How to Convert Square Feet to Acres

Trying to fertilize your lawn or till and plant a field or garden can be kind of complicated if you only know one way of measuring your land. Since some lawn supplies are sold by the acre and some by thousands of square feet, it's a good idea to know how to convert the number of square feet into acres. Just follow the steps below.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Calculate the square footage of the area. Square feet is a measurement of area, so the formula uses two numbers--the length and the width. Make sure both measurements are in feet and multiply: length (ft.) x width (ft.) = square feet

2. Convert from cubic feet to square feet if necessary. Divide the number of cubic feet by the depth (or height) of the area to get the square footage. Since the formula for cubic feet is length x width x depth/height, dividing by the third dimension will give you the area.

3. Remember the number 43,560. That is the number of square feet per acre.

4. Convert square feet to acres by dividing the number of square feet by 43,560. The formula looks like:
   length x width/43,560= acres.

5. Use a conversion website like Calculateme if you are not mathematically inclined (see Resources below). You can plug in the correct numbers and the site will do the conversion for you.

Tips & Warnings

• You may need to know the area in "thousands of square feet," especially if you're buying fertilizer. Simply divide the square footage by 43.560 instead of 43,560.

• If you need to know the number of acres and your original measurement is in square meters, know that 1 square meter=10.76 square feet.

Resources

• Use the conversion tool at Calculateme.com