CM to Feet Converter

How to convert cm to feet and inches

To convert cm to feet, divide the centimeters by 30.48 for decimal feet, or, for a height, divide by 2.54 to get inches and then split the inches into feet (÷ 12) and the inches left over. Both numbers are exact: the international inch is defined as 2.54 cm and a foot as 12 inches, as listed in NIST Handbook 44 (Appendix C) and NIST SP 811.

Worked example: 170 cm in feet

170 ÷ 2.54 = 66.93 inches. 66.93 ÷ 12 = 5 with 6.93 inches left over, so 170 cm is 5 ft 6.9 in, just under 5 ft 7 in. For 180 cm: 180 ÷ 2.54 = 70.87 in, which is 5 ft 10.9 in, a hair under 5 ft 11 in. And 183 cm is 72.05 inches, which is why 183 cm is the usual metric stand-in for six feet (exactly 182.88 cm).

Decimal feet are not feet and inches

180 cm is 5.91 feet as a decimal, but that does not mean 5 ft 9.1 in. The .91 is a fraction of a foot: 0.91 × 12 = 10.9 inches. This is the most common mistake with cm to feet conversions, and it runs the other way too: a height written as 5.6 ft is 5 ft 7.2 in (170.69 cm), while 5 ft 6 in is 5.5 ft (167.64 cm). The converter above shows both forms so you can see which one you need.

Rounding heights

Height charts and forms in the US use whole inches, so round the leftover inches to the nearest whole number: 178 cm is 5 ft 10.1 in, written as 5 ft 10 in. Rounding loses at most half an inch (1.27 cm), which is smaller than the difference between a measurement in the morning and in the evening. If you need the reverse, the inches to cm converter turns feet and inches back into centimeters.

Quick mental math

Every 30 cm is about a foot, and every 2.5 cm is about an inch. 150 cm is 5 × 30 = 5 feet (exact: 4 ft 11.1 in), and each additional 2.5 cm adds roughly an inch. For anything you will write down, use the exact result above.

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