One marla is 272.25 square feet under the traditional standard and 225 square feet in most urban housing schemes in Pakistan. To convert marla to square feet, multiply the number of marlas by 225 or 272.25, depending on which standard your city follows. A 5 marla plot is therefore 1,125 or 1,361.25 square feet.
Yes, both numbers are correct. That single fact causes more arguments in Pakistani property deals than almost anything else. This guide explains where the two standards came from and lays out clean tables for the common plot sizes. If you just want a quick number, the free area calculator on CalcRange converts marla to square feet (and back) in seconds.
The marla also survives in Indian Punjab and Haryana, so most of what follows applies on both sides of the border. There is one caveat, and we will get to it.
Why one marla has two different sizes
The marla as we know it is a British colonial creation. Nineteenth century surveyors needed local units to line up with imperial ones, so one marla became one square rod: 16.5 feet on each side, or 272.25 square feet. That is exactly 30.25 square yards, and 160 marlas make an acre. Tidy, by land measurement standards.
Under the marla sits an older length unit called the karam. The British fixed it at 5.5 feet, and a marla is a square of 3 karams by 3 karams. Run the numbers: 16.5 × 16.5 = 272.25.
Then the twentieth century happened. Urban development authorities and private housing schemes in Pakistan rounded the karam down to a cleaner 5 feet, and nine square karams of 25 square feet each gives you a 225 square foot marla. Lahore’s planned schemes use the smaller figure, and most modern societies across the country followed. Rural land records kept the old one, and the patwari’s ledger does not care what a housing society brochure says. So when people search for 1 marla in square feet and find two answers, both are right; they belong to two different systems sharing a name. Wikipedia’s entry on the marla traces the same split if you want more history.
Marla to square feet conversion table
Both standards, side by side. Read the column that matches your city.
| Marla | Square feet (225 standard, urban) | Square feet (272.25 standard, traditional) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 225 | 272.25 |
| 2 | 450 | 544.5 |
| 3 | 675 | 816.75 |
| 4 | 900 | 1,089 |
| 5 | 1,125 | 1,361.25 |
| 6 | 1,350 | 1,633.5 |
| 7 | 1,575 | 1,905.75 |
| 8 | 1,800 | 2,178 |
| 10 | 2,250 | 2,722.5 |
| 15 | 3,375 | 4,083.75 |
| 20 (1 kanal) | 4,500 | 5,445 |
Plot size conversion in Pakistan really comes down to one question: which karam does your city use. Ask the society office or check the allotment letter, then the rest is a single multiplication (honestly, the 225 standard wins on arithmetic alone; multiplying by 272.25 is nobody’s idea of fun).
Standard plot dimensions in feet
Schemes market plots by marla, but the site plan is drawn in feet. These are the layouts you will meet most often, all built on the 225 square foot marla.
| Plot size | Typical layout | Actual area |
|---|---|---|
| 3 marla | about 20 × 34 ft | roughly 675 sq ft |
| 5 marla | 25 × 45 ft | 1,125 sq ft |
| 7 marla | about 35 × 45 ft | 1,575 sq ft |
| 10 marla | 35 × 65 ft | 2,275 sq ft |
| 1 kanal | 50 × 90 ft | 4,500 sq ft |
If you memorize one figure, make it this: the standard 5 marla plot size in feet is 25 by 45. Notice the 10 marla row too. The classic 35 by 65 layout is 2,275 square feet, slightly over the nominal 2,250, and corner or irregular plots drift further still. Trust the registered area in the documents over the marketing label, and for an odd shaped plot you can calculate the square footage yourself from the site plan.
A worked example, step by step
Say you are comparing two plots, both advertised as 10 marla. One sits in a planned Lahore scheme. The other is land described from rural revenue records.
- Confirm the standard for each. A planned urban scheme almost always means 225 square feet per marla, while rural revenue records usually mean 272.25.
- Convert the urban plot: 10 × 225 = 2,250 square feet.
- Convert the rural plot: 10 × 272.25 = 2,722.5 square feet.
- Compare: 2,722.5 minus 2,250 leaves 472.5 square feet, which is more than two extra urban marlas hiding inside the same label.
Same words on the listing. Very different amounts of land. If both plots cost the same total, the rural one is about 17 percent cheaper per square foot, and that changes the whole comparison. Everything here is length times width in the end; our guide on how to calculate area covers the formulas if you want a refresher.
Kanal to marla and the acre problem
Twenty marlas make one kanal. That ratio never changes, which is a small mercy. The kanal simply inherits whichever marla you started with: 4,500 square feet on the urban standard, 5,445 on the traditional one. The kanal was defined as exactly one eighth of an acre, and the traditional numbers agree, since 5,445 × 8 = 43,560 square feet, a perfect acre.
Here is the catch. On the 225 standard, eight kanals total only 36,000 square feet. Nowhere near an acre. The old rule that 8 kanals make an acre only holds with the 272.25 marla, so if a dealer mixes standards mid conversation, walk the numbers yourself.
Marla to square yards is the easy one: divide the square feet by 9, which gives 25 square yards per urban marla and 30.25 per traditional marla. For an overseas buyer who thinks in metric, one marla is about 20.9 or 25.29 square meters, and our square feet to square meters guide handles that end of things.
Frequently asked questions
How many square feet are in 1 marla?
One marla equals 225 square feet in most urban Pakistani housing schemes and 272.25 square feet under the traditional standard. The smaller figure comes from a 5 foot karam, the larger from the original 5.5 foot karam. Always confirm which standard your city or housing society uses before you sign anything.
Why is a marla 225 square feet in some cities and 272 in others?
The difference comes from the length of the karam, the traditional unit the marla is built on. Historically one karam was 5.5 feet, which makes a marla 272.25 square feet. Many twentieth century housing schemes rounded the karam down to 5 feet, which shrinks the marla to exactly 225 square feet.
How many marlas are in a kanal?
One kanal contains 20 marlas in both Pakistan and India. Under the 225 square foot marla a kanal is 4,500 square feet, and under the traditional 272.25 square foot marla it is 5,445 square feet, exactly one eighth of an acre. Listings in Punjab typically switch from marla to kanal for larger plots.
What are the dimensions of a 5 marla plot in feet?
A standard 5 marla plot measures about 25 feet by 45 feet, which equals 1,125 square feet on the 225 square foot urban standard. Exact dimensions vary from scheme to scheme, since corner and irregular plots get reshaped. Under the older 272.25 square foot standard, 5 marla works out to 1,361.25 square feet.
How many square feet is a 10 marla plot?
A 10 marla plot is 2,250 square feet on the 225 square foot standard used by most urban housing schemes in Pakistan. On the traditional 272.25 square foot standard it is 2,722.5 square feet. The common layout in planned societies is roughly 35 feet by 65 feet, which comes to 2,275 square feet.
Is a marla the same size in Pakistan and India?
A marla is usually 272.25 square feet in India but 225 square feet in urban Pakistan. Indian states such as Punjab and Haryana kept the traditional British era figure. Pakistani cities largely adopted the rounded 5 foot karam after independence, though rural land records in Pakistan often still follow the older 272.25 standard.
Keep the table handy, and the next time a listing quotes a number that feels off, run it through the free area calculator on CalcRange and see which standard it matches. Two minutes of checking beats finding a 472 square foot surprise after the token money changes hands.