How to Convert Feet and Inches to cm (Formula + Height Chart)

To convert feet and inches to cm, multiply the feet by 30.48 and the inches by 2.54, then add: 5′7″ = (5 × 30.48) + (7 × 2.54) = 170.18 cm. One inch is exactly 2.54 cm by international definition, so the math is exact. Convert any height instantly with our free centimeters to inches converter.

The Formula: Two Multiplications, One Addition

The feet and inches to cm formula is cm = (feet × 30.48) + (inches × 2.54). A person who is 5 feet 7 inches: 5 × 30.48 = 152.4, plus 7 × 2.54 = 17.78, total 170.18 cm. There is an equivalent shortcut some people find easier: convert everything to inches first — (feet × 12) + inches — then multiply once by 2.54. For 5′7″: (5 × 12) + 7 = 67 inches, and 67 × 2.54 = 170.18 cm, same answer. Both routes are exact because both constants are exact: 1 inch = 2.54 cm by the 1959 international agreement, and 30.48 is just 12 × 2.54. A useful mental anchor: 5 feet is always 152.4 cm and 6 feet is always 182.88 cm, so you only ever compute the inches remainder — 7 inches adds 17.78 cm to whichever foot-anchor you start from. When you need the reverse direction, our centimeters to inches converter runs it in one click — handy for converting a metric height back to feet and inches for a US form.

Worked Examples

Example 1 — 6 feet even: 6 × 30.48 = 182.88 cm. Example 2 — 5′3″: (5 × 30.48) + (3 × 2.54) = 152.4 + 7.62 = 160.02 cm. Example 3 — 6′2″: 182.88 + 5.08 = 187.96 cm. Example 4 — a child at 3′11″: 91.44 + 27.94 = 119.38 cm. Example 5 — a doorway at 6′8″: 182.88 + 20.32 = 203.2 cm — which is why standard interior doors are sold as 203 cm in metric countries. Notice the pattern: every whole foot is 30.48 cm, so 6 feet is always 182.88 and the inches just add their 2.54 multiples on top. Once you have done two or three by hand, the chart below becomes a lookup table rather than a calculation.

How to Convert Height in Feet and Inches to cm: Chart

The heights people actually look up, converted: 4′10″ = 147.32 cm. 5′0″ = 152.4 cm. 5′2″ = 157.48 cm. 5′4″ = 162.56 cm. 5′6″ = 167.64 cm. 5′7″ = 170.18 cm. 5′8″ = 172.72 cm. 5′10″ = 177.8 cm. 6′0″ = 182.88 cm. 6′2″ = 187.96 cm. 6′4″ = 193.04 cm. 6′6″ = 198.12 cm. Two memory anchors make the table stick: 5 feet is 152.4 cm and 6 feet is 182.88 cm — every height between them is one of those plus inches at 2.54 each. Medical forms usually want whole centimeters (round 170.18 to 170), while tailoring and engineering keep one decimal. If your height is not on the list, the formula from the first section beats scrolling: it is two multiplications you can do on a phone calculator in ten seconds.

Why 2.54 Is Exact (Not Measured)

The 2.54 figure is not a measurement anyone might refine — it is a legal definition. In 1959, the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa signed the International Yard and Pound Agreement, fixing 1 yard at exactly 0.9144 meters. Divide by 36 inches per yard and you get exactly 0.0254 meters per inch — 2.54 cm, forever, with no error bars. That is why every converter on earth agrees to the decimal: there is nothing to disagree about. Before 1959, the US inch and the British inch actually differed by about two parts per million, enough to matter in precision engineering. The agreement ended that. Our guide to the inches to cm formula covers the single-unit version of this conversion with the same exactness guarantee.

The Reverse: cm to Feet and Inches

To go from cm to feet and inches: divide by 2.54 to get total inches, then divide by 12 — the whole number is feet and the remainder is inches. For 170 cm: 170 ÷ 2.54 = 66.93 inches; 66.93 ÷ 12 = 5.58, so 5 feet and 0.58 × 12 = 6.93 inches — 5′7″ (rounded). For 180 cm: 70.87 inches ÷ 12 = 5.91 → 5 feet, 0.91 × 12 = 10.87 → 5′11″. The fiddly step is converting the decimal remainder back to inches — multiply the fractional part by 12, do not just read it as inches. (0.58 feet is not 5.8 inches; it is 6.93.) This reverse trip is the one people botch most, so when a passport or medical form needs it right, use our centimeters to inches converter rather than hand arithmetic.

Feet and Inches to cm in Excel

If feet are in column A and inches in column B, the conversion column is =A2*30.48+B2*2.54 — fill down and the whole roster converts. For a single column of text like 5'7", you need to split it first: feet with =LEFT(A2,FIND("'",A2)-1) and inches with =MID(A2,FIND("'",A2)+1,LEN(A2)-FIND("'",A2)-1), then apply the formula to the two helper columns. Name the columns explicitly (“Height (ft)”, “Height (in)”, “Height (cm)”) because an unlabeled column is how inch values get converted twice by the next person who opens the file. Round the output for human-facing sheets with =ROUND(formula,1). Our centimeters to inches in Excel guide covers the reverse direction with the same helper-column discipline.

How to Convert Feet to cm (Whole Feet)

How to convert feet to cm when there are no inches? Just the first half of the formula: cm = feet × 30.48. Five feet is 152.4 cm, ten feet is 304.8 cm, and a hundred feet is 3,048 cm (30.48 meters). This comes up with room dimensions, ceiling heights, and product specs, where measurements are whole feet. One caution: “5.7 feet” does not mean 5 feet 7 inches — it means 5 feet plus 0.7 of a foot, which is 5′8.4″ (0.7 × 12 = 8.4 inches), or 173.74 cm. The decimal-feet trap catches smart people regularly: always check whether your source wrote 5.7 ft (decimal) or 5'7" (feet-inches) before converting, because the answers differ by over 3 cm. When in doubt, ask — or convert both and see which one matches reality.

When You Will Actually Need This

Passports and visas for metric countries ask for height in centimeters. Medical forms worldwide use cm. Dating profiles, sports registrations, and driver's licenses split by country. Home projects are the sleeper use case: flat-pack furniture manuals are metric, your tape measure is imperial, and a bookshelf that is “180 cm tall” needs a 5′11″ clearance — measure twice, convert once. Planning the room itself is an area problem, and our square feet to square meters converter keeps the floor-area math honest when the listing is metric and your rug is sold by the square foot. And for the single-unit version you will reach for most often — just inches, no feet — bookmark our inches to cm formula guide alongside this one.