Have you ever found yourself staring at a property listing and stumped by the term ‘acre’? We’ve got the answers. We promise your understanding will be clear by the end of this blog.

Acre: How Big is Big?

An acre is defined as 43,560 square feet today. To visualize it, imagine about 60% of a football field without the end zones. That’s a lot of room to kick around a soccer ball. And just so you know, the measurement appeared in England when the U.S. was merely a gleam in the founders’ eyes. We adopted it, and like any guest that overstays their welcome, it hung around.

Why an Acre?

Think of large tracts of land. We sometimes refer to these vast expanses in square miles, but applying the same to smaller properties is like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly. And since one square mile is equivalent to a whopping 640 acres, it’s easier to grasp the concept of half an acre than a mind-bending 1/1,280 of a square mile.

This measurement also outshines square feet in measuring large properties. Sure, square feet are great for measuring your city apartment or a corner cafe. But for more extensive tracts of land, using square footage means dealing with big numbers with way too many zeros. That’s something we want only if it’s in our bank accounts.

The Canvas of Possibilities

What’s more, this fantastic unit doesn’t discriminate. Whether your land looks like a pancake or more like a ski slope, an acre remains an acre. Our surveyors afford every rolling hill and steep incline the flat earth treatment because, let’s face it, the world is complicated enough without throwing topography into the mix.

Get Your Conversion Game On

Now, let’s talk conversions. Don’t fret; this isn’t a high school math pop quiz. Knowing how to convert between acres and square feet helps, especially if you have some structures in the mix. It’s as simple as multiplication and division or pulling up a calculator app. Trust us, you’ll feel like a real estate wizard in no time!

To convert square feet to acres, divide the square footage by 43,560 to get the number of acres.
Example: A parcel of land is 700′ by 950′. How many acres are in the parcel? 700′ x 950′ = 665,000 SF ÷ 43,560 = 15.26 acres
To convert acres to square feet, multiply the number of acres by 43,560 feet.
Example: A parcel of land containing 8 acres has how many square feet? 8 x 43,560′ = 348,480 square feet.

We hope this gives you some clarity on the size of an acre and why it’s our go-to unit for measuring land. If we’ve tickled your land-buying fancy, stroll over to Crew Land Co, and let’s chat!