Square Yards Calculator
Convert a length × width measurement into square yards, square feet and square meters side by side — the three units carpet and flooring are sold in.
How to convert square feet to square yards
A square yard is a square one yard (3 ft) on each side, so it holds 3 × 3 = 9 square feet. That single number — divide by 9 — is the entire conversion, and it is the one the carpet and flooring trades run on: rooms are measured in feet, goods are priced by the yard.
Square yards = square feet ÷ 9 · Square meters = square feet × 0.0929 · Square feet = square yards × 9
Example: a 12 × 15 ft room is 180 sq ft = 20 square yards exactly = 16.72 square meters.
The three units, side by side
| Space | Sq ft | Sq yd | Sq m |
|---|
| Small bedroom, 10 × 11 ft | 110 | 12.2 | 10.2 |
| Main bedroom, 12 × 14 ft | 168 | 18.7 | 15.6 |
| Living room, 14 × 18 ft | 252 | 28 | 23.4 |
| Double garage, 20 × 20 ft | 400 | 44.4 | 37.2 |
This converter is for area only — it deliberately carries no waste allowance, because sometimes you want the true number (comparing quotes) and sometimes the buying number (the carpet and flooring calculators here add waste on top of this same conversion). If a quote is per square yard and a rival quote is per square foot, multiply the per-yard price by… nothing: compare total against total, using the square-yard figure here for both areas.
Frequently asked questions
Why do people divide by 3 instead of 9?
Because a yard is 3 feet in one dimension. Area is two dimensions, so the factor squares: 3 × 3 = 9. Dividing a room's square feet by 3 gives a number three times too big — the most common carpet-ordering error there is.
Is a square yard the same as a “yard” of carpet?
No — and this confusion costs money. A “yard of carpet” usually means a linear yard: a piece cut 1 yard long off a roll of fixed width. On a 12 ft roll, one linear yard is 12 × 3 = 36 sq ft = 4 square yards. Always ask which yard a price means.
How many square feet are in one square meter?
10.764. Metric flooring is sold by the square meter; the table here converts for you exactly, and the metric toggle on any page of this site swaps which unit headlines the result.
Does this converter handle yards as an input?
Yes — set the length and width unit selectors to yards and the numbers are treated as yards throughout; the conversion then runs from the exact square footage, so 4 × 5 yards comes out as the true 20 square yards.
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