What is a Square Mile?

The square mile equals exactly 2.589988110336 square kilometers (or 640 acres) and is the American unit for measuring large geographic areas: counties, states, watersheds, and large parks. The continental United States covers about 3 million square miles, and Texas alone is 268,597 mi². Population density in US contexts is given in people per square mile (e.g., New York City has about 27,000 people/mi²). The square mile relates to the acre (640 acres = 1 mi²), the square kilometer (1 mi² ≈ 2.59 km²), the square foot (1 mi² = 27,878,400 ft²), and the hectare (1 mi² ≈ 259 ha). It is the natural large-area unit for American geographic discussion, though metric countries use square kilometers for the same purpose.

Visual reference for how the square mile relates to other area units. Each row links to the full converter for that pair.

• US states, counties and cities
• UK geographic and historical boundaries
• Large estate and national-park reporting in Anglo contexts

• ✓1 mi² = 2.59 km² = 640 acres.
• ✓US land survey "section" = 1 mi²; "township" = 36 mi².
• ✓Common in US geography; replaced by km² in most of world.

• ✗Confusing square miles with statute miles (length).
• ✗Using 2.5 km² shortcut — correct 2.59 km² differs by 3.5%.
• ✗Mixing nautical square miles (irregular) with statute square miles.