Land measurement

How many square feet is 1 cent of land?

Cent is the working unit for house plots across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is exact, and the arithmetic is deliberately easy.

1 cent is 435.6 square feet, or 40.47 square metres. A cent is defined as one hundredth of an acre, and an acre is 43,560 sq ft, so the conversion is exact rather than regional. A typical 5-cent house plot is 2,178 sq ft; a 10-cent plot is 4,356 sq ft.

Worked out 2026-09-10 (IST) · 1 cent = 1/100 acre, by definition

Cent to square feet

Every value below is exact: cent × 435.6.

Cent converted to square feet, square metres and acres
Cent	Square feet	Square metres	Acres	Ground
1	435.6	40.5	0.01	0.18
2	871.2	80.9	0.02	0.36
3	1,306.8	121.4	0.03	0.54
5	2,178.0	202.3	0.05	0.91
8	3,267.0	303.5	0.07	1.36
10	4,356.0	404.7	0.10	1.81
15	6,534.0	607.0	0.15	2.72
20	8,712.0	809.4	0.20	3.63
25	10,890.0	1,011.7	0.25	4.54
50	21,780.0	2,023.4	0.50	9.07
100	43,560.0	4,046.9	1.00	18.15

1 cent against the other South Indian units

1 cent in local units
Unit	Square feet	1 cent equals	State
Ground	2,400	0.1815 ground	Tamil Nadu
Ankanam	72	6.05 ankanam	Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
Guntha	1,089	0.40 guntha	Karnataka, Maharashtra
Gaj (sq yd)	9	48.40 gaj	North India
Square metre	10.76	40.47 sq m	Registration documents

Check the record, not the internet. Bigha, katha, gaj and cent are customary units, not units defined by the Legal Metrology Act. The conversion that binds you is the one printed on the local revenue record — the khasra, khatauni, RTC or 7/12 extract — and it can differ from the district figure by a few per cent. Use the numbers here to sanity-check a broker’s claim, and the revenue record to sign anything.

The formula

cent → square feet = cent × 435.6

square feet → cent = square feet ÷ 435.6

cent → acre = cent ÷ 100

Check your own numbers

Convert cent to square feet, ground, ankanam, guntha, acre or square metres.

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

Frequently asked

How many cents make an acre?

Exactly 100 - that is the definition of a cent. So 50 cent is half an acre (21,780 sq ft) and 25 cent is a quarter acre (10,890 sq ft). Because the relationship is exact and decimal, cent is the easiest Indian land unit to do mental arithmetic in.

Is cent the same as decimal?

Yes, in practice. The unit called "decimal" or "dismil" in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal is also one-hundredth of an acre, so 1 decimal = 1 cent = 435.6 sq ft. The two words describe the same area; which one you hear depends on the state.

How many cent is a ground?

A ground, the Chennai unit, is 2,400 sq ft, which is 5.51 cent. Going the other way, one cent is 0.1815 ground. Chennai listings often quote both, and the mismatch of 5.51 is why a "5.5 ground" plot and a "30 cent" plot are almost but not quite the same size.

What is 1 cent in ankanam?

One ankanam is 72 sq ft (an 8 ft x 9 ft rectangle), so 1 cent is 6.05 ankanam. Ankanam is used in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and southern Karnataka, mostly for smaller urban plots where cent would give an awkward fraction.

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