Acres to Square Feet conversion

Acres to square feet

An acre is the traditional unit of land area in the United States and the United Kingdom, and it is still how farms, building lots and parks are described. One acre is exactly 43 560 square feet. The number looks arbitrary because the acre was originally a strip of land one furlong (660 ft) long and one chain (66 ft) wide: 660 × 66 = 43 560.

Converting

Multiply acres by 43 560. Fractions of an acre are common in real estate, so it helps to know the landmarks: a quarter acre is 10 890 sq ft, a half acre is 21 780 sq ft, and a third of an acre is 14 520 sq ft.

• 0.1 acre = 4 356 sq ft
• 0.25 acre = 10 890 sq ft
• 0.5 acre = 21 780 sq ft
• 1 acre = 43 560 sq ft
• 2 acres = 87 120 sq ft
• 5 acres = 217 800 sq ft
• 10 acres = 435 600 sq ft
• 640 acres = 27 878 400 sq ft (one square mile)

Picturing an acre

An acre is roughly the size of an American football field without the end zones (48 000 sq ft), or a square about 209 feet on each side. A typical suburban lot in the US is between a fifth and a third of an acre, 8 000 to 15 000 square feet.

Why convert to square feet?

House sizes, driveways, patios and lawns are measured in square feet, so working out how much of a lot a building covers, or how much grass seed or fertiliser a yard needs, means bringing the lot size down to square feet first. Fertiliser bags are labelled per 1 000 sq ft; a half-acre lawn needs coverage for about 22 bags' worth of area.

Metric equivalents

One acre is 4 046.86 square meters, or 0.4047 hectares. A hectare, the metric land unit, is about 2.47 acres.

Worked examples

A 0.3-acre lot. 0.3 × 43 560 = 13 068 sq ft.

A 2-acre paddock. 87 120 sq ft.

Grass seed at 4 lb per 1 000 sq ft on half an acre. 21 780 sq ft ÷ 1 000 × 4 = 87 lb.

Frequently asked questions

How many square feet are in an acre? 43 560.

How big is a quarter acre in feet? 10 890 sq ft, roughly 104 ft × 104 ft.

What is an acre in square meters? 4 047 m².

Related conversions

Square feet to acres reverses this page; acres to hectares gives the metric land unit.

Good to know

Real-estate listings in the US mix acres and square feet freely: lots under about half an acre are usually given in square feet ("8 700 sq ft lot"), larger ones in acres. Zoning rules do the same — minimum lot sizes are set in square feet in suburbs and in acres in rural areas. When a listing says "0.17 acres", that is 7 405 sq ft, a common size for a suburban lot; "1.5 acres" is 65 340 sq ft, enough for a house, a barn and a paddock. For square metres, an acre is 4 047 m², so 0.17 acre is about 690 m².