Acres to Hectares Converter
Convert acres to hectares and square meters. One acre equals about 0.404686 hectares.
Result
The acres to hectares formula
One international acre is defined as 4,046.8564224 square meters, and one hectare is exactly 10,000 square meters. Dividing the acre area by 10,000 gives 0.40468564224 hectares per acre. The factor is exact under the international definition.
hectares = acres x 0.40468564224
square meters = acres x 4,046.8564224Common land-area conversions
A quarter-section of land in the US public survey system is 160 acres, or about 64.75 hectares. A full section is 640 acres, or about 259 hectares. These round numbers are useful for checking a conversion against a legal description.
| Acres | Hectares | Square meters | Square feet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.4047 | 4,046.86 | 43,560 |
| 5 | 2.0234 | 20,234.28 | 217,800 |
| 10 | 4.0469 | 40,468.56 | 435,600 |
| 40 | 16.1874 | 161,874.26 | 1,742,400 |
| 100 | 40.4686 | 404,685.64 | 4,356,000 |
| 640 | 259.0 | 2,589,988 | 27,878,400 |
Acres vs hectares in practice
An acre is roughly the area of a football field without the end zones, about 208.7 feet on each side if square. A hectare is 100 meters on each side. That visual difference explains why a 100-acre farm is only about 40.5 hectares.
Land listings may use acres, hectares or both, and rounding can hide meaningful differences at transaction scale. For a purchase, use the surveyed area in the contract and treat a converted figure as a cross-check rather than the legal number.
Related area units
- 1 acre = 43,560 square feet = 4,840 square yards.
- 1 hectare = 10,000 square meters = 2.47105 acres.
- 1 square mile = 640 acres = 259.0 hectares.
- 1 square kilometer = 100 hectares = 247.105 acres.
- For small plots, square feet or square meters are more useful than either acre or hectare.
Related Calculators
References
Frequently Asked Questions
How many hectares are in an acre?
One acre equals about 0.404686 hectares. To convert acres to hectares, multiply the acre value by 0.404686. For example, 10 acres is about 4.0469 hectares, and 100 acres is about 40.4686 hectares.
How many acres are in a hectare?
One hectare equals about 2.47105 acres. To go the other way, divide the hectare value by 0.404686, or multiply by 2.47105. A 50-hectare field is about 123.55 acres.
Is a hectare bigger than an acre?
Yes. A hectare is 10,000 square meters, while an acre is about 4,046.86 square meters. That makes a hectare about 2.47 times larger than an acre. A square hectare is 100 meters on each side; an acre is roughly 208.7 feet square.
Why does the US use acres instead of hectares?
The acre predates the metric system and remains the customary land unit in the United States. Scientific, forestry and international land records often use hectares. When buying or selling land across borders, state the unit explicitly and use the official survey conversion for legal documents.
Is this conversion exact?
The factor 0.40468564224 is based on the international acre and is accurate for ordinary use. Legal land transactions may rely on survey measurements and jurisdiction-specific definitions, so use the recorded survey area rather than a converted estimate for contracts.
How do I convert acres to square meters?
Multiply acres by 4,046.8564224. Ten acres is 40,468.56 square meters. To convert acres to square feet, multiply by 43,560. The calculator shows square meters alongside hectares so you can check the order of magnitude.