Area Converter
Convert square meters, square feet, acres, hectares, square miles, etc.
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Base Unit
Relative Value
*Diagram shows values relative to the selected base unit (Square Meter).
Unit Information
What are Square Meters (m²)?
The square meter (symbol: m²) is the SI derived unit of area. It is defined as the area of a square with sides one meter in length. Square meters are widely used globally for measuring land area, room sizes, and surface areas in scientific and engineering contexts.
What are Square Kilometers (km²)?
The square kilometer (symbol: km²) is a multiple of the square meter, equal to one million square meters. It is used for measuring large geographical areas such as countries, large forests, or lakes.
What are Square Centimeters (cm²)?
A square centimeter is one ten-thousandth of a square meter, used for smaller objects or in scientific measurements.
What are Square Millimeters (mm²)?
A square millimeter is one millionth of a square meter, used for very small areas like cross-sections of wires or in material science.
What are Hectares (ha)?
The hectare (symbol: ha) is a metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters, or a square with 100-meter sides. It is commonly used for measuring large parcels of land, such as farms, parks, and forests, worldwide.
What are Square Miles (mi²)?
The square mile (symbol: mi²) is a large unit of area used for measuring geographical regions like cities, states, or countries. One square mile is equivalent to 640 acres.
What are Acres?
An acre is an imperial unit of land area, particularly common in the US and UK. It was historically defined as the amount of land tillable by one man with one ox in one day. One acre is equal to 43,560 square feet or about 4,047 square meters.
What are Square Yards (yd²)?
The square yard (symbol: yd²) is an imperial unit of area equal to the area of a square with one-yard sides. It is equal to 9 square feet and is often used for measuring carpets, flooring, and smaller plots of land.
What are Square Feet (ft²)?
The square foot (symbol: ft² or sq ft) is an imperial and US customary unit of area. It is the area of a square with sides one foot in length. One square foot is equivalent to 144 square inches. Square feet are commonly used in the United States and some other countries for measuring the area of rooms, houses, and smaller plots of land.
Formulas
1 m² ≈ 10.7639 ft²
To convert square meters to square feet, multiply by approximately 10.7639.
1 ft² ≈ 0.092903 m²
To convert square feet to square meters, multiply by approximately 0.092903.
1 acre = 43,560 ft²
An acre is defined as 43,560 square feet.
1 hectare = 10,000 m²
A hectare is defined as 10,000 square meters.
1 hectare ≈ 2.471 acres
To convert hectares to acres, multiply by approximately 2.471.
1 mi² = 640 acres
A square mile contains exactly 640 acres.
Key Reference Points
- A standard American football field (including end zones) is about 5,351 square meters or 57,600 square feet (1.32 acres).
- A typical credit card has an area of about 46 square centimeters (or approx. 7.13 square inches).
- The total surface area of Earth is about 510 million square kilometers (or 197 million square miles).
- A standard tennis court (including alleys) is 260.9 square meters (2,808 sq ft).
- An A4 sheet of paper has an area of 1/16th of a square meter (625 cm²).
- The area of Manhattan, New York City, is approximately 59 square kilometers or 23 square miles.
- The area of Texas is about 695,662 square kilometers or 268,596 square miles.
- The Amazon rainforest covers about 5.5 million square kilometers (2.1 million sq mi).
- A typical suburban housing plot might be around 0.2 to 0.5 acres.
- Monaco, one of the world's smallest countries, has an area of just over 2 square kilometers.
Did You Know?
An acre was historically defined as the amount of land tillable by one man with one ox in one day. A hectare (ha) is a metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters (or a square with 100-meter sides) and is commonly used for land measurement worldwide. One hectare is approximately 2.471 acres.
The area of a circle is given by the well-known formula A = πr², where 'r' is the radius of the circle and π (pi) is approximately 3.14159. This formula is fundamental in geometry and engineering.
A square kilometer (km²) contains 100 hectares. This relationship makes it easy to convert between these two common units for measuring large land parcels or geographical regions.
Vatican City is the smallest independent state in the world, with an area of only about 44 hectares (110 acres or 0.44 square kilometers).
In nuclear physics, a 'barn' is a unit of cross-sectional area. One barn is equal to 10⁻²⁸ square meters. It was whimsically named because it was 'as big as a barn' from the perspective of a subatomic particle, making it an easy target.
The total surface area of the alveoli (tiny air sacs) in the human lungs is enormous, estimated to be between 70 and 100 square meters—roughly the size of a tennis court—to facilitate efficient gas exchange.
The square-cube law states that as an object grows in size, its volume (and thus its mass) increases by the cube of the multiplier, while its surface area increases only by the square. This has profound implications in biology and engineering for things like heat dissipation and structural strength.
Fractal shapes, like the coastline of Britain or a snowflake, have a 'fractal dimension' that is not a whole number. Their 'area' can be difficult to define in a traditional sense, as their perimeter approaches infinity as you zoom in.
The ancient Roman unit of area was the 'jugerum', which was the amount of land two oxen could plow in a day. It was approximately a quarter of a hectare (or about 0.62 acres).
An 18-inch pizza has a greater area (approx. 254 square inches) than two 12-inch pizzas combined (approx. 226 square inches). This is a great example of how the area of a circle (πr²) grows quadratically with its radius.
In the North American construction and roofing industry, a 'square' is a unit of area equal to 100 square feet. This simplifies calculations for large surface areas like roofs and siding.
A standard international rugby field has an area of exactly one hectare, including the in-goal areas (100 meters long by 70 meters wide).
A mathematical theorem called the isoperimetric inequality states that for a given perimeter, the circle is the shape that encloses the maximum possible area.
In medieval England, a 'hide' was a unit of land area used for tax purposes. It was notionally the amount of land sufficient to support one family, but its actual size varied greatly, typically ranging from 60 to 120 acres.
The power output of a solar panel is directly proportional to its surface area. Larger panels can capture more sunlight and generate more electricity, which is why large solar farms cover vast areas of land.
The hectare is part of a family of metric units. The base unit is the 'are' (100 m²), and a 'centiare' is simply another name for one square meter. These units are less commonly used than the hectare.
In physics, 'cross-section' is a measure of the probability that a specific process will happen when a particle is targeted by a beam. It's an 'effective area' that the target presents to the beam for that interaction to occur.
Paint is typically sold with a specified coverage area per can, for example, 400 square feet per gallon. Knowing the area of your walls is essential for buying the right amount of paint.