Forty acres is a massive area equivalent to a whopping 1,742,400 square feet or 193,600 yards.
If it were land, 40 acres would be big enough to start a community project or contract farming.
If you want to figure out how big it is, a helpful way is to compare it to items of similar size (or approximately), as we did when we grasped the concept of 10 acres.
And to help you out, this article covers nine examples of things that are approximately 40 acres, including fields and islands.
Let’s go!
9 Things To Visualize 40 Acres
1. 9,680 Parking Spaces
Parking spaces are designated areas for parking vehicles temporarily. You can find them in garages, off-streets, and on-streets, often marked by painted straight lines.
As you might know, there’s no standard size for a parking space; they vary depending on the vehicle they accommodate, say a truck or a car.
With that said, many parking spaces are usually 10 feet by 18 feet, especially those that accommodate cars, according to the Center for Profitable Agriculture at the University of Tennessee.
That means one occupies an area of 180 square feet or 0.004 acres. Thus, by doing simple math (40 ÷ 0.004), you need to picture as many as 9,680 parking spaces to get a sense of how big 40 acres is.
2. 726 Family Homes of Four
While you’re the one who decides how much space your home will take, if you live in a city and you’re middle class, the ideal family home of four people usually occupies an area of around 2,400 square feet or 0.0550964 acres.
That means with 40 acres of land, you can have as many as 726 family homes of four (40÷0.0550964).
So imagine the area such homes would cover to get a picture of 40 acres. It’s a massive village or a small town in some countries!
3. 400 Basketball Courts
Whether in the NBA or high school, basketball courts have a standard size of 28 meters long and 15 meters wide, as mandated by the National Basketball Association (NBA). This results in a total court area of 420 square meters or 0.1 acres.
If you’ve attended a basketball game, you’re likely familiar with the court’s spaciousness. And therefore, you’ll need to visualize the area 400 basketball courts would cover to understand how massive 40 acres is (40÷0.1). It would look like a large rice plantation field!
4. 21 Soccer Fields
Whether you’re a soccer fan or not, chances are you’ve seen a soccer field, as they’re found in almost all schools and universities.
While soccer fields vary in size, there’s an agreed-upon set of dimensions all must range, according to FIFA authorities.
A typical soccer field, in particular, is usually about 360 long by 225 feet wide, occupying an area of 81,000 square feet or 1.86 acres. So an area of 40 acres is big enough to fit around 21 soccer fields (40÷1.86).
5. 10 Walmart Supercenters
Walmart Supercenters are prevalent in the US and can be found in numerous states nationwide. Thus, you’re likely familiar with their size.
The stores occupy an impressive retail space of 182,000 square feet (equivalent to four acres), enough to accommodate over 350 employees and large crowds shopping for over 142,000 items available, including groceries and electronics.
Therefore, 40 acres is approximately ten times the size of a Walmart supercenter. Or put another way, 40 acres is a large area that could accommodate 10 Walmart supercenters.
6. 10 Grand Ole Oprys
Famous worldwide as the home of country music, the Grand Ole Opry showcases live country performances featuring superstars as well as rising stars every week. It’s located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
The Grand Ole Opry occupies about four acres, similar to a Walmart supercenter, and can accommodate 4,372 people. So like with a Walmart supercenter, you need to visualize the area ten Grand Ole Oprys would take.
7. 1 and 1/5 Pentagon
The pentagon is a massive 5-sided building located in Arlington County, near Washington, and is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. The US Navy, Airforce, and Army offices are all located in the building.
The pentagon building spans about 34 acres, including the central courtyard, which alone takes 5.1 acres of land.
If you can picture one and a fifth of it, it would be about 40 acres.
8. 1 and 4/5 Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz is a tourist site and a museum located on the lonely island of San Francisco Bay.
It was a famous ultimatum maximum prison until 1963, but now the landscape, spanning 22.5 acres, offers a variety of tours to the island.
If you’ve toured the area, you can visualize the size of one and about 4/5 to get something close to 40 acres.
9. 1 and 1/2 Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a historical site and a former principal immigration reception center located on Upper New York Bay.
The island is a favorite destination for most Americans, offering a world-class experience with a series of exhibits and incredible artifacts from the country’s history.
A bit larger than Alcatraz, Ellis Island occupies a 27-acre landscape, with much of it consisting of ship’s dumped ballast and landfill, as it was acquired through reclamation.
So, if you’ve visited the historical site, you can picture the size of one and a half the next time you want to understand how massive 40 acres is.
