Square Yards Calculator

Square yards = length (ft) × width (ft) ÷ 9

L

Length of the area, in the unit you measured it in

W

Width of the area, in the same unit

9

Square feet in one square yard — 3 ft × 3 ft

Use it when a supplier quotes in square yards and your measurements are not in yards, which is most of the time: a room drawn in feet, a border stepped out in metres, a plan whose dimensions are in inches. Multiply the two dimensions first and divide by nine at the end — dividing each dimension by three before multiplying gives the same answer but rounds twice. For an L-shaped area, split it into two rectangles, convert each, and add the square yards; converting the total is the same number, and the two-rectangle habit is what keeps an irregular floor plan honest.

1. A 20 by 10 ft area — a small patio

   1. Area: 20 × 10 = 200 ft²
   2. Square yards: 200 ÷ 9 = 22.22 yd²
   3. In metric: 200 ft² = 18.58 m²

   22.22 square yards is the number to give a supplier who prices paving or turf by the yard. Round up before ordering: material is sold in whole square yards, and 23 is the quantity, not 22.22.

2. A 12 by 12 ft room

   1. Area: 12 × 12 = 144 ft²
   2. Square yards: 144 ÷ 9 = 16 exactly
   3. In metric: 144 ft² = 13.38 m²

   A 12 foot room is exactly four yards across, so the answer is a whole number — one of the few cases where the conversion comes out clean. Carpet is sold by the square yard in the United States and by the square metre almost everywhere else, which is why both figures are on the result panel.

3. A 36 by 18 ft driveway apron

   1. Area: 36 × 18 = 648 ft²
   2. Square yards: 648 ÷ 9 = 72 yd²
   3. In metric: 648 ft² = 60.2 m²

   Once you have the area in square yards, the volume is one step further: multiply by the depth in yards. Two inches is 0.0556 yards, and 72 × 0.0556 = 4 cubic yards of gravel to cover it — which is what the cubic yards calculator and the gravel calculator do directly.

The area is the product of two dimensions, so it is only as good as they are: a room measured to the nearest inch on one side and paced out on the other gives an area with a few per cent of error in it, and material is ordered in whole units, so a small error usually rounds away. The conversion is exact — nine square feet to a square yard is definitional, not approximate — and the square metres figure is the one that carries rounding, since a square metre is 1.19599 square yards. This page gives area only: no volume, no depth and no allowance for waste, because waste belongs to the material rather than to the shape of the ground — turf and paving both want 5% to 10% added, and that is a decision the material pages make. For an irregular shape, break it into rectangles rather than trying to measure the diagonal, and leave the conversions to the last step.

How do I convert square feet to square yards?

Divide by nine. A square yard is three feet by three feet, so it holds nine square feet: 200 square feet is 22.22 square yards. Going the other way, multiply by nine. The number nine is exact by definition, so the only rounding is the decimal places you choose to keep.

How many square yards is a 12 by 12 room?

16 square yards, which is 144 square feet or 13.38 square metres. Twelve feet is exactly four yards, so both dimensions are whole yards and the answer is a whole number — a coincidence of the room size rather than a rule, and a 12 by 13 room comes out at 17.33.

How many square yards are in an acre?

4,840. An acre is 43,560 square feet, and dividing by nine gives 4,840 square yards. For smaller plots it is often easier to work in square feet and convert at the end, because an acre expressed in square yards is a number nobody has an intuition for.

What is yardage?

Yardage is the same quantity as area in square yards — the word is used in carpet, turf and paving work, where the supplier quotes a price per yard. If a quote says the yardage is 23, it means 23 square yards, and 23 square yards is 207 square feet.

Is a square yard the same as a yard?

No, and it is the most common mix-up in this area. A yard is a length of three feet; a square yard is a square three feet on each side, which is nine square feet. Material priced by the yard is priced by the square yard, but a roll of carpet four yards long covers four linear yards, not four square yards.

How do I work out the area in square yards of an L-shaped room?

Split it into two rectangles, convert each one and add them. A 12 by 12 room with a 6 by 4 alcove is 144 + 24 = 168 square feet, which is 18.67 square yards. Adding the square feet first and dividing by nine once gives the same answer and avoids rounding each piece separately.

• Approximate Conversions from U.S. Customary Measures to Metric — the chart behind the square foot, square yard and square metre figures on this page — National Institute of Standards and Technology
• The International System of Units (SI) brochure — the square metre, which is what the metric figure is expressed in — Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)