How many feet is exactly a mile?

Yes, you can blame Rome (and London) for the random number.

Nearly every country in the world uses the metric system as its official system of weights and measurements. Yes, fellow Americans, we are among the exceptions to this rule, but there’s no use crying over a spilt liter of milk. The customary system has its own cool history. Well, one unit of the customary system does: the mile. It can be tricky to remember how many feet in a mile, since it’s a seemingly random number: 5,280. But there is a historical reason behind it, just like these other explanations of little things you’ve always wondered about.

Where did the mile originate?

According to Mental Floss, the modern mile has origins in Roman antiquity. The term “mile” is derived from the Latin mille passum, meaning “a thousand paces.” A pace, in Roman times, was equivalent in length to five human feet lined up from toe to heel. Romans happened to be a bit smaller than modern humans, so 5,000 Roman “feet” would equate to about 4,850 modern human “feet.” That means the entire road system of the Roman empire (over 250,000 miles of roads) consists of over 1.25 billion “feet.” But that’s not the only contribution Romans made to American life. 

How did it become 5,280 feet?

While the basis of this measurement was Roman, the jump of 280 feet was positively British. In 1592, Parliament wanted to standardize the measurement of the mile and made the decision that it should be equal to eight furlongs. Furlongs, which are still used as a unit of measurement in horse racing, are 660 feet long. 660 times eight equals, you guessed it, 5,280.

If you’re wondering why Britain cared about how many feet in a mile when they use the metric system, you might be surprised to learn that the United Kingdom actually does use miles in some cases! The Imperial System that America uses actually started as the British Imperial System, and Britain brought its measurement system when it colonized the Americas. Though they switched over to the metric system in the mid- to late 20th century, you can still see some “miles per hour” signs on British roads.

A quick trick to remember how many feet in a mile

Regardless of how it came to be, how many feet in a mile can be a tricky number to keep straight. Luckily, the Internet has you covered. This simple shortcut, posted on Reddit, makes it easy. Think of five tomatoes: Each syllable of that phrase represents a number in the four-digit 5,280. “Five,” “two,” “m-eight,” and “oh’s” for zero.

Without Romans, there would be no name nor baseline for the mile. Without the British, it might be a more rounded length. Thanks to tomatoes, you can easily recall the strange number. Check out some more simple memory tips to remember things more easily.

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| Last update: 02 August 2019

In our latest article we're going to address the question of how many feet there are in a mile. Albert Einstein was once asked how many feet there are in a mile. His reply was "I don't know, why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?"

These days, we don't need a reference book - we have Google. And when you ask Google the question, you get the answer: 1 mile = 5280 feet. Should you wish to convert miles to feet or feet to miles, by the way, please feel free to use our length and distance converter. There's also a conversion chart at the bottom of the article.

Otherwise, do continue reading to learn why there's a bit more to the conversion than you might think. Here's Becky Kleanthous to explain in her usual humorous way...

Miles and feet

'42,240 feet'

- Eminem's as-yet uncommissioned film

Gosh, we love miles don't we? We chuck 'em about like they're salt on chips, so casual, and so intangible.

The coffee shop? Oh, just a mile down the road. And we're all exhausted because we walked miles today! I was the fastest though, by a country mile. Still, when it comes to singing, everyone is miles better than I am.

And because we love to sweat the small stuff so you don't have to, this particular article is all about how many feet can squeeze into a mile. Now, we have to tread carefully here (feet! Tread! Feet! *Tap tap* Is this thing on...?!) because putting "feet", "sweat" and "squeeze" into one paragraph could see us cosily sharing search engine results with some questionable toe-photography content.

So, we love a mile, but do we even know what it is, really?

"But I would walk 2,640,000 feet,
and I would walk 2,640,000 more,
Just to be the man..."

- The Proclaimers' lesser-sung hit

Origins of the mile

The word comes from Latin ("mille"), because the Romans were excellent at organising stuff. It's no wonder they gave us concrete, central heating and the Fitbit (though one of those may not be true). Their love of logistics led to the conception of the classic Roman road, and even the method of measuring it.

"Mille" means a thousand, which gives you a clue about how the Roman measurement of "mille passum" - a thousand paces - was defined. But before you start comparing your own Fitbit stats and wondering what made Roman people's steps so short (because you walk a mile and it shows you about 2000 steps, right?), just hold your horses. It's not down to their unwieldy, restrictive armour, and it's not because these ancient people took dainty little steps to protect their modesty in skimpy togas. It's actually a thousand double paces: one stride with the left and right foot. So your stride is pretty much the same as a Roman's, even if it isn't performed at high speed towards a lion in an Amphitheatre (though charging at the last BLT in Starbucks is also admirable, of course).

The Roman mile, the total distance of the left foot hitting the ground 1000 times, was about 4860 feet in today's imperial units, but would have apparently been around 5000 Roman feet back in the day. Some people attribute this change to increasing foot size over the years, though it could just as well be a margin of error; we now have accurate measuring equipment, whilst 2000 years ago people were literally measuring. With. Their. Feet.

To add an extra layer of confusion, the modern mile is 5280 feet long, not 5000 or 4860. This is due to a translation problem. At the end of the 16th century, the English government were quite fond of the furlong (a measurement based on the daily plowing potential of a group of oxen). They therefore decided that a mile should be defined by furlongs, and that it would comprise eight. This made for some messy math/s, as a furlong measured 660 feet, so the mile got stretched out to 5280 feet in order to accommodate its fashionable pal, the furlong.

The TL;DR answer to all of this? A modern mile is 5280 imperial feet long (1609.344 meters). Think about it next time you put on your Fittum Bittus.

Converting miles to feet

To assist you with converting miles to feet, I have included a chart below. Should you wish to convert a specific number of miles to feet or feet to miles, give the length and distance converter a try.

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