How Many Homes Fit On A Football Field?


About 5 and a half for single-family homes. From an end zone to the 18 yard line times five is to the nine yard line of the opposite field plus 1/2 home is to the other end zone. From one goal line to the other is 5.5 residential homes. And an acre is equal to 91% of the playing field.

Given that single-family homes have been generally getting larger, it may be tempting to assume that the lots they’re sitting on are getting larger as well. However, according to the Census Bureau’s Characteristics of New Single-Family Houses Sold, the opposite is closer to the truth.  The median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold was an even 10,000 square feet from 1992 through 1995, then drifted downward until it reached 8,833 square feet in 2004.

After 2004, median lot size bounced back up to over 9,000 square feet for a few years before resuming a downward trend.  By 2012, the median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold had fallen to 8,687 square feet, and in 2013 is was still only 8,720–the smallest two numbers in the historical Census series.

An acre is 43,560 square feet, so the above median lot size for 2013 is almost exactly one-fifth of an acre.  Not everyone has a good sense of how big an acre is.  To help visualize it, consider that, between the goal lines, a football field covers just about 1.1 acre.  This means that, if you placed a median-sized lot for a single-family detached home sold that filled the width of the field (160 feet) on the goal line, it would reach just past the 18 yard line.  And if you laid 5 of them side by side they would extend nearly to the opposite 9 yard line–leaving space for almost exactly half another median-sized lot before reaching the other end zone.

By definition, the single-family detached homes sold discussed above exclude “custom” homes built on the home owner’s land, either with the owner hiring a builder or serving as the general contractor him or herself.  They also exclude single-family attached homes–that is, homes built side-by-side in a townhouse arrangement.

Lot sizes for custom homes tend to be larger.  The median lot size for custom single-family detached homes started was exactly one acre (suggesting some rounding in the data) every year from 1999 through 2012.  In 2013, it dropped 10 percent to 39,204 square feet.  Custom homes don’t involve the work of a professional land developer subdividing a property, and some people may not think of them as sitting on lots in the conventional sense.  Currently, custom homes account for a little under a quarter of the single-family market.

On the other hand, townhouses–currently a little over 10 percent of the single-family market–tend to have smaller lots.  In 2013, median lot size for single-family attached homes sold was 2,984 square feet.  Median lot size for all single-family homes sold in 2013–attached and detached combined–was 8,596 square feet.

So, although it becomes a little harder to visualize, if you had a normal mix of detached and attached single-family homes built for sale with the median lot size, about 5.6 of them would fit on a standard American football field between the goal lines, compared to almost exactly 5 and a half for single-family detached only.

Often an acre of land is compared to a football field. In reality, an acre is equal to about 76% of a football field, when you consider both end zones.

A football field (including the two end zones) is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide for a total of 57,600 square feet. When you take away the two 30-foot-long end zones at each end, the field is 48,000 square feet, making an acre about 91% of the field.

An acre, which is a common measurement of land area, is equal to 43,560 square feet.



Conversion Table

fromtofromtofromtofromto
143560261132560512221560763310560
287120271176120522265120773354120
3130680281219680532308680783397680
4174240291263240542352240793441240
5217800301306800552395800803484800
6261360311350360562439360813528360
7304920321393920572482920823571920
8348480331437480582526480833615480
9392040341481040592570040843659040
10435600351524600602613600853702600
11479160361568160612657160863746160
12522720371611720622700720873789720
13566280381655280632744280883833280
14609840391698840642787840893876840
15653400401742400652831400903920400
166969604117859606628749601004356000
177405204218295206729185201255445000
187840804318730806829620801506534000
198276404419166406930056401757623000
208712004519602007030492002008712000
2191476046200376071309276025010890000
2295832047204732072313632030013068000
23100188048209088073317988050021780000
24104544049213444074322344075032670000
251089000502178000753267000100043560000