Just how big is one acre of land?
A lot of people ask this question, and to be honest, it is a tough question to answer. So rather than try and describe how big an acre of land is by saying it is 43,560 square feet, or roughly 208′ x 208′ square, or bigger than a bread basket, etc., here are some examples of just how big some common known things and places are so you can picture it better in your mind.
Sports Examples:
An NFL football field including the end zones is 1.32 acres A football field is 120 yards long (360 feet) and 53 1/3 yards wide (160 feet), which would be 57,600 square feet (360′ x 160′). So to get the total acreage just divide the total square feet in a football field by the square feet in one acre (43,560′) and you get 1.32 acres.
Most soccer fields are about 1.86 acres Official soccer field size for adults can range from 50 to 100 yards wide by 100 to 130 yards long, but the optimum size for a soccer field is 120 by 75 yards (360′ x 225′) for a total of 81,000 square feet, which is 1.86 acres.
An NBA basketball court is 0.11 acre An NBA basketball court is 94′ long and 50′ wide for a total of 4700 square feet, which is 0.11 acre or very similar in size to many residential lots in large cities that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A regulation hockey rink is 0.39 acre The official size of a hockey rink is 200 ft long and 85 ft wide, which is 17,000 square feet.
Famous Landmarks:
A “city block” is between 2 to 5 acres Depending on where you live most city blocks (New York City, NY) are 660 feet by 330 feet or 217,800 square feet which is exactly 5 acres, but each city varies with its age and topography. In Portland, Oregon, city blocks are square (approx. 290′ x 290′), and much smaller than in New York City.
Central Park in New York City is 843 acres Central Park was once barren swampland, but now has almost 30,000 trees, over 58 miles of walking paths and almost 10,000 park benches.
Disneyland is about 300 acres Located in Anaheim, California a suburb of Los Angeles, Disneyland receives approximately 13.7 million visitors each year.
Disney World Resort is more than 30,000 acres Disney World was build entirely on a swamp, and purchased secretly by Walt Disney using many different corporations so that land owners wouldn’t raise their prices if they found out it was Disney buying all the surrounding land. It has many different theme parks and hosts over 40 million visitors per year; Epcot Center (10.6 million visitors per year), Magic Kingdom Park (15.6 million visitors per year), MGM Studios (9.5 million visitors per year), and Animal Kingdom (6.0 million visitors per year) theme parks as well as Blizzard Beach, River Country, and Typhoon Lagoon water parks.
The worlds smallest city, Vatican City, is 110 acres in size Vatican City is an independent state within Rome, Italy, that is ruled by the Pope and serves as the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. Entirely surrounded by Rome, Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, with an area of 44 hectares (110 acres). In 2001, Vatican City had an estimated population of 1,000.
Khufu or Cheop’s Great Pyramid is 0.82 acre The Great Pyramid is 756 feet (241 meters) square or 189′ x 189′ so it has a total of 35,721 square feet.
Famous Ships:
The Titanic was about 1.86 acres This famous ship launched in 1911 was the biggest for its day measuring 882′ 8″ long and 92′ wide or 81,204.72 square feet, so now divide by 43,560 and you get 1.86 acres.
The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan is over 5 acres The Titanic was huge for its day, but when compared to the current largest ship in the world, the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, it seems rather small. The Ronald Reagan displaces around 95,000 tons of water when it is fully loaded and has a top speed of over 30 knots. It is powered by two nuclear reactors, and can sail for over 20 years before needing to refuel. This Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is 1,092 feet long and is 134 feet wide at the beam and has a flight deck 252′ wide. The flight deck alone covers over 4.5 acres and carries more than 5,500 sailors and over 80 aircraft.
Other Real Estate Measurement Questions
How many acres are in a square mile?
There are 640 acres in a square mile (5280′ x 5280′), which is called a “section” of land. Many farmers, ranchers, and large companies buy property by the section.
How many people could reasonably stand in one acre of land?
Let’s assume the average person needs a space that is 24 inches x 14 inches (about the size of a small file cabinet) to stand comfortably, which is 2.33 square feet of room to stand. Now if you take the number of square feet in an acre (43,560) and divide it by 2.33 square feet, you get 18,695.28 square feet. Therefore we could reasonably assume that it is possible to fit between 18,000 to 30,000 standing people within the boundaries of an acre of land depending on their size and tolerance for close proximity to each other.
Add Comment