Your height from cm to feet and inches, with a full chart

01

How to convert cm to feet and inches

To convert cm to feet and inches, divide by 2.54 to get inches, then divide by 12 to split off the feet. The 2.54 is not a rounded number. One inch has been defined as exactly 2.54 cm since 1959, so your result is as exact as the height you start with.

Here is the whole calculation for a height of 170 cm.

1. Divide by 2.54

   170 ÷ 2.54 = 66.93. That is the whole height in inches.

2. Divide the inches by 12

   66.93 ÷ 12 = 5, with 6.93 inches left over. The 5 is the feet. The rest is the inches.

3. Round the inches once, at the end

   To one decimal, 170 cm is 5 ft 6.9 in. Rounded to the nearest whole inch, it is 5′7″, also written 5 ft 7 in.

02

Height chart: 140 to 210 cm in feet and inches

This chart converts every height from 140 to 210 cm into feet and inches. Find your height in the left column. The middle column shows the inches to one decimal. The right column shows the same height rounded to the nearest whole inch.

One centimeter is only 0.39 of an inch. So two or three rows in a row often share the same whole-inch value. The heights are still different; the rounding just hides the gap.

03

How tall is 170 cm in feet? And 160, 175 and 190 cm

170 cm is 5 ft 6.9 in, or 5′7″ rounded to the nearest inch. Here are other heights people often look up, worked out the same way:

• 160 cm (1.60 m) is 5 ft 3.0 in, about 5′3″, or 5.25 ft.
• 165 cm (1.65 m) is 5 ft 5.0 in, about 5′5″, or 5.41 ft.
• 170 cm (1.70 m) is 5 ft 6.9 in, about 5′7″, or 5.58 ft.
• 175 cm (1.75 m) is 5 ft 8.9 in, about 5′9″, or 5.74 ft.
• 180 cm (1.80 m) is 5 ft 10.9 in, about 5′11″, or 5.91 ft.
• 185 cm (1.85 m) is 6 ft 0.8 in, about 6′1″, or 6.07 ft.
• 190 cm (1.90 m) is 6 ft 2.8 in, about 6′3″, or 6.23 ft.

04

Feet to cm: how to convert feet and inches to centimeters

To convert feet and inches to cm, turn the height into inches and multiply by 2.54. Six feet, for example, is 72 inches, and 72 × 2.54 = 182.88 cm.

1. Turn the feet into inches

   Multiply the feet by 12 and add the inches. 5′7″ is 5 × 12 + 7 = 67 inches.

2. Multiply by 2.54

   67 × 2.54 = 170.18 cm. Round to whole centimeters if you want a simple number: 170 cm.

05

Why height charts disagree by half an inch

Height charts disagree because they round in different ways, not because they use different math. Every chart that is correct starts from 2.54 cm per inch. The difference comes at the very end.

Take 174 cm. Exactly, it is 68.50 inches, which is 5 ft 8.50 in. Rounded to the nearest inch, that is 5′9″. Rounded to the nearest half inch, it is 5′8.5″. A chart that simply drops the decimals shows 5′8″. All three describe the same height. If a form asks for whole inches, round to the nearest inch.

The measurement itself matters as much as the rounding. Socks, a slouch or a ruler held at an angle all change the number before you even start converting. Measure carefully, then convert once.

1. Stand against a wall

   Take off your shoes and stand on a hard floor with your heels, back and head touching a wall. Look straight ahead.

2. Mark the top of your head

   Ask someone to rest a flat book on your head so that it touches the wall, then make a small pencil mark on the wall at the lower edge of the book.

3. Measure the mark

   Measure from the floor to the mark with a tape measure. Do it twice. If the two results differ, use the average.

06

See your height next to someone else’s, to scale

Height Studio draws people side by side at their real heights, so you can see a difference instead of only reading it. It accepts centimeters as well as feet and inches, so you do not need to convert first.

1. Add the first person

   Open Height Studio. Under “Add person”, type a name and a height. The field takes 175 or 5′9″; both work. Then press “Add to comparison”.

2. Add the second person

   Add the other height in the same way. Tap a figure to see how much taller or shorter it is than the others.

3. Choose your units

   Set “Units” to “ft / in” to read the labels in feet and inches, or to “cm / m” for metric.