The Square foot is a unit of area used in the United States and parts of other countries. This measurement refers to the area of a square with equal sides that measure one foot each. This unit of area is often used in construction and real estate, so knowing how to measure square feet is a useful skill if you’re looking for a new a new apartment or to make changes to your current living space.

The basic formula for measuring square feet

• Area in square feet= length x width

What is a square foot?

Before breaking down how to measure the square feet of a space, it’s helpful to understand when to use this unit of measurement and to what it actually refers. Square Footage is the flat space that covers an area, using the width and length to create a total number of square feet. You can easily measure the width and length of a room by taking a tape measure along the walls, but you may not be as certain of how that translates to whether your furniture will fit in the space.

Using the square Footage of a room helps you determine the surface area. You can then use this number when measuring furnishings, rugs, and other decor elements to make sure they’ll fit, as well as to see how much of the room they will take up. Along with figuring out the square footage of the room, you’ll also need to determine the measurements of all the furnishings you plan to put in the space. This measurement is known as the footprint, or the amount of ground space it will take up.

How to calculate square footage

The formula for calculating square footage is pretty simple — multiply the length of the room by the width of the room. The answer is the number of square feet of the room. If needed, you can then translate the number into other units of measure, such as square yards or square inches, although these aren’t used as frequently when assessing room sizes or other aspects of real estate.

Here’s an example: If you have a queen bed that measures 60 inches by 80 inches, the square footage of the bed is approximately 33 1/3. This number comes from converting the length and width to feet (5 and 6.67, respectively) and multiplying them together. If the bedroom in a rental apartment you’re considering is 12 feet long by 10 feet wide, the total square footage of the space is 120. Your bed would take up just over one-quarter of the space, so it would likely be a good fit with room to walk around it and add other furnishings. 

Deducting the closet 

Since a bedroom typically has a closet, it’s important to deduct the square footage of the closet when using the equation outlined above. The closet may take up a portion of the room’s square footage, leaving a little less space for furniture. But if you don’t deduct the closet size from your square footage calculation, you may end up with furnishings that don’t quite fit. Most closets are rectangular in shape, so use the same calculation and multiply the width by the length of the space. You can subtract the answer from the square footage of the room overall. 

Square footage calculations in oddly shaped rooms

Not all rooms are perfectly square or rectangular in shape, but you can still calculate the square footage with a minor change to the equation. Simply break the oddly shaped room into square- or rectangle-shaped sections and calculate the square footage of them individually. You can then add the numbers together to get a total estimate. If the room you’re looking at has many angles, you can try using the triangular formula, which divides the answer of the length times the width by two.

Measuring the square footage of an apartment or house

If you want to figure out the full square footage of an entire apartment or house, you can use the same equation and add the numbers together. Multiply the length and width of each room to get the square footage of all rooms individually. Add up the numbers to get the total square footage of the home. When performing this calculation, make sure to include all the rooms, such as bathrooms, living spaces, the kitchen, and the laundry room.

Usable square footage

Now that you know how to calculate the square footage of a room, it’s helpful to understand the difference between square footage and usable square footage. The latter term more often applies to commercial real estate, referring to the spaces in an office or facility that a tenant can use and deducting the common areas like lobbies, hallways, or staircases. But in a residential setting, usable square footage may refer to the amount of personal space an individual will receive in a home.

If you’re renting a room in a home with a shared kitchen, living space, bathroom, and/or laundry room, the usable square footage usually refers to the size of the personal space that you won’t share with anyone else. For example, a room rental listing might state that the personal space available is 140 square feet. In this situation, you would have 140 square feet of private space and access to common areas that aren’t included in that number. The room would be 10 feet wide by 14 feet long (or vice versa).

Before you decide to move to a new place, it’s helpful to consider the square footage and how well your stuff would fit into the available space. Moving into a smaller apartment or room might feel cramped, while increasing your square footage in a larger living space can provide more room to relax and decorate with updated furnishings and accents.

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