Price per Square Foot Calculator

Price per square foot is the quickest way to compare properties of different sizes. A $400,000 home at 2,500 ft² ($160/ft²) is relatively better-priced than a $380,000 home at 1,800 ft² ($211/ft²), even though the sticker is lower. Agents, appraisers and lenders all use $/ft² as a first-pass benchmark. It also works for estimating materials — flooring, tile, paint, roofing — where vendors quote a unit rate.

Residential $/ft² is usually a purchase price — the sticker divided by interior finished area. Commercial real estate almost always quotes $/ft² as an annual lease rate: a 2,000 ft² shop at $25/ft² costs $50,000 a year, or about $4,167 a month. Some markets quote monthly instead (common in US retail strip centers). Always ask which base applies before signing. This calculator treats any $/ft² as a simple rate — you choose whether it represents purchase, monthly rent or annual rent.

Listings can measure area three ways: (1) interior net — what you live in, (2) gross — including walls, (3) rentable — gross plus a share of common areas (lobbies, hallways). Commercial leases almost always use rentable ft², which inflates the apparent size by 10–20%. Residential usually uses interior net. Comparing $/ft² across listings with different bases gives misleading answers. Check the listing description for "GLA" (gross living area) or "rentable square feet".

Divide each home's list price by its interior square footage. Example: Home A — $425,000 / 1,900 ft² = $223.68/ft². Home B — $510,000 / 2,350 ft² = $217.02/ft². Home B is slightly better on a $/ft² basis despite the higher sticker price. Always compare homes in the same neighborhood and condition tier — $/ft² varies heavily by location, age and finish level.

1 ft² = 0.092903 m² and 1 ft² = 0.111111 yd². To convert a price: multiply by the inverse. $125/ft² = $125 × 10.7639 = $1,345.49/m² = $125 × 9.0 = $1,125/yd². The calculator shows all three side by side so you can quote rates in any unit common in your market.

Yes, but with a caveat. A commercial lease rate quoted as "$28/ft²" is almost always annual rent. Multiply by the area to get annual rent, then divide by 12 for the monthly payment. This calculator outputs a raw total — if you enter 2,500 ft² × $28/ft², you get $70,000. Whether that is the sale price, annual rent or monthly rent depends on the source quote. The math is generic; the interpretation is on you.

In the US, the ANSI Z765 standard defines finished square footage as interior space with a ceiling at least 7 ft high, heated and finished. Basements, garages, unfinished attics and covered porches are excluded from the headline number — they are usually listed separately. Two homes with the same sticker price can differ 20%+ in finished area depending on how the seller counts.

No. Price per ft² ignores location, finish, lot size, age, condition, school district and HOA fees. A $180/ft² home may be a teardown; a $310/ft² home may be fully renovated with a big yard. Use $/ft² as one of 5–10 data points, never the only one. For identical properties in the same zip code, lower $/ft² does signal a better deal.