Square Meters to Square Feet Converter
If you're reading a listing from almost anywhere outside the United States, looking at an architect's metric floor plan, or working out how big a 75 square meter apartment really is, you need one number: 10.7639. Type the square meters in and the converter gives you square feet, and it runs the other way too.
The formula
Square meters x 10.7639 = square feet
The factor comes straight out of the definition of the foot. NIST lists the international foot as exactly 0.3048 meters, and the square foot as exactly 0.09290304 square meters. Flip that and one square meter is 10.763910417 square feet, a number that runs on forever, so 10.7639 is as far as anyone needs to take it.
A meter is about 3.28 feet, and area conversions square that: 3.28 x 3.28 gives you 10.76. That squaring step is the single thing people get wrong, and it produces an answer more than three times too small.
Mental shortcut. Multiply by 10, then add three quarters of the original number. For 60 square meters: 600 plus 45 is 645, against an exact 645.8. Close enough to know whether an apartment is worth a viewing.
Square meters to square feet reference table
| Square meters | Square feet | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 10 m2 | 107.6 sq ft | A small bedroom |
| 20 m2 | 215.3 sq ft | A large bedroom |
| 25 m2 | 269.1 sq ft | A studio apartment |
| 30 m2 | 322.9 sq ft | A one-car garage |
| 40 m2 | 430.6 sq ft | A compact one-bedroom |
| 50 m2 | 538.2 sq ft | A comfortable one-bedroom |
| 60 m2 | 645.8 sq ft | A small two-bedroom |
| 70 m2 | 753.5 sq ft | A two-bedroom flat |
| 75 m2 | 807.3 sq ft | A two-bedroom flat |
| 80 m2 | 861.1 sq ft | A large two-bedroom |
| 90 m2 | 968.8 sq ft | A three-bedroom apartment |
| 100 m2 | 1,076.4 sq ft | A small house |
| 120 m2 | 1,291.7 sq ft | A mid-size house |
| 150 m2 | 1,614.6 sq ft | A family house |
| 200 m2 | 2,152.8 sq ft | A large family house |
| 250 m2 | 2,691.0 sq ft | Above the US average new home |
| 300 m2 | 3,229.2 sq ft | A big house |
| 500 m2 | 5,382.0 sq ft | A small commercial floor |
| 1,000 m2 | 10,763.9 sq ft | A commercial floor plate |
What metric apartment sizes actually feel like
The useful comparison is against rooms you already know. A US bedroom of 12 by 12 feet is 144 square feet, or about 13.4 square meters. A two-car garage at roughly 400 square feet is 37 square meters.
So a 45 square meter apartment, which sounds tiny, is about 484 square feet, a normal city studio or small one-bedroom. A 100 square meter apartment at 1,076 square feet is a proper family home in most of Europe and Asia, even though it would read as a modest house in the US, where new single-family homes average closer to 2,600 square feet.
Hectares, acres, and land
Land is where the units diverge fastest, because metric land measurement jumps to hectares rather than staying in square meters.
| Metric area | Square feet | In acres |
|---|---|---|
| 100 m2 (1 are) | 1,076 sq ft | 0.025 acres |
| 1,000 m2 | 10,764 sq ft | 0.247 acres |
| 4,047 m2 | 43,560 sq ft | 1 acre exactly |
| 10,000 m2 (1 hectare) | 107,639 sq ft | 2.471 acres |
An acre is 43,560 square feet, so it works out to 4,046.86 square meters. A hectare is a square 100 meters on each side, which makes it just under two and a half acres. The square footage to acres converter handles the US side of that.
Check what the metric figure includes
The conversion is exact. What was measured in the first place often isn't comparable, because countries count floor area differently. Balconies, terraces, shared corridors, and space under sloping ceilings are all treated differently from one market to the next, and a listing that quotes a "gross" area can include a share of the building's common parts.
That inconsistency is the reason the International Property Measurement Standards exist, a set of standards developed by a coalition of professional bodies to make floor areas mean the same thing across borders. Adoption is patchy, so when you're comparing a metric listing against a US one, check whether the US figure follows ANSI Z765 living area rules and whether the metric figure is net internal area or something broader. Converting the units is the easy part.
Converting a metric plan for a US materials order
If you're starting from room dimensions in meters rather than a finished area, the square meter calculator multiplies them out first.
If an architect hands you a plan in square meters and you're buying flooring, tile, or paint in the US, convert first, then add waste, and order in square feet.
Worked example. A room measures 4.5 by 6 meters, so 27 square meters. That's 27 x 10.7639 = 290.6 square feet. Laminate at an 8 percent waste factor means ordering about 314 square feet. Do it in that order, because running the waste factor in metric and converting afterwards invites a rounding mistake on the number you actually pay for.
Working straight from metric dimensions is fine too. Convert the meters to feet first (4.5 m is 14.76 ft, 6 m is 19.69 ft), multiply, and you land on the same 290.6 square feet.
Common mistakes
Multiplying by 3.28 instead of 10.76. That converts length, not area. A 100 square meter apartment is 1,076 square feet, not 328.
Confusing square meters with meters squared in speech. "Ten meters squared" strictly means a 10 by 10 square, which is 100 square meters. If a number sounds off by a factor of ten, this is usually why.
Assuming both listings measure the same thing. Balconies and shared space get counted differently by country. Convert the unit, then check the definition.
Rounding too early. Use 10.7639 rather than 10.8. On a 200 square meter house the shortcut adds about 7 square feet, which is harmless for a listing and annoying on a materials order.
Frequently asked questions
How many square feet are in a square meter?
10.7639 square feet. The factor comes from the foot being defined as exactly 0.3048 meters, so a square foot is exactly 0.09290304 square meters and a square meter is 10.763910417 square feet.
How do I convert square meters to square feet?
Multiply the square meters by 10.7639. For 85 square meters, 85 x 10.7639 is about 915 square feet. To go back the other way, multiply square feet by 0.092903.
What is 100 square meters in square feet?
1,076.4 square feet. That is roughly the size of a small three-bedroom house or a large apartment.
How big is 50 square meters in feet?
538 square feet, which is a typical one-bedroom apartment. Picture a space around 23 by 23 feet if it were square.
Why isn't the conversion a round number?
Because the foot and the meter come from unrelated systems. The foot was fixed to the meter by international agreement in 1959 at exactly 0.3048 meters, and squaring that produces 10.763910417, which does not round off neatly.
How many square feet is a hectare?
107,639 square feet, since a hectare is 10,000 square meters. That is 2.471 acres, or a square 100 meters on each side.
Is a square meter bigger than a square foot?
Considerably. One square meter holds almost 11 square feet. A square meter is a square about 3 feet 3 inches on each side, against a square foot's 12 inches.
How do I convert a metric floor plan to square feet for materials?
Convert the area to square feet first, then apply your waste factor and order in square feet. A 27 square meter room is 290.6 square feet, which becomes about 314 square feet ordered with an 8 percent waste allowance.
Sources
- NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.9 conversion factors
- International Property Measurement Standards, RICS
Related tools
Square feet to square meters | Square footage to acres | What is a square foot