Area Converter
Convert area units instantly—square meters (m²), square feet (ft²), acres, hectares, and more. Enter a value, choose units, and get accurate results in seconds. Ideal for land measurement, construction, real estate, and education. Free and easy to use.
Area Converter
The Area Converter converts between 13 area units spanning metric SI, imperial and US customary, and two specialized scientific units. Select the From and To units, enter the value, and click Convert. Results are displayed immediately.
Area measurements are used across real estate, agriculture, construction, urban planning, electrical engineering, and physics — each field typically uses the units most common in its geographic and professional context. This converter handles all of them, including several that are rarely explained on general-purpose conversion pages: the are, rood, circular mil, and barn.
How to use the Area Converter
- Enter the area value to convert.
- Select the From unit — the unit your value is currently in.
- Select the To unit — the unit you want to convert to.
- Click Convert. The result appears immediately.
- To convert to additional units, change the To dropdown and click Convert again.
All 13 units — conversion factors and contexts
The table below shows all supported units with their square meter equivalent and the contexts in which each is typically used:
| Unit | In square meters (m²) | Typical context |
| Metric / SI units | ||
| Square centimeter (cm²) | 0.0001 m² | Small surface areas: tiles, printed materials, electronics PCBs, skin surface area in medical contexts. 1 cm² = 100 mm². |
| Square meter (m²) | 1 m² | The SI base unit for area. Room floor area, apartment sizes, construction material coverage, solar panel output ratings. The standard unit for property sizes in most metric countries. |
| Are | 100 m² | An older metric unit equal to 100 square meters (a 10 m × 10 m square). Rarely used in modern contexts but appears in some European land registry and agricultural documents. 1 hectare = 100 Ares. |
| Hectare (ha) | 10,000 m² | The standard unit for large land areas in metric countries. Farm fields, parks, forests, urban planning zones. 1 hectare = 100 m × 100 m = 10,000 m². 1 km² = 100 hectares. Widely used in agriculture, forestry, and environmental science globally. |
| Square kilometer (km²) | 1,000,000 m² | Country and regional land areas, urban extents, large wilderness areas, national parks. Population density is typically expressed per km². 1 km² = 100 hectares = 247.1 acres. |
| Imperial / US customary units | ||
| Square inch (in²) | 0.000645 m² | Small component dimensions, fabric patterns, printed materials, screen sizes, tile sizes. Common in US manufacturing and engineering datasheets. |
| Square foot (ft²) | 0.0929 m² | Room sizes, property floor areas, and construction in the US, UK, and some other countries. Real estate listings in the US and UK commonly use square feet. 1 ft² = 144 in². 1 square foot ≈ 0.093 m². |
| Square yard (yd²) | 0.836 m² | Flooring, carpeting, fabric, and lawn/turf in the US and UK. 1 yd² = 9 ft². Used in construction materials quotes and sports field descriptions (American football field ≈ 5,333 yd²). |
| Acre | 4,046.86 m² | Land measurement in the US, UK, Canada, and other countries using imperial units. Standard unit for farm fields, rural property, and land subdivision in these markets. 1 acre = 43,560 ft² ≈ 0.405 hectares. 640 acres = 1 square mile. |
| Rood | 1,011.71 m² | A historical British land measurement unit equal to one quarter of an acre (10,890 ft²). Still occasionally seen in historic land deeds and surveys, particularly in the UK. Rarely used in modern contexts. |
| Square mile (mi²) | 2,589,988 m² | Large geographic areas in US/UK contexts: city extents, national parks, state/county areas. 1 square mile = 640 acres = 258.999 hectares ≈ 2.59 km². Population density in the US is commonly expressed per square mile. |
| Specialized units | ||
| Circular mil | 5.067e-10 m² | US electrical engineering unit for wire cross-sectional area. 1 circular mil = the area of a circle with a diameter of 0.001 inches (1 mil = 1 thousandth of an inch). Wire gauges in the US are specified in circular mils or thousand circular mils (kcmil / MCM). A standard 14 AWG household wire has a cross-section of approximately 4,107 circular mils. |
| Barn | 1e-28 m² | Nuclear and particle physics unit for cross-sectional area of atomic nuclei and scattering interactions. 1 barn = 10^-28 m² = 10^-24 cm². The name is ironic — atomic physicists joked that uranium nuclei were 'as big as a barn' compared to other nuclei. Used exclusively in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. |
Area scale reference — real-world sizes across four units
The table below shows familiar land and area sizes in all four commonly used units — square meters, square feet, acres, and hectares — to help build intuition for what different area values mean:
| Land / area description | m² | ft² | acres | hectares |
| Studio apartment (typical) | 40 | 430 | 0.0099 | 0.004 |
| Large family home floor area | 250 | 2,691 | 0.062 | 0.025 |
| Football pitch (FIFA standard) | 7,140 | 76,854 | 1.76 | 0.714 |
| City block (US, typical) | ~40,000 | ~430,000 | ~9.9 | ~4.0 |
| 1 acre | 4,047 | 43,560 | 1.00 | 0.405 |
| 1 hectare | 10,000 | 107,639 | 2.47 | 1.00 |
| Hyde Park, London | 1,350,000 | 14,531,247 | 334 | 135 |
| 1 square mile | 2,589,988 | 27,878,400 | 640 | 259 |
Acres and hectares are both used for agricultural land, but which is standard depends on geography. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia use acres for land sales and farm size. Most other countries, and all international scientific and environmental reporting, use hectares. 1 hectare = 2.471 acres; 1 acre = 0.405 hectares. A 200-acre farm in the UK is approximately 81 hectares; a 100-hectare field in France is approximately 247 acres.
