Plat Reference · 1 ac = 43,560 ft2 · Section 16 of 36 · T‑Bk 04 · PG 26

Decimal-Acre Reference / Sheet 0.3

0.3 Acres = 13,068 sq ft

A roomy suburban lot, a clear step above the median new US home. The math is exact: 0.3 multiplied by 43,560 (the international acre constant since the 1959 IYPA) equals 13,068 square feet, or 1,214.06 square metres. In surveyor's units that is exactly one chain by three chains.

1,214.1|0.1214 ha|Generous suburban plot

Pre-loaded at 0.3 acres. Edit either field to recompute. Use survey foot toggle for pre-2022 federal land descriptions only.

Square Feet

13,068

international ft2

Square Metres

1,214.06

m2

Hectares

0.1214

ha


Derivation: 0.3 acres × 43,560 sq ft per acre = 13,068 sq ft, exactly. The constant 43,560 comes from one surveyor's chain (66 ft) multiplied by one furlong (660 ft), formalised internationally by the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement. Three-tenths of that area is one chain by three chains: 66 ft × 198 ft = 13,068 sq ft.

Sheet 02 · Scale References

What 13,068 square feet looks like

A 0.3-acre parcel laid out as a perfect square measures about 114.3 feet on each side. Most real 0.3-acre lots are rectangular rather than square: a common suburban shape is 66 ft wide by 198 ft deep, or 80 ft by 163 ft, or 100 ft by 131 ft, sized to fit the street grid. The total area is what matters, and 13,068 sq ft sits at the roomy end of the American single-family suburban range, above the quarter-acre standard and well above the US median new-home lot.

An NBA basketball court

4,700 sq ft

0.3 ac is 2.8× the size

A US doubles tennis court (playing area)

2,808 sq ft

0.3 ac is 4.7× the size

A quarter-acre lot (0.25 acres)

10,890 sq ft

0.3 ac is 1.2× the size

A half-acre lot (0.5 acres)

21,780 sq ft

0.3 ac is 60% of it

A US football field incl. end zones

57,600 sq ft

0.3 ac is 23% of it

The most useful comparison is the quarter acre: a 0.3-acre lot is exactly 1.2 times a 0.25-acre lot, so if you know what a quarter-acre suburban plot looks like, add about a fifth to it. Against a half acre, 0.3 acres is 60 percent of the way there. Walking the perimeter of a square 0.3-acre lot covers about 457 feet, a little over a minute at a normal walking pace.

Sheet 03 · What Gets Built on 0.3 Acres

The generous single-family parcel

Three-tenths of an acre is comfortably above the typical American new-home lot. The US Census Bureau Survey of Construction has reported the median lot size for a newly built single-family detached home at roughly 8,200 to 8,300 sq ft in recent years, which is about 0.19 acres. A 0.3-acre lot is more than half again as large, which puts it at the roomy end of the suburban range: a full detached house with a real yard on every side rather than a compact infill plot.

On 13,068 sq ft, a detached house with a footprint of around 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft leaves generous room for a driveway, a front yard, side setbacks, and a large back yard. A two-storey home can deliver 3,000 to 4,000 finished sq ft on that footprint while keeping lot coverage inside the 30 to 40 percent range that most residential zoning districts allow. The extra land over a quarter-acre lot is what makes room for a pool, a detached garage, a workshop, or an accessory dwelling unit where local code permits.

The exact buildable envelope depends on three local rules that always sit above the raw acreage: the minimum lot size for the zoning district, the maximum lot coverage, and the required front, side, and rear setbacks. A 0.3-acre lot clears the minimum lot size in the great majority of US suburban single-family zones, which commonly set that floor between 6,000 and 10,000 sq ft, but you should still confirm the specific district before relying on the parcel size. A 0.3-acre lot with 35 percent maximum coverage and standard setbacks can support a ground-floor footprint of roughly 4,500 sq ft.

Because 13,068 sq ft is large enough for a big detached home and a usable yard yet small enough to keep maintenance sensible, the 0.3-acre lot is common in lower-density postwar subdivisions and in higher-end modern developments where lot sizes were set at three or four to the acre rather than five or six.

