What is a section in land measurement?

A section is a land area unit used in the U.S. Public Land Survey System equal to one square mile or 640 acres. It is used for legal descriptions and mapping.

How many U.S. survey acres are in one section?

One section equals approximately 639.997 U.S. survey acres according to the defined conversion rate.

Why is the U.S. survey acre different from the international acre?

The U.S. survey acre uses the U.S. survey foot for its definition, causing it to be slightly larger than the international acre.

How to Convert from Section to Acre (US survey) [ac]

Easily convert land area from sections to U.S. survey acres using our straightforward online area unit converter designed for legal and cadastral surveying needs.

Section

Acre (US survey) [ac]

Please check your input. It must be a valid numeric value.

Section to Acre (US survey) [ac] Conversion Table

Section	Acre (US survey) [ac]

Custom Unit Conversion Table Generator – Instant Printable Conversion Tables

Start Value

Enter the starting number (positive decimal or integer ≥ 0). Example: 0.1, 1, 5.

End Value

Enter the ending number (positive decimal or integer > Start Value). Example: 10, 50, 100.

Interval

Enter the step size (positive decimal > 0 and < End Value – Start Value). Example: 1.0, 2.5.

Section to Acre (US survey) [ac] Conversion Table
Section	Acre (US survey) [ac]

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What Is This Tool?

This converter facilitates the transformation of land area measurements from sections, a standard U.S. Public Land Survey System unit, into U.S. survey acres. It is intended for use in land surveying, legal boundary descriptions, and agricultural planning.

How to Use This Tool?

Enter the land area value in sections into the input field
Select 'section' as the from-unit and 'acre (US survey) [ac]' as the to-unit
Click the convert button to see the equivalent area in U.S. survey acres

Key Features

Converts sections to U.S. survey acres accurately using established conversion rates
Supports land area measurements commonly used in U.S. property deeds and surveying
Browser-based and user-friendly interface for quick calculations
Ideal for cadastral mapping, legal land descriptions, and agricultural resource management

Examples

1 section equals approximately 639.997 U.S. survey acres
0.5 section converts to about 319.999 U.S. survey acres

Common Use Cases

Describing large rural property boundaries in more manageable acre units
Supporting legal and cadastral documentation with standard unit conversions
Planning agricultural activities by converting survey data to acres
Interpreting historical land records measured in U.S. survey feet and acres

Tips & Best Practices

Always verify the unit system used in your land records or maps before converting
Use this conversion tool to maintain consistency in legal or cadastral documentation
Understand that the U.S. survey acre differs slightly from the international acre in size
Double-check large-scale conversions for accuracy due to minor unit size variations

Limitations

The U.S. survey acre is based on the U.S. survey foot, which differs slightly from the international foot
Conversion results may vary slightly from those using international acres because of unit definition differences
Historical records may use differing definitions of acres and sections requiring careful unit confirmation
Minor discrepancies can affect large land area calculations in certain legal or planning contexts

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a section in land measurement?: A section is a land area unit used in the U.S. Public Land Survey System equal to one square mile or 640 acres. It is used for legal descriptions and mapping.
How many U.S. survey acres are in one section?: One section equals approximately 639.997 U.S. survey acres according to the defined conversion rate.
Why is the U.S. survey acre different from the international acre?: The U.S. survey acre uses the U.S. survey foot for its definition, causing it to be slightly larger than the international acre.

Key Terminology

Section: A land area unit equal to one square mile or 640 acres used primarily in the U.S. Public Land Survey System for property description.
Acre (US survey): An area unit based on the U.S. survey foot, equal to 43,560 square U.S. survey feet, used mainly in U.S. land surveying and legal documents.
U.S. survey foot: A unit of length defined as exactly 1200/3937 metres used in defining the U.S. survey acre.

Quick Knowledge Check

What unit is a 'section' equal to in the U.S. Public Land Survey System?

One square kilometer

One square mile

One acre

Approximately how many U.S. survey acres equal one section?

640

639.997

600

Why might the U.S. survey acre differ slightly from the international acre?

Because the definitions use different base measurements

Because the U.S. survey acre uses the U.S. survey foot

Because the international acre is not used in the U.S.

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