The unusual units — barn, circular mil, rood, and are
Barn
The barn is a unit of area used in nuclear and particle physics for measuring the cross-sectional area of atomic nuclei in scattering experiments. 1 barn = 10^-28 square meters — an almost inconceivably small area. The name is ironic: when Manhattan Project physicists first measured uranium nuclear cross-sections in the 1940s, they found them surprisingly large at the atomic scale and joked that the nucleus was 'as big as a barn'. The unit was officially adopted into physics and remains in use today in nuclear and high-energy physics research papers. It is occasionally encountered in unit converters for completeness, though its practical use outside physics is essentially zero.
Circular mil
The circular mil is a unit of area used in US electrical engineering to describe the cross-sectional area of circular wires and cables. 1 circular mil = the area of a circle with a diameter of 1 mil (1 thousandth of an inch). In square meters: 1 circular mil = approximately 5.067 x 10^-10 m² = 0.000507 mm². Wire sizes in the US National Electrical Code (NEC) are specified in circular mils or thousand circular mils (kcmil, formerly called MCM). A 1/0 AWG cable has a cross-section of 105,600 circular mils (105.6 kcmil). International electrical standards use mm² instead.
Rood
The rood is a historical British unit of land area equal to one quarter of an acre — approximately 1,011.7 square meters or 10,890 square feet. It was commonly used in England from the medieval period through the 19th century and is occasionally still encountered in historic land deeds, old survey maps, and traditional UK rural property descriptions. The word 'rood' also has separate meanings in English (a cross or crucifix), which can cause confusion in historical documents.
Are
The are (symbol: a) is a metric unit of area equal to 100 square meters — the area of a 10 m × 10 m square. It is the source of the word 'hectare' (100 ares = 1 hectare). The are itself is rarely used in modern contexts but still appears in some European land registry systems, older French and Spanish property documents, and some agricultural data. 1 are = 0.01 hectares = 0.0247 acres.
Common use cases by industry
| Context | Common conversion | Notes |
| Residential real estate — comparing listings | m² ↔ ft² | US and UK listings typically use square feet; most other countries use square meters. 1 m² ≈ 10.764 ft². A 100 m² apartment = approximately 1,076 ft². When comparing international property listings, always convert to the same unit before comparing prices per unit area. |
| Agricultural land — farm and field sizes | acres ↔ hectares | US, UK, Canada, and Australia use acres for farm land; most metric countries use hectares. 1 hectare ≈ 2.471 acres. A 500-acre farm = approximately 202 hectares. UK agricultural subsidies and DEFRA data are commonly reported in hectares even though land is often sold in acres. |
| Construction and flooring — material quantities | m² ↔ ft² ↔ yd² | Flooring, tiling, roofing, and insulation materials are sold per square meter in metric countries and per square foot or square yard in the US. Always confirm the unit before ordering. A 3 m × 4 m room = 12 m² ≈ 129 ft² ≈ 14.3 yd². |
| Urban and regional planning | km² ↔ hectares ↔ acres | Planning documents and zoning maps use varying units by country. UK planning commonly uses hectares; US planning uses acres; international statistics use km². 1 km² = 100 hectares = 247.1 acres. |
| Electrical engineering — wire sizing | circular mil ↔ mm² | US electrical codes (NEC) specify wire cross-sections in circular mils or kcmil. International standards (IEC) use mm². 1 mm² ≈ 1,973.5 circular mils. A 10 mm² cable ≈ 19,735 circular mils ≈ AWG 8. |
| Nuclear and particle physics | barn ↔ cm² ↔ m² | Nuclear cross-sections are stated in barns or millibarns in research papers. 1 barn = 10^-24 cm² = 10^-28 m². For comparing against SI quantities in calculations, convert to m² or cm². |
Usage limits
| Account type | Daily conversions |
| Guest | 25 per day |
| Registered | 100 per day |
Related tools
- Length Converter — convert millimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers, inches, feet, and miles. Use alongside the Area Converter when calculating area from length measurements (area = length × width).
