be negative, so enter zero or a positive number.
Common Area Conversions
- Farm land: 5 acres equals 2.023428211 ha, and 2 hectares equals 4.942107629 acres.
- House size: 1,500 ft² equals 139.35456 m², and 120 m² equals 1,291.66925 ft².
- Plot size: 1 acre equals 43,560 ft² and 4,046.856422 m².
- Large area: 1 square mile equals 2.58998811 km² and 640 acres.
- Flooring: 1 square yard equals 9 ft².
- Land parcels: 1 hectare equals 100 are; 1 rood equals 1,011.714106 m².
- Big land grants: 1 township equals 36 square miles.
Acre to Other Area Units
Quick reference for frequently used values
| ac | ha | m² | ft² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.25 | 0.1011714106 | 1,011.714106 | 10,890 |
| 0.5 | 0.2023428211 | 2,023.428211 | 21,780 |
| 1 | 0.4046856422 | 4,046.856422 | 43,560 |
| 2 | 0.8093712845 | 8,093.712845 | 87,120 |
| 5 | 2.023428211 | 20,234.28211 | 217,800 |
| 10 | 4.046856422 | 40,468.56422 | 435,600 |
| 50 | 20.23428211 | 202,342.8211 | 2,178,000 |
| 100 | 40.46856422 | 404,685.6422 | 4,356,000 |
Where and Why This Conversion Is Used
- Land and farming: hectares and acres in sale papers, crop data and maps.
- Real estate: square meters and square feet in listings.
- Construction and flooring: square feet, square yards and square meters.
- Surveying: chains, roods and US survey units.
- Electrical wire: circular mils for cable cross-sections.
- Physics: barns for nuclear cross sections.
Important Limitations
- The tool changes units only. It does not work out the area of a shape from its sides.
- It does not use length factors on area values. Do not type a length (for example 10 ft) and expect an area.
- State and local land units (such as bigha, biswa, cuerda or arpent) have no single size. They are not in this list.
- The international acre and the US survey acre differ slightly. Choose the one named in your legal or survey document.