sq mi

Units & Measurements abbreviation · US Customary and Imperial Unit

sq mi
Stands forSquare mile
CategoriesUnits & Measurements

sq mi stands for Square mile, a US customary and imperial unit abbreviation.

Area of a square one mile on each side: 640 acres or about 2.59 square kilometers. States, counties, cities, lakes and wildfires are measured in square miles in the United States.

Example: Alaska covers more than 660,000 sq mi, about a fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined.

Usage notes

In the Public Land Survey System of the western and midwestern US, a section is one square mile and a township is 36 sections. Population density is usually stated per square mile in US sources and per square kilometer elsewhere. Also written mi².

More US customary and imperial unit abbreviations

  • ac – Acre
  • ac-ft – Acre-foot
  • bbl – Barrel (oil)
  • bd ft – Board foot
  • bu – Bushel
  • CCF – Hundred cubic feet
  • ch – Chain
  • cu ft – Cubic foot
  • cu in – Cubic inch
  • cu yd – Cubic yard
  • cwt – Hundredweight
  • dr – Dram

See all 43 US customary and imperial unit abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.