Acreage Calculator
Find how many acres a piece of land is from its length and width, from four sides and a diagonal for an irregular lot, or straight from the bearings and distances on a deed. Results come in acres, square feet, hectares and square meters, with the land cost if you add a price per acre.
Acreage calculator: rectangle or square lot
Irregular four-sided lot
A lot with four unequal sides can't be measured from its sides alone. Add one diagonal (corner to opposite corner) and the calculator splits it into two triangles (Heron's formula). Sides a and b meet at one end of the diagonal; c and d meet at the other.
From a deed or survey (metes and bounds)
Type each boundary line from your deed: a bearing such as N 45 30 E (north 45° 30′ east) and its distance in feet. The example is one acre: a square 208.71 ft on each side. Misclosure shows how far the last line ends from the starting point; surveys usually close within 1 in 5,000 or better.
| # | Bearing | Distance (ft) |
|---|
Convert land area
How many square feet in an acre?
One acre is exactly 43,560 square feet, 4,840 square yards or about 4,046.86 square meters. It was defined as an area one chain (66 ft) wide and one furlong (660 ft) long, so a 660 × 66 ft strip is exactly one acre. A square acre is about 208.71 ft on each side.
| Area | Acres |
|---|---|
| 1 square mile (a survey section) | 640 |
| Quarter section | 160 |
| 1 hectare | 2.4711 |
| American football field incl. end zones (360 × 160 ft) | 1.32 |
| Typical quarter-acre house lot | 0.25 (10,890 sq ft) |
To turn square feet into acres, divide by 43,560: a 150 × 200 ft lot is 30,000 sq ft ÷ 43,560 = 0.689 acres. Need the area of a room or a house instead? Use the square footage calculator or the area calculator.
Common questions
How do I calculate acreage?
Multiply length by width in feet to get square feet, then divide by 43,560. A 660 × 330 ft field is 217,800 sq ft = 5 acres.
How many feet is an acre?
An acre is an area, 43,560 square feet. A square acre measures about 208.71 ft on each side; a 1-acre rectangle could be 100 × 435.6 ft.
How do I find the acreage of an irregular lot?
Split it into triangles. Measure the four sides and one diagonal and use Heron's formula on each triangle, or enter the bearings and distances from your deed.
How many acres is a hectare?
One hectare is 2.4711 acres, and one acre is 0.4047 hectares.
Is the acreage on my deed exact?
Not always. Older deeds often round or use 'more or less'. A licensed land surveyor's plat is the authoritative measurement.
Sources
- NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General tables of units of measurement
- Bureau of Land Management: Manual of Surveying Instructions (sections and townships)
Related
General information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Check important numbers with the official source before acting on them.