How Long Is 30 Yards? (With 9 Examples)

Thirty yards can be difficult to estimate. It’s long but not as long or tall as most large objects we might normally use for comparison, making it hard to visualize.

Knowing how 30 yards does compare to these objects and other familiar things, however, can make it easier to get a feel for that length or distance.

How long is 30 yards?

Thirty yards is equal to 90 feet or about 27.4 meters. This is about 0.02 miles or 0.03 kilometers. There are about 1.2 footsteps per 1 yard, so there are about 36 footsteps or strides in 30 yards.

It only takes around a second to take a footstep or walk a yard, so this means it would take only slightly more than half a minute to walk 30 yards.

Basketball Court

A basketball court is a great way to visualize 30 yards. A basketball court must be exactly 91.86 feet long, which is only slightly longer than 30 yards.

If you can picture a basketball court, you can easily visualize 30 yards.

Baseball Base Distances

Another excellent sports-related way to visualize 30 yards is to think of a baseball diamond. The distances from home plate to first base, first base to second base, second base to third base, and third base to home plate are all exactly 90 feet or 30 yards.

Parking Spaces

The size of a single parking space varies slightly from one parking lot to the next, but an average parking space is 20 feet or about 6.7 yards long. You would need about 4.5 parking spaces, lined up end to end, to equal 30 yards.

Picturing parking spaces from the side, as they would be lined up in a parking lot, can be even more helpful. The average parking space is 8 feet or about 2.67 yards wide, so you can imagine 11.5 parking spots in a parking lot to visualize 30 yards.

Telephone Poles

Telephone poles vary in height depending on where they’re placed. On highways, telephone poles can reach as high as 120 feet.

However, in a residential neighborhood, telephone poles are usually between 30 and 60 feet tall. This means that a small telephone pole is about 1/3 of 30 yards.

A tall residential telephone pole is 2/3 of 30 yards.

School Bus

School buses range from about 20 to 45 feet long, depending on how many students they need to transport and what type of roads they’ll be driving on.

Most school buses, however, are about 35 feet long. This means that two school buses are about 10 feet longer than 30 yards. Picturing two buses can still give you a good grasp of how long 30 yards is.

Airplanes

Airplanes, whether they’re large passenger planes or smaller private planes, are an excellent comparison for 30 yards. Large commercial planes are usually between 130 and 160 feet in length, which is equal to 43.3 to 53.3 yards, so even a small commercial passenger plane is about 1.5 times longer than 30 yards.

A small private plane, such as a Cessna, however, is usually about 33 feet long. This means you would need three small private planes to equal around 30 yards.

Blue Whale

Blue whales are the largest animals on the planet. Most blue whales grow to between 65 and 80 feet long, but many of these magnificent creatures can grow to 90 or even 100 feet in length.

This means that picturing a blue whale means that you’re often picturing a length that is either just shorter or just longer than 30 yards.

Fin whales, which are not as well-known or as recognizable, are an even better comparison. These whales often grow to right around 90 feet or 30 yards long.

Dinosaurs

Many people can picture a T-rex, Brachiosaurus, or other large dinosaurs, so they’re a fantastic comparison for 30 yards.

Although they’re often thought of as incredibly large, Tyrannosaurus rex only grew to about 12 feet tall, but they could be as long as 40 feet.

This means you would need about two T-rexes, measured length-wise, to equal just over 30 yards.

The Brachiosaurus is one of the most easily-recognizable sauropods or long-necked dinosaurs. These dinosaurs measured between 85 and 98 feet, so they were right around 30 yards long.

The Triceratops is another excellent comparison, as adult triceratops could grow to between 26 and 30 feet long. This means that three Triceratops would have measured about 30 yards long.

Spruce, Maple, and Baobab Trees

Trees are relatively easy to picture, but different species grow to different heights. Spruce pine trees, which are relatively common, often grow to between 50 and 90 feet, so a tall spruce is often about 30 yards high.

Maple trees also routinely grow to about 30 yards tall. Baobab trees, which grow in Africa, Australia, and Madagascar, are also easy to recognize, although they’re not commonly seen outside of these countries.

They tend to grow to about 90 feet in height.