How to use it
- Pick how you want to enter the height: centimeters, meters, feet + inches, or inches.
- Type the value. In feet + inches mode you can also type
5'10"straight into the feet box. - Read the result in the other system, plus every common format in the table below it.
Feet and inches vs decimal feet
US heights are written in feet and inches: 5 ft 9 in means five feet plus nine inches. Decimal feet are different. 5.9 ft is not 5 ft 9 in: 0.9 of a foot is 10.8 inches, so 5.9 ft = 5 ft 10.8 in. This converter shows both, so they never get mixed up.
How the conversion works
inches = centimeters ÷ 2.54
feet = whole part of (inches ÷ 12)
remaining inches = inches − 12 × feet
centimeters = (feet × 12 + inches) × 2.54
The inches are rounded before splitting into feet. So a height that rounds to 72.00 inches is shown as 6 ft 0 in, never as “5 ft 12 in”.
Worked examples
180 cm in feet and inches
180 ÷ 2.54 = 70.87 in = 5 × 12 + 10.87
5 ft 10.87 in
1.65 m in feet and inches
165 ÷ 2.54 = 64.96 in
5 ft 4.96 in
5.9 decimal feet
0.9 ft × 12 = 10.8 in
5 ft 10.8 in
5 ft 7 in in centimeters
(5 × 12 + 7) × 2.54
170.18 cm
6 feet in centimeters
6 × 30.48
182.88 cm
Where this comes up
- Filling in US forms such as a driver’s license application, which ask for feet and inches.
- Reading sports rosters and athlete profiles that use either system.
- Comparing clothing and furniture listings that give height in centimeters.
About the drawing
The figure is drawn exactly as tall as the height you enter, standing on the ground line. Centimeters run up the left axis and feet up the right, at the same scale. The dashed outline is a typical US interior door (80 inches, or 6 ft 8 in) for reference. Heights outside the human range are drawn as a plain bar.
Questions
How tall is 6 feet in cm?
Exactly 182.88 cm (72 inches × 2.54).
Is 5.5 feet the same as 5 foot 5?
No. 5.5 ft is five and a half feet, which is 5 ft 6 in. 5 ft 5 in is about 5.42 ft.
How precise should a height be?
People rarely know their height to better than about half an inch or one centimeter, so whole inches or one decimal place is usually plenty. Use the inch decimals setting to change it.