Acre to Square Feet, Hectare and Gaj: Land Area Conversion Guide

The short answer

1 acre = 43,560 square feet = 4,840 square yards = about 4,046.86 square metres. 1 hectare = 10,000 square metres = about 2.471 acres. And in Indian property listings, 1 gaj = 1 square yard = 9 square feet. To convert any land or plot size in one step, enter the number in the free Area Converter, choose the unit it is in, and read every other unit in the table below.

Land area conversion table

These are the exact or standard definitions. The Area Converter uses slightly rounded factors for a few units, so its output can differ in the last decimals.

From	Square feet	Square metres	Square yards	Acres	Hectares
1 square foot	1	0.0929	0.1111	0.000023	0.0000093
1 square metre	10.7639	1	1.196	0.000247	0.0001
1 square yard (gaj)	9	0.8361	1	0.000207	0.0000836
1 acre	43,560	4,046.86	4,840	1	0.4047
1 hectare	107,639	10,000	11,960	2.4711	1

Two exact anchors are worth remembering: a square foot is exactly 0.09290304 square metres, and a square yard is exactly 9 square feet. Every other figure in the table follows from those.

How to use the Area Converter

Type the number in Value to convert.

Choose the unit it is in from the From list.

Choose the unit you want in the second list. The answer appears in the green box.

Scroll the All Area conversions table to see the same value in every unit at once. Click a row to copy that value.

Use the ⇄ button to swap the two units.

The units available are square metre, square kilometre, square centimetre, square foot, square inch, square mile, acre, hectare, square yard and bigha. Results show up to eight decimal places; very large or very small results switch to scientific notation (for example 1.2346e+10).

Worked examples

These results come from the Area Converter.

Question	Converter result
200 sq yd (gaj) plot in square feet	1,800
200 sq yd plot in square metres	167.2254
1,200 sq ft flat in square metres	111.4836
1,200 sq ft flat in square yards	133.33333333
2.5 acres in hectares	1.011714
1 hectare in square feet	107,639.15
1 square kilometre in acres	247.10540726
1,000 square metres in square feet	10,763.92

Why does 1 acre show 43,560.0142 sq ft? The legal definition is exactly 43,560 square feet. The converter stores the acre as 4,046.856 square metres instead of the full 4,046.8564224, and that tiny rounding shows up after the decimal point. For a 5-acre plot it shows 217,800.07 instead of exactly 217,800. For property work, round acre-to-sq-ft results to the nearest whole square foot.

A note on bigha, guntha and other local units

Many Indian states still record land in traditional units such as bigha, biswa, kanal, marla, guntha or cent. Their size is not standard across India. The size of a bigha differs a lot from one state to another, and sometimes between districts of the same state.

The Area Converter includes one bigha value: about 2,529 square metres, which it converts to about 27,222 square feet or 0.6249 acres. Use it as a rough guide only. For buying, selling or legal documents, check the value used in your state's land records or with the local revenue office, then convert from square metres or square feet.

Plot size from length and breadth

If you only know the dimensions, work out the area first and then convert:

Measure both sides in the same unit, for example feet.

Multiply length by breadth. A 30 ft by 40 ft plot is 1,200 square feet.

Enter 1,200 in the converter as square feet to get square metres, yards or acres.

If one side is in metres and the other in feet, convert one of them first with the Length Converter. For irregular plots, split the shape into rectangles and triangles, work out each area and add them up.

Common mistakes

• Squaring the wrong number. 1 metre is 3.28 feet, but 1 square metre is 10.76 square feet, not 3.28. Always convert areas with area factors.
• Mixing up acres and hectares. A hectare is about two and a half times bigger than an acre.
• Assuming gaj always means the same thing. In most Indian property listings it means a square yard, but confirm with the seller if a document uses a local unit.
• Using a generic bigha value for legal work. Bigha varies by region.
• Confusing carpet, built-up and super built-up area. These are different measurements of a flat, not unit conversions. Converting 1,200 sq ft of super built-up area to square metres does not tell you the carpet area.

Quick mental shortcuts

• Square metres to square feet: multiply by about 10.76 (or 10 for a rough guess, then add 7.6%).
• Square feet to square metres: divide by about 10.76.
• Acres to hectares: multiply by about 0.4.
• Hectares to acres: multiply by about 2.5 (2.47 to be precise).
• Gaj to square feet: multiply by 9.

Related guides

For lengths rather than areas, see metres to feet and inches. The unit conversion guide covers the other common unit types, and the Volume Converter handles litres, gallons and cubic metres.