Convert Kilometer to Foot (km → ft)

Converting kilometers to feet is straightforward: multiply by the conversion factor. Follow these three steps to do it by hand or in your head.

1. 1
   Take your value in kilometers

   Start with the number of kilometers (km) you want to convert.
2. 2
   Multiply by 3,280.8399

   The conversion factor from km to ft is 3,280.8399. Multiply your value by this number.
3. 3
   Read the result in feet

   The result is your value in feet (ft).

Multiply the value in kilometers by 3,280.8399. For the reverse direction, multiply by 0.000305.

• ✓1 km ≈ 0.621 miles — a quick mental shortcut is to multiply km by 0.6 (or 5/8).
• ✓To convert km/h to m/s divide by 3.6. Useful in physics problems.
• ✓A kilometer takes a healthy adult about 10–12 minutes on foot or 3 minutes on a bicycle.

• ✗Reading a US speed-limit sign as km/h when it is actually mph — 70 mph is 112 km/h, not 70.
• ✗Using 1.5 instead of 1.609 when converting miles to km on long trips — the error compounds.
• ✗Confusing kilometer (distance) with kilogram (mass). Both abbreviated with "k" prefix but measure different things.

What is the Kilometer?

The kilometer equals exactly 1,000 meters and is the international standard unit for road distances, geography, and travel. Adopted as part of the metric system in the 1790s, it became the dominant road-distance unit worldwide except in the United States, the United Kingdom (which uses miles for road signs), and Myanmar. Speed limits across Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Latin America are expressed in km/h. The kilometer's relationship to the meter is decimal and exact, making it ideal for scientific work. A kilometer takes a healthy adult about 12 minutes to walk and roughly 1,250 average steps. Geographic distances — from city blocks to airline routes — are typically given in kilometers, with the Earth's equatorial circumference measuring approximately 40,075 km.

• Motorway distances on road signs across Europe
• Marathon and long-distance running (marathon = 42.195 km)
• GPS navigation and driving directions globally

What is the Foot?

The foot equals exactly 0.3048 meters or 12 inches under the 1959 international agreement. The unit's name reflects its ancient origin as the length of an adult human foot, with measurements varying by region — from 250 mm to over 330 mm — until standardization. The foot is the dominant unit for human height in the United States and the United Kingdom (a person is described as '5 ft 10 in' rather than 178 cm), for building heights, and for aviation altitudes (worldwide aircraft fly at altitudes given in feet, even in metric countries). It remains the standard for residential floor counts, ceiling heights, and ladder ratings. The foot relates to the meter (1 ft ≈ 0.305 m), the yard (3 ft = 1 yd), and the mile (5,280 ft = 1 mi).

• Aircraft cruising altitude in international aviation
• US building heights, ceiling heights and room dimensions
• Mountain elevations on global maps (Everest = 29,032 ft)