Enter a number of acres to convert to square feet, or enter square feet to convert back to acres. Choose a common land size preset, and get the exact result plus the equivalent in square metres, using the exact 43,560 sq ft factor.
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Exact conversion
1 acre = 43,560 sq ft (international acre, exact). No rounding applied.
The conversion from acres to square feet uses the exact factor: 1 acre = 43,560 square feet. This is an internationally defined, exact value with no rounding. To convert any number of acres to square feet, multiply by 43,560:
Square feet = acres x 43,560
To go the other way (square feet to acres), divide by 43,560:
Acres = square feet / 43,560
Why 43,560?
The acre is a traditional unit of land area dating back to medieval England, where it represented the amount of land one man with one ox could plough in a day. It was standardised as 4,840 square yards. Since one yard equals three feet, one square yard equals nine square feet, so 4,840 square yards x 9 = 43,560 square feet.
Acres, Hectares, and Square Metres
While acres are widely used in the United States, the UK, and some Commonwealth countries for real estate, most of the world (including New Zealand for legal purposes) uses hectares and square metres. Key conversions:
Unit
Equals
1 acre
43,560 sq ft
1 acre
4,046.856 square metres
1 acre
0.404686 hectares
1 hectare
2.471 acres
1 hectare
107,639 sq ft
Practical Land Size Reference
If you are comparing land sizes across different systems, some useful reference points are:
A standard NZ urban house section is typically 400 to 700 square metres (roughly 4,300 to 7,500 sq ft), or about 0.10 to 0.17 acres.
A quarter-acre section (the traditional NZ suburban ideal) is 0.25 acres = 10,890 sq ft, or 1,012 square metres.
A rugby field (playing area) is approximately 6,000 to 7,000 square metres, or 1.5 to 1.7 acres.
A typical NZ lifestyle block runs from 1 to 5 hectares (2.5 to 12.4 acres).
Area Calculator: calculate the area of shapes from measurements.
Sources and method: International acre defined as exactly 43,560 square feet per the international yard and pound agreement (1959). Square metre equivalent: 1 acre = 4,046.8564224 m² (exact, from 1 yard = 0.9144 m exactly).
This converter uses the exact international acre definition of 43,560 square feet. Results are mathematically precise to the selected number of decimal places. For legal or surveying purposes in New Zealand, consult a registered surveyor as NZ law uses metric units (square metres and hectares).
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