- Weight Converter — convert kilograms, pounds, grams, and more.
- Temperature Converter — convert between Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, and Rankine.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert acres to hectares?
Multiply acres by 0.404686 to get hectares. Example: 50 acres x 0.404686 = 20.23 hectares. To convert hectares to acres, multiply by 2.47105. Example: 20 hectares x 2.47105 = 49.42 acres. Quick approximation: 1 hectare is approximately 2.47 acres; 1 acre is approximately 0.4 hectares.
How do I convert square meters to square feet?
Multiply square meters by 10.7639 to get square feet. Example: 85 m² x 10.7639 = 914.9 ft². To convert square feet to square meters, multiply by 0.092903. Example: 1,200 ft² x 0.092903 = 111.5 m². Quick approximation: multiply m² by approximately 10.76 (or roughly 11 for quick mental estimates); divide ft² by 10.76 (or roughly 10.8) to get m².
What is the difference between acres and square miles?
Both are imperial/US customary units of land area. 1 square mile = 640 acres exactly. Square miles are used for large geographic areas — city extents, counties, national parks. Acres are used for individual land plots, farms, and property descriptions. A typical family farm in the US might be 200–500 acres; a mid-sized US city might cover 50–200 square miles (32,000–128,000 acres).
What is a hectare and how big is it?
A hectare (ha) is a metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters — the area of a square measuring 100 meters on each side. It is the standard unit for large land areas in metric countries. For reference: a standard football pitch (FIFA) is approximately 0.7 hectares; a typical large supermarket and its car park is roughly 2–4 hectares; a small farm is typically 20–100 hectares. 1 hectare = 2.471 acres = 107,639 square feet.
What is a circular mil and when is it used?
A circular mil is a US electrical engineering unit for wire cross-sectional area. 1 circular mil = the area of a circle 0.001 inches (1 mil) in diameter = approximately 5.067 x 10^-10 m² = 0.000507 mm². Wire sizes in the US are specified in circular mils or kcmil (thousand circular mils) in the National Electrical Code. International electrical standards (IEC) use mm² instead. To convert kcmil to mm²: divide by 1.973 (or multiply by 0.5067). A 4/0 AWG cable = 211,600 circular mils = 211.6 kcmil ≈ 107.2 mm².
What is a barn in area measurement?
The barn is a unit of area used exclusively in nuclear and particle physics. 1 barn = 10^-28 square meters = 10^-24 cm². It represents the effective cross-sectional area of an atomic nucleus in a particle scattering experiment. The name originated as a joke among Manhattan Project physicists in the 1940s who found that uranium nuclei were unexpectedly large at the subatomic scale. Despite the humorous origin, the barn became a standard physics unit and is still used in nuclear cross-section data tables and particle physics research today.
How many square feet are in an acre?
1 acre = 43,560 square feet exactly. This is a defined relationship in the imperial system. In other units: 1 acre = 4,840 square yards = 4,046.86 square meters = 0.404686 hectares. The acre was historically defined as the amount of land an ox could plough in a day — approximately a furlong (220 yards) long and a chain (22 yards) wide. The 43,560 square foot definition comes from 220 yards x 22 yards = 4,840 square yards x 9 (square feet per square yard) = 43,560 square feet.
Is the Area Converter free?
Yes. The converter is free within the daily usage limits shown above. Guest users can perform 25 conversions per day without creating an account. Registering a free ToolsPiNG account increases the daily limit to 100 conversions per day.