Are you in the market to buy a plot of land? Maybe you’re considering building your own home or possibly for investment purposes. Whatever your reasons may be, purchasing land is a great thing to do. But how much land do you actually want or need? Maybe 10 acres, 20 acres, or even 100 acres. In this article, we will discuss how much land you would get with 40 acres.
Let’s first begin by looking at how big 1-acre of land is and go from there.
If one acre is 43,560 square feet, then 40 acres of land is a whopping 1,742,400 square feet. That’s the same as 193,600 square yards!
One thing we know for sure is that 40 acres is HUGE! If these numbers don’t quite help you visualize just how big 40 acres of land, we’ve included some simple examples to help you get a better picture.
Why 1,742,400 Square Feet?
If you’ve read our other two posts discussing land acreage, then it should come as no surprise to you that acreage is measured in square feet. A square foot is a square’s area provided that the sides of the square are each at least 1 foot.
You mostly hear of square feet when shopping around for apartments, homes, or even commercial office buildings to rent, but land is sometimes measured in square feet as well. That’s the case with acres of land.
Each acre is 43,560 square feet. Well, that’s the simplest definition. If you need a refresher, an acre is technically the area of a furlong by a chain. One furlong is 660 feet and a chain is 66 feet in length. It gets technical, with rods and links and all, but we won’t talk about that this time since we’ve done it before.
So using simplified terms, if one acre is 43,560 square feet, then all you have to do is the basic math from the intro. Take 43,560, multiply it by 40, and you get 1,742,400 square feet.
Visualizing 40 Acres of Land: 5 Handy Examples
You might be having a difficult time picturing just how big 40 acres is, and that’s okay. This is a lot of land we’re talking about here, and visualizing it may be harder than you thought. No worries though, we’ve included some great visual examples that will help you imagine the vast expanse of land you would be getting with 40 acres.
30 1/3 Football Fields
In American football, a field is 91 yards. If you cover the full field from one end zone to another, that’s 1.32 acres. Considering a single football field is a little more than 1 acre, when you look at a stretch of land that’s 40 acres, how many football fields would it be?
The answer is 30.3 football fields. Yes, imagine laying out nearly 30 football fields from end zone to end zone and that tells you the size of 40 acres. You’d have tons of space.
6,240 Parking Spaces
According to this report from the Center for Profitable Agriculture at the University of Tennessee, you can add 156 parking spots within a single acre. By taking that number of parking spaces and multiplying it by the 40 acres of land you now have available, you can fit 6,240 parking spaces into this much land.
Disney World has 11,391 parking spaces, Universal Studios has 9,051 spaces, and Disneyland 10,000 parking spots. Your number of parking spaces isn’t too shabby either.
10 Grand Ole Oprys
Located in Nashville, Tennessee, the Grand Ole Opry showcases some of the best country music and can seat 4,372 visitors, and sits on about 4 acres. So, on your 40 acres of land you could fit 10 Grand Ole Opry Houses. Just think, you could sit 43,720 fans plus 10 stages on your property. That’s massive!
726 Homes That Are 2,400 Square Feet A piece
The ideal home is a roomy one, probably about 2,400 square feet. You could have your own community of homes across 40 acres, accommodating 726 homes of this size!
How Long Does It Take to Walk Across 40 Acres?
Let’s say you decided to stroll the perimeter of your 40-acre property. How long would that take you?
Well, first we have to look at the average walking speed, which is between 3 and 4 miles per hour (MPH). If you’re walking at 3 MPH consistently and you walk around a single square acre, that should take you 3 minutes to do.
Of course, you’re not walking one acre here, but 40 acres, so you have to increase your time as well. If your 40-acre piece of land had 4 equal sides in length each side would be 1,320 feet, so your perimeter would 5,280 feet. It would take you about 19 minutes to walk around your property.
What Can You Do with 40 Acres of Land?
You’ve decided to go through with your purchase of 40 acres of land, as it’s just so much space, how could you pass it up? But you’re not quite sure what to do with all the land. Any ideas?
Consider the following suggestions to make the most of the generously-sized 40 acres available to you.
Build a Really Big Home
If you’ve always wanted to build your own home, you would have more than enough land in which to work with. You can get your dream house erected with no details spared.
One home on 40 acres would leave a lot of spare acreage available. You could add a large garage or a spacious backyard swimming pool to fill more space. The rest could be an ode to the beauty of nature, although mowing such a big lawn will definitely be a pain!
Contract Farming if the Land is Fertile
If your 40 acres of land is fertile, you can contract farming out and then collect the profits every year. Or if you are up for some more work, you can start your own agriculture project. First, test the soil to determine what kind of produce you would be able to grow, do your research, and start planting!
Start a Community Housing Project
Remember, you can fit 726 homes that are each a very comfortable 2,400 square feet on your 40 acres of land. Rather than use all that space yourself for fun, give back to your neighborhood and start a community housing project.
Open a Business
Another option to consider is running a business on the 40 acres. Some ventures such as farming or starting your own greenhouse require more space than the average building can accommodate. Of course you would have to check with zoning laws where you live. This would be a great way to invest your hard earned money.
Final Thoughts
Owning 40 acres of land is the equivalent of about 30 football fields and 10 Grand Ole Opry Houses. This is 1,742,400square feet in all.Whether you’ll soon buy a 40-acre expanse of land or you’re just thinking about it for now, we hope this article provided you some great information!