Land measurement

How many square feet is 1 acre?

The acre is fixed and international, which makes it the safest unit to convert everything else through.

1 acre is exactly 43,560 square feet. It is also 4,840 square yards (gaj), 4,046.86 square metres, 0.4047 hectares, 100 cent, 40 guntha and about 1.61 bigha in Uttar Pradesh. The acre is defined as 1 chain by 1 furlong — 66 ft × 660 ft — which is where the awkward 43,560 comes from.

Worked out 2026-09-10 (IST) · 1 acre = 4,840 square yards, by definition

1 acre in every unit an Indian land document uses

1 acre converted
Unit	Value	Where it is used
Square feet	43,560	Everywhere
Square metres	4,046.86	Registration documents
Square yards (gaj)	4,840	Delhi NCR, UP, Haryana
Hectares	0.4047	Revenue records, agriculture
Cent	100	Kerala, TN, Karnataka, AP
Guntha	40	Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat
Ground	18.15	Chennai
Marla	160.0	Punjab, Haryana
Kanal	8.0	Punjab, J&K, HP
Ankanam	605.0	Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
Bigha (UP, 27,000 sq ft)	1.61	Uttar Pradesh
Bigha (WB, 14,400 sq ft)	3.02	West Bengal, Assam

Plot sizes in acres

Acres to square feet
Acres	Square feet	Square metres	Cent
0.25	10,890	1,012	25
0.5	21,780	2,023	50
1	43,560	4,047	100
2	87,120	8,094	200
5	2,17,800	20,234	500
10	4,35,600	40,469	1,000
50	21,78,000	2,02,343	5,000
100	43,56,000	4,04,686	10,000

Where 43,560 comes from. An acre was originally the strip a yoke of oxen could plough in a day: one furlong long (660 ft) by one chain wide (66 ft). 660 × 66 = 43,560. The number is not round because the shape was not chosen to be tidy.

The formula

acre → square feet = acre × 43,560

acre → square metres = acre × 4,046.8564224

acre → hectare = acre ÷ 2.4710538

Check your own numbers

Convert acres into any Indian or metric land unit and back again.

Area ConverterEvery Indian and metric land unit, converted in both directions.

Frequently asked

How many cent in an acre?

Exactly 100. The cent was created as one-hundredth of an acre precisely so the arithmetic would be easy, which is why it is the working unit for residential plots across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. One cent is 435.6 sq ft.

How many guntha in an acre?

Exactly 40, so one guntha is 1,089 sq ft (33 ft x 33 ft). Guntha is the standard sub-unit in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat land records, and a 7/12 extract will normally state area as "hectare-are" with the guntha figure alongside.

Is an acre bigger than a hectare?

No, a hectare is bigger - about 2.471 times bigger. One hectare is 10,000 square metres, or 107,639 sq ft, or 2.471 acres. Going the other way, one acre is 0.4047 hectares. Indian revenue records switched to hectares decades ago, but sale prices are still negotiated in acres, cent, guntha or bigha.

How big is an acre in football pitches?

A little smaller than one. A FIFA standard pitch is about 105 m x 68 m = 7,140 square metres, which is 1.76 acres. So an acre is roughly 57 per cent of a full-size football pitch, or almost exactly the playing area of a hockey field.

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