Land Calculators for Acres, Lots, Square Feet and Volume

Which of our land calculators do you need?

Each land question has its own tool, because a farm field, a house lot and a flower bed are measured differently. Pick the one that matches your job:

• A field, pasture or rural parcel: the acreage calculator, for any shape in feet, yards, meters or chains, with the price per acre.
• A house lot: the lot size to acres calculator, for frontage × depth or four sides plus a diagonal, with lot coverage.
• A yard, room, bed or patio: the square footage calculator, which adds several shapes together and adds the cost.
• A number to convert: the acres to square feet converter or the hectares to acres converter.
• A depth to fill: the cubic yard calculator, for soil, mulch, gravel, sand or concrete.

How land calculators work

Every land calculation starts with the area in square feet: length × width for a rectangle, or the formula for the shape. Everything else is a conversion.

Worked example with the land calculators

A lot 150 ft wide and 290.4 ft deep is 43,560 sq ft: exactly 1 acre, or 0.4047 hectares. Spread 3 inches of topsoil over a 1,000 sq ft garden on it and you need 1,000 × 0.25 ÷ 27 = 9.3 cubic yards.

Land units at a glance

Exact values from NIST Handbook 44 and the Bureau of Land Management's Public Land Survey System.

Measuring land of any shape

Few properties are rectangles. The land calculators handle the common shapes directly:

• Four-sided lots: measure the four sides and one diagonal; the tools split the lot into two triangles and use Heron's formula.
• Trapezoids: front and back parallel: (front + back) ÷ 2 × depth.
• Circles: π × radius², for round fields and beds.
• Everything else: split it into pieces and add them in the square footage calculator.

How to measure land on the ground

A 100 ft tape is enough for a yard; a measuring wheel is faster over hundreds of feet; a satellite map such as Google Earth gives a quick outline of a field. Measure horizontal distances, because deeds and surveys record land as if it were flat, and write every side down.

Acreage, lot size and square footage

They measure the same thing, area, in different units for different jobs. Rural land and a farm plot are listed in acres. House lots are given in square feet, often as frontage × depth on the plat. Rooms, lawns and patios are planned in square feet, because materials are sold that way.

Convert before you compare: a 0.25 acre lot is 10,890 sq ft, and a listing of 2 hectares is 4.94 acres.

From area to volume

Once the ground is measured, most projects add a depth. Area × depth ÷ 27 gives cubic yards for soil, mulch, gravel or concrete, and each material calculator on the site converts yards to tons or bags.

What people use land calculators for

• Buying land: check the listed acreage and work out the price per acre.
• Building: lot size, lot coverage and setbacks tell you what zoning may allow.
• Farming and pasture: seed, lime and fertilizer rates are given per acre or per hectare.
• Fencing: the acreage calculator's side lengths give the perimeter for the fence calculator.
• Landscaping: square footage feeds the sod, mulch, gravel and paver calculators.

Common land measurement mistakes

• Treating a skewed lot as a rectangle. Measure the diagonal.
• Mixing feet, yards and meters in one calculation.
• Measuring along a slope, which makes the area look larger than the survey.
• Relying on a map outline for a legal boundary.

Frequently asked questions

Pick the tool from our land calculators that fits your question, measure every side, and download the PDF report with your acres, square feet and hectares before you talk to a seller, a surveyor or a supplier.