Square Feet to Acres Calculator

Square feet and acres are both units of area used in the imperial and U.S. customary measurement systems. The only difference between them is the size they cover.

Square feet is used to describe the area of rooms, houses or small plots of land. An acre describes the size of a piece of land (e.g. building plot, farm, park) and is often given in property adverts or deeds.

This calculator converts square feet to acres and also shows the result in square meters, square yards, hectares, square inches, square centimeters, square kilometers, and square miles. It also breaks down large areas into whole acres and the remainder in square feet which is a common way of expressing land area.

To convert square feet to acres, use this formula:

Since an acre is defined as 43,560 square feet, the conversion from square feet to acres is done by dividing.

In other words, one square foot is the equivalent to the number of acres you get when you divide 1 by 43,560 which gives you approximately 0.00002295684 acres. So, you can also obtain the number of acres by multiplying the square feet by 0.00002295684.

Let's say a property has an area of 10,000 square feet. If you divide 10,000 by 43,560, the result is 0.22957 acres. This means that 10,000 sq ft is approximately 0.23 acres. A property of 5,000 sq ft would be half as large and would be about 0.115 acres.

To convert acres to square feet, use one of the following methods.

Converting in the opposite direction is just as easy. Multiply the number of acres by 43,560 to get square feet.

Half an acre is equal to 21,780 square feet, which is the product of 0.5 and 43,560. A quarter-acre plot has an area of 10,890 ft², while a five-acre plot has an area of 217,800 sq ft. To perform this conversion using a calculator, change the input unit to acres and read off the result in square feet.

Why is an acre equal to 43,560 square feet?

An acre is a medieval unit of measure originally denoting the area that could be ploughed by an ox in one day. As turning the plough was the most time-consuming task, land was divided into long, narrow strips.

This strip of land was one chain wide and one furlong long. A chain is 66 feet, a furlong is 660 feet, and if you multiply 66 by 660, you get 43,560 square feet.

However, an acre does not have to be that shape. It can be any shape as long as it is the equivalent of 43,560 square feet; whether it is a square, rectangle, triangle or irregular shape.

Example calculation.

Here are some conversions, shown from beginning to end.

• To convert from square feet to acres, divide the number of square feet by 43,560. So, 8,000 divided by 43,560 is approximately 0.1837 acres.

• To convert 10,000 square feet to acres, divide 10,000 by 43,560 which is approximately 0.2296 acres.

• By definition, there are exactly 1 acre in 43,560 square feet.

• Converting the 87,120 square feet to acres gives exactly 2 acres when you divide 87,120 by 43,560.

• Conversely, 0.25 acres is equal to an area of 10,890 square feet, which is calculated by multiplying 0.25 by 43,560.

• Conversely, 3 acres is equal to an area of 130,680 square feet, which is calculated by multiplying 3 by 43,560.

A conversion table for square feet to acres.

This is a useful reference point. Divide any given area by 43,560.

Acres to square feet conversion table:

This table can be used for conversions in the opposite direction as well and is useful for converting an area given in acres to square feet. Multiply the number of acres by 43,560.

Common lot sizes in square feet:

Land areas are often expressed as fractions of an acre. The following are the converted areas for typical land sizes:

• One-tenth of an acre is equal to 4,356 square feet. This is a typical lot size for urban areas.

• An eighth of an acre is 5,445 square feet. This is a typical lot size for townhouses.

• A quarter acre is equal to 10,890 square feet. This is a typical lot size for suburban homes.

• One-third of an acre is 14,520 square feet - a generous lot size for a suburban home.

• A half-acre is 21,780 square feet - a relatively large lot for a home.

• An acre is equal to an area of 43,560 square feet - that's about the size of a U.S. football field multiplied by 90%.

What is an acre?

An acre is a unit of area used in the imperial and U.S. customary measurement systems. It is primarily used in the measurement of land (e.g., agricultural, construction, parks, rural areas).

An acre is equal to 43,560 square feet, 4,840 square yards, about 4,046.86 square meters or roughly 0.4047 hectares. You can think of an acre as being the size of a football field without the end zones. A football field is about 1.32 acres so an acre is slightly smaller.

What is a square foot?

A square foot is the area of a square with sides that are 1 foot in length. The area is calculated by multiplying the length and width of an object. It is denoted by the symbol ft². It can also be abbreviated as sf, sqft or sq ft, all of which have the same meaning.

A square foot is a unit of area in the imperial and U.S. customary measurement systems equal to 144 square inches or exactly 0.09290304 square meters. The square foot is an everyday unit for expressing areas such as floor space or lot size, where one square foot equals 1/43,560 of an acre.

Related area units

The area of the same plot can be expressed in different units and this calculator displays those units simultaneously. One square yard is equal to 9 square feet and one acre is equal to 4,840 square yards.

One hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters and about 2.471 acres. This is a commonly used unit of area in the metric system. For very large areas, one square kilometer is approximately 247 acres, and one square mile is exactly 640 acres, which surveyors call a "section."

To use this calculator:

• Enter the area into the input field.

• Use the drop-downs to select the unit of area. Square feet is selected by default for converting from square feet to acres. Select acres, square meters, square yards or hectares if you want to start with a different unit.

• Read the result in acres which is shown above. The value in square feet will be shown next to it.

• Scroll down to show the results for hectares, square meters and square yards as well as details of whole acre values and the remainder area for properties larger than one acre.

The conversion results provided are for general reference only. For surveying, legal, real estate or contractual purposes, you should rely on authoritative standards or the opinion of a qualified surveyor and verify data and required accuracy.