How many sections are in 1 acre?

1 acre equals 0.0015625 sections, using the exact defined conversion factor rather than an estimate.

How do I convert acre to section?

Multiply the acre value by 0.0015625. The converter above does this instantly to whatever precision you set.

How do I convert section back to acre?

Use the reverse factor: 1 section equals 640 acres. You can also use the swap control in the converter above to flip the direction instantly.

Section (section) is a unit of area.

Is the acre to section conversion exact?

Yes. The international acre is defined as exactly 4,046.8564224 square meters. That fixed definition is what the converter above uses, so any rounding you see is a display choice, not a limitation of the math.

Acres to Sections Converter

Q: What is a acre?

Acre (ac) measures area. The international acre is defined as exactly 4,046.8564224 square meters. It is classified as a US/imperial customary unit.

About Converting Acres to Sections

Comparing Acre and Section is common in agriculture and real estate, where US land is typically measured in acres and most of the rest of the world uses hectares. Acre is most often used for measuring farmland, ranch, and rural property size in the us.

Formula

sections = acres × 0.0015625

This factor comes from each unit's defined relationship to the category's base unit: 1 acre equals 4046.8564224 base units, and 1 section equals 2589988.11034 base units, so dividing one by the other gives the direct acre-to-section factor of 0.0015625.

Simple example

1 ac × 0.0015625 = 0.0015625 section

1 acre = 0.0015625 sections.

Real-world example

10 ac × 0.0015625 = 0.015625 section

10 acres = 0.015625 sections.

Conversion table

Acre (ac)	Section (section)
1 ac	0.0015625 section
5 ac	0.0078125 section
10 ac	0.015625 section
25 ac	0.0390625 section
50 ac	0.078125 section
100 ac	0.15625 section

Reverse conversion: Section to Acre

0.0015625 section × 640 = 1 ac

0.0015625 sections = 1 acre.

acres = sections × 640

For a page dedicated to this direction, see Section to Acre.

Understanding the Acre

Acre (ac) measures area. The international acre is defined as exactly 4,046.8564224 square meters. It is classified as a US/imperial customary unit.

Where it's used: United States United Kingdom (informal/historical, land registry legacy) Countries with historical British land-survey systems

International acre vs. US survey acre. The US survey acre, based on the US survey foot, differs from the international acre by about two parts per million. The US retired the survey foot/acre for federal use at the end of 2022.

Uses of the Acre today

Measuring farmland, ranch, and rural property size in the US
Real estate listings and zoning for land parcels
Forestry and land-management reporting

History of the Acre

The acre originated in medieval England as a practical field measurement: the area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day, roughly a furlong (660 ft) long by a chain (66 ft) wide, giving the 43,560 square feet still used today.

Edward I's 1305 statute formalized this figure. In 1959, the same International Yard and Pound Agreement that fixed the pound also fixed the international acre at exactly 4,046.8564224 m², though the US separately retained a slightly different 'US survey acre' for some legacy land records until it was phased out in 2023.

Historical origin. Acre was not the invention of a single named person; it developed through the process described above.

Understanding the Section (section)

A US public land survey section is one square mile or 640 acres.

Acre — sources

NIST — US Survey Foot: Revised Unit Conversion Factors — Documents the 1959 international acre definition and the 2022/2023 survey-foot retirement.

Acres to Sections Converter — ac to section

Area Converter