Convert Square Foot (US Survey) (ft² (US)) to Section (section) instantly.
About these units
Square Foot (US Survey) (ft² (US))
The US survey square foot is defined using the US survey foot and differs minutely from the international square foot. While the difference is negligible in everyday contexts, in land surveying even tiny discrepancies matter because property boundaries, right-of-way extents, and engineering alignments may accumulate errors over long distances. Surveyors and civil engineers must interpret historical documents using survey-based values to ensure legal consistency with old plats, deeds, and boundary descriptions.
Section (section)
A section is a unit of area equal to one square mile, or 640 acres, derived from the PLSS township system. Each township contains 36 sections arranged in a 6-by-6 grid. Sections were historically granted to settlers, railroads, and states for development, education funding, and agricultural expansion. Because a section is large but manageable, it provided a logical unit for dividing land among homesteaders. Even today, the section persists as a foundation of rural property boundaries. Many farms, ranches, and municipal boundaries reference section lines, reflecting how 19th-century surveying still shapes 21st-century land use.