Square Kilometers to Hectares Converter — Convert km² to ha (Exact: 1 km² = 100 ha)
Accurate square kilometers (km²) to hectares (ha) converter using the exact metric definition 1 km² = 100 ha. Ideal for regional planning, land use, forestry, agriculture, conservation, and GIS dashboards. Includes precise formulas, worked examples, expanded tables, rounding guidance, detailed FAQs, and practical tips.
Exact factor: 1 km² = 100 ha ⇒ ha = km² × 100. See all land area converters.
About Square Kilometers to Hectares Conversion
The square kilometer (km²) is the go-to unit for regional and national summaries: city footprints, watersheds, reserves, and census reporting. The hectare (ha) is the practical unit for parcels, fields, and operational planning. Converting km² to ha bridges high-level analysis with field-scale decision making so every stakeholder can reason in a familiar unit.
Because 1 km² = 100 ha is exact, the conversion is clean and reproducible across spreadsheets, GIS, APIs, and PDFs. A robust practice is to compute areas canonically (often in m²), derive km² or ha for presentation, and round once at output. This prevents double-rounding and keeps every surface—dashboards, emails, and CSV exports—perfectly in sync.
Typical workflows: a GIS analyst aggregates protected-area polygons to km² for a national report, while park managers plan operations in hectares. With a single conversion rule, totals remain consistent across reports and procurement documents.
Square Kilometers to Hectares Formula
Exact relationship
Use either expression:
ha = km² × 100
// inverse
km² = ha ÷ 100Example:
3.42 km² × 100 = 342 haRelated Area Converters
What is a Square Kilometer (km²)?
A square kilometer is the area of a square one kilometer on a side. It equals 1,000,000 m² or 100 hectares. Governments, NGOs, and research groups use km² for summaries that span large regions—municipalities, ecoregions, and basins—because the numbers are compact and easy to compare.
What is a Hectare (ha)?
A hectare equals 10,000 m², the area of a 100 m × 100 m square. It’s the everyday unit for farms, forestry stands, and conservation parcels, and is standard in international statistics. Since 1 km² comprises 100 hectares, switching between regional and site scales is straightforward.
Step-by-Step: Converting km² to ha
- Read the area in square kilometers (km²) from your GIS or report.
- Multiply by 100 to convert to hectares (ha).
- Round once at presentation (e.g., 2–3 decimals for dashboards; whole numbers for headlines).
Example walkthrough:
Input: 0.78 km²
Compute: 0.78 × 100 = 78 ha
Output: 78 ha (UI policy: whole number, or 78.00 ha if using 2 decimals)Common Conversions
Everyday quick checks (km² → ha)
| km² | ha | km² | ha |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.10 | 10 | 0.75 | 75 |
| 0.25 | 25 | 1.00 | 100 |
| 1.50 | 150 | 2.00 | 200 |
| 5.00 | 500 | 10.00 | 1,000 |
| 25.00 | 2,500 | 100.00 | 10,000 |
Quick Reference Table
Hectares to square kilometers (ha → km²)
| ha | km² | ha | km² |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.01 | 50 | 0.50 |
| 75 | 0.75 | 100 | 1.00 |
| 150 | 1.50 | 200 | 2.00 |
| 500 | 5.00 | 1,000 | 10.00 |
| 2,500 | 25.00 | 10,000 | 100.00 |
Precision, Rounding & Significant Figures
Operational rounding
For public dashboards, hectares with 2–3 decimals read well; for headlines, whole numbers keep things simple. Internally, compute with full precision (often m²) and round once at presentation to keep all surfaces identical.
Consistent documentation
Standardize field names (e.g., area_km2, area_ha, area_m2) and include a short methods note: “Exact: 1 km² = 100 ha = 1,000,000 m²; round once at presentation.” That single rule prevents audit drift across teams and tools.
Where This Converter Is Used
- 🗺️ Regional planning: City footprints, zoning overlays, and infrastructure corridors.
- 🏞️ Conservation & parks: Protected-area extents in km² summarized as hectares for operations.
- 🌾 Agriculture: District cropland totals converted from km² to ha for policy and subsidies.
- 🌳 Forestry: Landscape-scale inventories in km² aligned with stand-level hectares.
- 🌊 Watersheds & basins: Catchment extents reported in km² and translated to ha for restoration projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the exact formula to convert square kilometers to hectares?
Use the fixed metric definition: 1 square kilometer = 100 hectares, because 1 km = 1000 m and a square scales with the square of the length (1000² = 1,000,000 m²). Since 1 ha = 10,000 m², 1,000,000 ÷ 10,000 = 100 ha. Therefore ha = km² × 100 (exact), and the inverse is km² = ha ÷ 100.
Why does area convert with the square of the length factor?
Area measures two dimensions (length × width). If a length conversion uses k, the area conversion uses k². For km → m, k = 1000, so area scales by 1000². The hectare definition then normalizes to ha. Forgetting to square is a common cause of large errors.
Should I store land area in ha or km²?
Pick a single canonical storage unit and convert at the edges. For regional analytics, km² is convenient; for parcel/farm reporting, hectares are more readable. Many GIS pipelines store m² canonically, with views that expose km² or ha for user-facing summaries.
How should I round km² ↔ ha for public dashboards and reports?
Compute with full precision and round once at presentation. For regional summaries, 2–3 decimals in hectares are usually enough; for high-level stats you may show whole numbers. Document your rounding rule to keep PDFs, emails, and CSV exports aligned.
Do projections or geodesic methods affect the km² ↔ ha factor?
No. The conversion factor is a unit definition. Projection/geodesic choices affect how you compute the area of a geometry. Once you have an area in km² or m², converting to hectares always uses the exact factor 1 km² = 100 ha.
How does this relate to square meters and acres?
1 km² = 1,000,000 m² = 100 ha (exact). For acres, 1 ha ≈ 2.47105381 acres, so 1 km² ≈ 247.105381 acres. Keep a single canonical unit for storage and convert to the others for display to avoid mixed-unit drift.
What are good field names to avoid confusion across teams?
Use explicit, unit-suffixed names such as area_km2, area_ha, and area_m2. Add a methods note: “Exact constants: 1 km² = 100 ha = 1,000,000 m²; round once at presentation.” Clear naming prevents costly mistakes.
What anchor values help me sanity-check conversions quickly?
Memorize: 1 km² = 100 ha; 0.5 km² = 50 ha; 2 km² = 200 ha. Conversely, 250 ha = 2.5 km²; 10,000 ha = 100 km². These also make excellent regression test pairs in spreadsheets and CI.
Tips for Working with km² & ha
- Keep m² canonical for computation; derive km² or ha for presentation.
- Round once at output and apply the same rule across dashboards, PDFs, and exports.
- Use explicit unit-suffixed fields (area_km2, area_ha, area_m2) and publish constants in your methods note.
- Maintain a regression set (e.g., 1 km² ↔ 100 ha; 2.5 km² ↔ 250 ha) and assert both directions in tests.