Height Converter (cm to feet)
Convert a height in centimeters to feet and inches.
Enter a height in centimeters to get it in feet and inches — the format used in the US and UK. It also shows total inches and meters, so you can read your height in whichever unit you need.
Formula / method
Examples
5' 6.9"
5' 10.9"
Centimeters to feet and inches
The conversion rests on one exact definition: 1 inch equals 2.54 cm, so 1 foot (12 inches) is 30.48 cm. To convert, divide the height in centimeters by 2.54 to get total inches, then split that into whole feet and the leftover inches. For example, 180 cm is about 70.9 inches, which reads as 5 feet 11 inches.
Rounding and a common trap
The output is feet and inches together, which is not the same as a decimal number of feet. Writing 5 ft 9 in as '5.9 feet' is wrong, because there are 12 inches in a foot, not 10; 5 ft 9 in is closer to 5.75 feet. For reference, 5 ft 6 in is about 167.6 cm and 6 ft 0 in is about 182.9 cm. Since heights rarely land on a perfect whole inch, expect a little rounding in the final figure.
Where it's used
- Converting a height from centimetres to feet and inches for a US or UK form
- Filling in a passport, visa or medical form that uses feet and inches
- Making sense of a foreign height listed only in centimetres
- Comparing heights across metric and imperial sources
- Completing a dating-profile or ID height field
Real-world examples
- 180 cm is about 5 ft 11 in, or 70.9 total inches
- 170 cm is about 5 ft 7 in
- Converting back, 6 ft 0 in is 182.9 cm
A bit of history
Since the international yard-and-pound agreement of 1959, the inch has been defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres, replacing several slightly different national definitions that existed beforehand.
Did you know?
Writing a height like 5 ft 9 in as '5.9 feet' is a common mistake: because a foot has 12 inches rather than 10, 5 ft 9 in is actually about 5.75 feet.
FAQ
How do I convert feet and inches back to cm?
Multiply feet by 30.48 and inches by 2.54, then add them. For example, 5 ft 7 in = 152.4 + 17.78 = 170.18 cm.