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Height Calculator

Convert height between centimetres and feet and inches, in both directions.

Details

Your Results

What Height Calculator does

Height is one of the few measurements where two systems remain in genuine everyday use, and conversion comes up constantly on forms, medical records and applications.

Both directions are supported, and the conversion is exact because an inch is defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres.

  • Centimetres to feet and inches
  • Feet and inches to centimetres

How to use Height Calculator

  1. 1

    Choose the direction

    Metric to imperial or the reverse.

  2. 2

    Enter the height

    In centimetres, or in feet and inches.

Example

Heights that come up most often

Input

Centimetres

Output

160 cm → 5' 3"
165 cm → 5' 5"
170 cm → 5' 7"
175 cm → 5' 9"
180 cm → 5' 11"
185 cm → 6' 1"
190 cm → 6' 3"

Each inch is 2.54 cm, so two heights up to 2.5 cm apart can round to the same imperial figure. That is why a conversion back to centimetres may not return your exact starting number.

When to use it

Filling in a form from another country

Visa applications, medical intake forms and job applications frequently ask in whichever system the issuing country uses.

Reading a medical record

Clinical records are metric almost everywhere, including in countries where people state their height in feet and inches.

Checking a specification

Ride restrictions, doorway clearances and furniture dimensions are quoted in whichever system the manufacturer used.

Limits and known behaviour

  • Results are rounded to the nearest whole inch in the imperial direction, which is the convention for stating height. If you need the fractional inch, use the length converter.
  • Rounding is not reversible. 175 cm converts to 5 feet 9 inches, and 5 feet 9 inches converts back to 175.26 cm.
  • This converts height only. It does not predict adult height for a child, which requires growth charts and clinical assessment.
  • Human height varies through the day by roughly one to two centimetres, being greatest in the morning, so a measurement is only ever accurate to about that margin.
  • For general length conversion, the length converter offers more units and more precision.

Privacy and data handling

Runs entirely in your browser

  • The calculation runs in this page. Nothing you enter is transmitted or stored.
  • The tool works offline once the page has loaded.

Site-wide data handling, including analytics and advertising, is described in the privacy policy.

Frequently asked questions

How tall is 180 cm in feet?

About 5 feet 11 inches. Dividing by 2.54 gives 70.9 inches, which is 5 feet 10.9 inches and rounds to 5 feet 11.

Why does converting back not give my original number?

Because the imperial figure is rounded to a whole inch, which discards up to 1.27 cm in either direction. Converting that rounded value back returns the centimetre equivalent of the whole inch, not your starting measurement.

Is the conversion exact?

The factor is: an inch is defined as exactly 2.54 centimetres by international agreement, so no error is introduced by the arithmetic. Only the final rounding to whole inches loses anything.

Can it predict how tall my child will be?

No. Adult height prediction uses growth charts, bone age and parental heights, and is a clinical assessment rather than a conversion.