A hectare is a large measurement that doesn’t fit into or isn’t defined by the International System of Units.
This is because the hectare measurement isn’t used as frequently as square feet, yards, or meters or the acre measurement.
However, hectares are often used by governments to measure large swathes of land, and many farmers still use hectare measurements to divide their fields and plan their harvests or pastures.
Because it’s not as common as an acre measurement, however, visualizing a hectare can be challenging.
How big is a hectare compared to an acre?
One hectare is 10,000 square meters. This is equal to about 11,959.9 square yards, 107,639 square feet, or just over 2.47 acres. Like an acre, a hectare can be any shape, and it can have more than four edges.
These edges do not need to equal any particular length, although many people visualize a hectare by picturing a square with sides that are each 100 meters.
How long would it take to walk across a hectare?
In general, it takes about 35 seconds to walk across an acre. Of course, this time frame can change depending on multiple factors, such as your personal walking speed, the terrain, the weather, and what shape the acre is.
We can still use this estimate to get a feel for how long it might take to walk a certain distance, though.
Since we know 1 hectare is about 2.5 acres, we can estimate that it would take about 105 seconds or about 1 minute and 45 seconds to walk across a hectare.
Sports Fields
Sports fields are one of the most frequent spaces used to compare to a hectare because some large sports fields equal almost 1 hectare in size.
For example, a rugby field has an average length of 125 meters and is usually around 69 meters wide.
This gives the field a total size of about 8,625 square meters, which is just less than 1 hectare. Including the out-of-bounds areas can give you a space that’s very close to 1 hectare.
Soccer fields are another excellent comparison. Although not all soccer fields have the same length and width measurements, most are about 105 meters wide and around 68 meters long, for a total size of about 7,140 square meters.
Again, if you add in the out-of-bounds areas, you’ll probably have a field or stadium that’s about 1 hectare in size.
American football fields are even easier for people from the U.S. to visualize. These fields are 160 feet wide and 360 feet long.
This equals about 48.8 meters by 109.8 meters, for a total size of 5,358.24 square meters.
This means that picturing two American football fields side-by-side will allow you to visualize a space of 10,716.48 square meters which is just over 1 hectare.
Parks
Parks are large, open spaces, and most people can visualize the size of a park easily, so they’re an excellent comparison to hectares or acres.
Playgrounds are the best option for picturing a hectare, as a standard playground is usually about 2 acres in size, just less than 1 hectare.
A small park, such as one you might find tucked into a neighborhood, usually measures about 25 acres, which is around 10 hectares.
Theme Parks
Theme parks are another fun way to imagine a large space. For example, Universal Studios in California spans about 400 acres or around 160 hectares.
Disneyland in Florida, on the other hand, covers an incredible 25,000 acres or about 10,000 hectares.
City Blocks
City blocks are an amazing way to visualize hectares because one city block is usually equal to about 2.5 acres or slightly over 1 hectare in size.
It’s important to remember, however, that city blocks do vary in size from place to place, and although 2.5 acres is the average, each city uses a different measurement to determine its block size.
Homes and Yards
Another easy way to picture the size of a hectare is to use your home or yard as a comparison. Houses and yards do vary greatly in size.
For example, Vermont has the largest lot sizes, with most yards, including the area the house is on, measuring about 1.6 acres.
Nevada has the smallest lot size, with an average measurement of about 7,405 square feet.
In general, however, the average lot size in the U.S. is about 12,632 square feet or 1,173.6 square meters, and the average home size is about 2,400 square feet or 222.97 square meters.
This means that you could fit almost 45 houses or about 8.5 houses and their yards on 1 hectare.
Farms
Compared to a regular family home, a farm is much larger. In the U.S., most farms measure about 445 acres. This is equal to around 178 hectares.
Farms that specialize in growing corn are even larger, with the average corn farm size measuring around 725 acres or 290 hectares.
