Area Converter (m², ft², acres, hectares, ...)
Convert an area between metric units (square millimeters through square kilometers, plus hectares) and imperial/US units (square feet, square yards, acres, square miles). Enter a value, pick the two units, and the result updates as you type. Everything runs in your browser.
How the conversion works
Every unit on this page is defined by how many square meters it represents. A conversion converts the input to square meters first, then from square meters into the target unit:
result = value × (m² per source unit) ÷ (m² per target unit)
Converting 2 acres to square meters, for example, is 2 × 4046.8564224 = 8093.71 m².
The squaring trap
This is the single most common mistake in area conversion. Because 1 meter is 100 centimeters, it is tempting to assume 1 square meter is 100 square centimeters. It is not. Area scales with the square of the length factor, so 1 m² = 100 × 100 = 10,000 cm².
The same applies across systems. One foot is 0.3048 meters, so one square foot is 0.3048² = 0.09290304 m², not 0.3048 m². And a room that is twice as long and twice as wide has four times the floor area, not twice.
| Length relation | Corresponding area relation |
|---|---|
| 1 m = 100 cm | 1 m² = 10,000 cm² |
| 1 m = 1000 mm | 1 m² = 1,000,000 mm² |
| 1 km = 1000 m | 1 km² = 1,000,000 m² |
| 1 ft = 0.3048 m | 1 ft² = 0.09290304 m² |
| 1 yd = 3 ft | 1 yd² = 9 ft² |
| 1 mi = 5280 ft | 1 mi² = 27,878,400 ft² |
Land units: acres and hectares
Two units dominate land measurement, and they come from completely different traditions.
The hectare is metric and pleasantly simple: it is a square 100 m on each side, so exactly 10,000 m². A square kilometer holds 100 hectares.
The acre is historical. It originally described the area a team of oxen could plow in a day, which is why the number looks arbitrary: 4046.8564224 m². Formally it is one chain (66 ft) by one furlong (660 ft), which gives 43,560 ft². An acre is not square, and it never was, it is defined as an amount of area rather than a shape.
Practical relationship: 1 hectare ≈ 2.471 acres, or conversely 1 acre ≈ 0.405 hectares. For quick estimates, "a hectare is about two and a half acres" is accurate to within 1.2%.
Quick reference table
| From | Square meters | Square feet | Acres | Hectares |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 m² | 1 | 10.76391 | 0.000247 | 0.0001 |
| 1 ft² | 0.09290 | 1 | 0.0000230 | 0.0000093 |
| 1 yd² | 0.83613 | 9 | 0.000207 | 0.0000836 |
| 1 acre | 4046.86 | 43,560 | 1 | 0.40469 |
| 1 hectare | 10,000 | 107,639 | 2.47105 | 1 |
| 1 km² | 1,000,000 | 10,763,910 | 247.105 | 100 |
| 1 mi² | 2,589,988 | 27,878,400 | 640 | 258.999 |
One neat consequence of the historical definitions: a square mile is exactly 640 acres, which is why US land surveys are divided into one-square-mile "sections" of 640 acres each.
Practical examples
Apartment and house sizes
Property listings use square meters across most of Europe and square feet in the US and UK. A 100 m² apartment is 1076 ft², and a 2000 ft² house is 186 m². The rough mental conversion is that square meters times 10 gives approximately square feet, which underestimates by about 7%.
Calculating a room's floor area
Multiply length by width in the same unit. A room 4.5 m by 3.2 m has an area of 14.4 m². If your measurements are in mixed units, convert them to a single unit before multiplying, not after, otherwise the squaring trap above will produce a wrong result.
Paint and flooring quantities
Material coverage is quoted per unit of area, so getting the unit right matters directly in cost. Paint that covers 10 m² per liter covers roughly 108 ft² per liter. When buying materials, always add a margin for waste and cuts, typically 5 to 10% for flooring, more for patterned or diagonal layouts.
Land and plot sizes
A building plot of 800 m² is 0.08 hectares or about 0.198 acres. A football pitch is roughly 0.7 hectares, which makes it a useful mental reference: a hectare is a bit larger than one and a half football pitches.
Frequently asked questions
How many square feet is one square meter?
10.7639 ft². This follows from 1 ft = 0.3048 m exactly, so 1 m² = 1 ÷ 0.3048² = 10.76391041671 ft².
How many square meters is an acre?
4046.8564224 m², which is about 0.405 hectares. In square feet an acre is exactly 43,560 ft².
Is a hectare bigger than an acre?
Yes, considerably. One hectare equals about 2.471 acres. Put differently, an acre is roughly 40% of a hectare.
Why is 1 m² not 100 cm²?
Because area is two-dimensional. A square meter is 100 cm long and 100 cm wide, so it contains 100 × 100 = 10,000 cm². Whenever you convert an area, the length factor must be squared.
How do I convert square feet to square meters quickly?
Divide by 10.764, or for a rough estimate divide by 10 and subtract about 7%. For 1500 ft²: 1500 ÷ 10.764 = 139.4 m².
What is a square mile in acres?
Exactly 640 acres. This is not a coincidence but follows from the definition of the acre in chains and furlongs, and it is the basis of the section grid used in US public land surveys.
Related converters
- Length converter, for the underlying linear units
- Volume converter, where the factor is cubed rather than squared
- All unit converters