How to Convert Height in Feet and Inches to cm

In the US and the UK a person's height is usually written in feet and inches, such as 5 ft 9 in or 5′9″. Most other countries use centimeters. The conversion takes two steps:

• Find the total inches: feet × 12 + inches.
• Multiply the total inches by 2.54 to get centimeters.

Both numbers are exact: a foot is 12 inches, and since 1959 an inch is exactly 2.54 cm.

• 5 ft 9 in: 5 × 12 + 9 = 69 in, and 69 × 2.54 = 175.26 cm.
• 6 ft 0 in: 6 × 12 = 72 in, and 72 × 2.54 = 182.88 cm.
• 5 ft 4 in: 5 × 12 + 4 = 64 in, and 64 × 2.54 = 162.56 cm.

A common error is to treat 5 ft 9 in as 5.9 ft. A foot has 12 inches, not 10, so 5.9 ft is a different height.

• Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get total inches.
• Divide the total inches by 12. The whole number is the feet.
• The remainder is the inches. Multiply the feet by 12 and subtract that from the total to find it.

Example: 180 cm ÷ 2.54 = 70.8661 in. That is 5 ft (60 in) with about 10.9 in left over, so 180 cm is about 5 ft 11 in.

Example: 165 cm ÷ 2.54 = 64.9606 in, which is about 5 ft 5 in.

A person's height changes slightly over the day and depends on posture, so very precise values are not meaningful.

• Round centimeters to a whole number, for example 175 cm rather than 175.26 cm for 5 ft 9 in.
• Round inches to the nearest whole or half inch, for example 5 ft 10.5 in.
• Round only once, at the end. Converting a rounded value back and forth can shift the result by a centimeter.

In meters, divide centimeters by 100: 6 ft is 1.829 m.

For a quick answer, the site has a dedicated height converter at /height/. It converts between feet and inches and centimeters in one step.

For other lengths, such as a single measurement in inches, use the inch to centimeter converter, which keeps the full precision of the 2.54 factor.