Sheet 04 · Why 0.3 Acres Shows Up in Records

Where the number comes from

If you searched ".3 acres to square feet" you almost certainly read it on a listing, a tax assessor record, a plat, or a survey. The reason three-tenths of an acre appears so often is that many lower-density subdivisions were platted with lot dimensions that round to roughly 13,000 sq ft, and county assessors report acreage to two decimal places:

  • 66 ft by 198 ft (13,068 sq ft, exactly 0.3 acres): the clean chain-based lot, one chain wide by three chains deep, a dimension that traces straight back to the surveyor's chain used to lay out most of the United States.
  • 80 ft by 163 ft (13,040 sq ft, about 0.3 acres): a wider street frontage with a shallower depth, common where developers wanted more houses facing the same length of road.
  • 100 ft by 131 ft (13,100 sq ft, about 0.3 acres): a wide-frontage suburban lot that rounds to 0.3 acres on a tax record, typical of ranch-style subdivisions from the 1950s and 1960s.

All of these round to 0.3 acres on a public-record search because most US assessor offices report acreage to two decimal places. A 12,900 sq ft lot, a 13,068 sq ft lot, and a 13,200 sq ft lot all display as "0.3 acres" on a county parcel lookup. If precision matters, for example when calculating property tax per square foot or checking a lot-coverage ratio against the zoning maximum, pull the recorded plat and use the survey-grade square footage rather than the rounded acreage.

Watch the boundary with a third of an acre. A true third-acre is 0.3333 acres, or 14,520 sq ft, about 1,452 sq ft more than a 0.3-acre lot. On a rounded record a 0.32-acre parcel shows as 0.3 while a 0.33-acre parcel shows as a third, so two lots that look a decimal place apart can differ by well over a thousand square feet. When a listing says "a third of an acre," check whether the recorded figure is really 0.33 or just rounded up from 0.3.

Sheet 05 · Common Questions

Frequently asked, 0.3-acre edition

Exactly how many square feet is 0.3 acres?
0.3 acres equals exactly 13,068 square feet, using the international acre standard of 43,560 sq ft per acre defined by the 1959 International Yard and Pound Agreement. The arithmetic is 0.3 multiplied by 43,560. In square metres the equivalent is 1,214.057 sq m, and in hectares it is 0.121406.
What are the dimensions of a 0.3-acre lot?
Area, not shape, defines a 0.3-acre parcel, and 13,068 sq ft can take many rectangular forms. Laid out as a perfect square it measures about 114.3 ft on each side. In surveyor's units it is exactly one chain by three chains (66 ft by 198 ft), because a chain is 66 ft and one acre is one chain by one furlong. Common real-world equivalents include roughly 66 ft by 198 ft, 80 ft by 163 ft, or 100 ft by 131 ft, depending on how the block was platted.
Is 0.3 acres the same as a third of an acre?
No, but it is close. A true third of an acre is 0.3333 acres, which is 14,520 sq ft. A 0.3-acre lot is 13,068 sq ft, so it is about 90 percent of a full third-acre and roughly 1,452 sq ft smaller. On a county parcel record the two can look almost identical because assessors report acreage to two decimal places, so a 0.32-acre or 0.34-acre lot may display as 0.3 while a 0.33-acre lot rounds to a third. If precision matters, use the recorded square footage rather than the rounded acreage.
Is 0.3 acres a good size to build a house on?
0.3 acres (13,068 sq ft) is a generous single-family lot, larger than the US median for a newly built detached home, which the US Census Bureau Survey of Construction has reported at roughly 8,200 to 8,300 sq ft (about 0.19 acres) in recent years. It comfortably holds a large single-family house of 2,500 to 3,500 sq ft with a driveway, front yard, side yards, and a real back yard once setbacks and lot-coverage limits are applied, and it leaves room for a pool, a detached garage, or an accessory dwelling unit where local code permits.
How big is 0.3 acres compared to a quarter acre and a half acre?
A quarter acre (0.25 acres) is 10,890 sq ft, so 0.3 acres (13,068 sq ft) is exactly 1.2 times a quarter-acre lot, about 20 percent larger. A half acre (0.5 acres) is 21,780 sq ft, so 0.3 acres is exactly 60 percent of a half-acre lot. A 0.3-acre parcel sits between the quarter-acre suburban standard and the half-acre country plot, closer to the quarter acre.
How does 0.3 acres compare to a basketball court or a football field?
An NBA regulation basketball court is 4,700 sq ft, so 0.3 acres (13,068 sq ft) is about 2.8 times the size of an NBA court, nearly three courts. A US doubles tennis court playing area is 2,808 sq ft, so 0.3 acres is roughly 4.7 tennis courts. A full American football field including both end zones is 57,600 sq ft, so 0.3 acres is about 23 percent of the field, a little under a quarter.

Updated 2026-06-09