How to Calculate Square Footage

Square footage is area expressed in square feet. Likewise, square yardage is area
expressed in square yards. Square meters is also a common measure of area.
Assume you have a rectangular area such as a room and, for example, you want to
calculate the square footage area for flooring or carpet.
The way to calculate a rectangular area is by measuring the length and width of your
area then multiplying those two numbers together to get the area in feet squared
(ft2). If you have on odd shaped area, such as an L-shape, split it into square or
rectanglualar sections and treat them as two separate areas. Calculate the area of
each section then add them together for your total. If your measurements are in
different units, say feet and inches, you can first convert those values to feet, then
multiply them together to get the square footage of the area.
1. Measure
o

Measure your area

2. Convert all of your measurements to feet

o

If you measured in feet skip to step 3

If you measured in feet & inches, divide inches by 12 and add that to your
feet measure to get total feet

If you measured in another unit of measure, do the following to convert to

feet

inches, divide by 12 and that is your measurement in feet

yards, multiply by 3 and that is your measurement in feet

centimeters, multiply by 0.03281 to convert to feet

meters, multiply by 3.281 to convert to feet

3. Calculate
o

Calculate your area

If you are measuring a square or rectangle area, multiply length times

width; Length x Width = Area.

For other area shapes, see formulas below to calculate Area (ft2) = Square
Footage.

Convert among square inch, square foot, square yard and

square meter

You could, for example, perform all of your measurements in inches or centimeters,
calculate area in square inches or square centimeters then convert your final answer
to the unit you need such as square feet or square meters.
To convert among square feet, yards and meters use the following conversion
factors. For other units use our calculator for area conversions.

Square Feet to Square Yards

o

Square Feet to Square Meters

o

multiply yd2 by 0.836127 to get m2

Square Meters to Square Feet

o

multiply yd2 by 9 to get ft2

Square Yards to Square Meters

o

multiply ft2 by 0.092903 to get m2

Square Yards to Square Feet

o

multiply ft2 by 0.11111 to get yd2

multiply m2 by 10.7639 to get ft2

Square Meters to Square Yards

o

multiply m2 by 1.19599 to get yd2

Square Footage Formulas and Images for Different Areas

Using measurements in feet:

Area (ft2) = 2 x Side Length

Square

Using measurements in feet:

Area (ft2) = Length x Width

Rectangl
e

Using measurements in feet:

Inner Area (ft2) = Length x Width

Rectangl
e
Border

Total Area (ft2) = (Length + (2 x Border Width)) x

(Width + (2 x Border Width))
Area (ft2) = Total Area - Inner Area

Using measurements in feet:

Area (ft2) = Pi x (Diameter/2)^2
Pi = 3.14
Circle

Using measurements in feet:

Outer Diameter = Inner Diameter + (2 x Border
Width)
Outer Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Outer Diameter/2)^2
Circle
Border

Inner Area (ft2)

= Pi x (Inner Diameter/2)^2
Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area
Pi = 3.14
Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just
measured differently.

Using measurements in feet:

Outer Area (ft2)
= Pi x (Outer Diameter/2)^2

Annulus

Inner Area (ft2)

= Pi x (Inner Diameter/2)^2
Area (ft2) = Outer Area - Inner Area
Pi = 3.14
Obviously, the Circle Border and Annulus are the same, just
measured differently.

Using measurements in feet:

Area (ft2) = (1/4) x square root[ (a+b+c) x (b+ca) x (c+a-b) x (a+b-c) ]

Triangle