Convert km to miles

1 kilometer equals 0.62137119 miles. Enter a value below to convert instantly.

Kilometres to miles is the road-sign conversion: distances, speed limits and running events. The factor of about 0.621 is close enough to five eighths that a mental shortcut works — multiply by 5, divide by 8 — and lands within half a percent of the exact answer.

Value

From

1 km

0.62137119 mi

Multiply the number of kilometers by 0.621371192237 to get miles. How this is calculated

Decimals

Need the other direction? Convert mile to kilometer →

Formula

Multiply the number of kilometers by 0.621371192237 to get miles.

Step by step

Start with 1 km.
Multiply by the conversion factor 0.621371192237.
1 × 0.621371192237 = 0.62137119 mi.

Kilometers to Miles conversion table

Conversion table from Kilometers to Miles
Kilometers (km)	Miles (mi)
1	0.62137119
2	1.2427424
3	1.8641136
5	3.106856
10	6.2137119
20	12.427424
50	31.06856
100	62.137119
500	310.6856
1,000	621.37119

Where kilometers and miles are used together

Driving abroad

A speed limit sign reading 100 is 62 mph in a metric country and 161 km/h in an Imperial one — the same number means very different things. Rental car dashboards often show both scales, with the secondary one in smaller print.

Running and cycling events

A 5K is 3.11 miles, a 10K is 6.21 miles and a marathon is 42.195 km or 26.219 miles. Training plans and race distances routinely mix the two, and pace conversion is a separate step again.

Fuel range and trip planning

A car quoting 500 miles of range has about 805 km. Mapping apps show whichever unit the phone locale is set to, so a route planned at home and driven abroad can present two different numbers for the same trip.

Aviation and marine distances

Charts use nautical miles, which are neither of these units. Converting a 100 km leg gives 62.1 statute miles but 54.0 nautical miles — a 15% difference that matters for fuel planning.

Everyday kilometers worth knowing

Values people actually look up, with the reason each one comes up. Every figure is calculated with the same engine as the converter above.

Kilometer (km)	Mile (mi)	What it is
1	0.62137119	The base conversion
5	3.106856	A 5K race
10	6.2137119	A 10K race
21.0975	13.109379	A half marathon
42.195	26.218757	A marathon
50	31.06856	A common rural speed limit in km/h terms
100	62.137119	A round trip distance
1,000	621.37119	A long-haul drive

How these two units are defined

A kilometre is a thousand metres. The international mile is 5,280 feet, which works out to exactly 1,609.344 metres — again a consequence of the 1959 yard definition rather than an independent measurement. The nautical mile is a different unit entirely: exactly 1,852 m, defined from a minute of latitude, and used for sea and air navigation. Road distances are never in nautical miles, so if a figure is labelled just 'miles' in a driving context it is the 1,609.344 m statute mile.

Rounding and precision

1.609344 km per mile is exact, so precision is only limited by the distance you started with. Road distances are rounded to the nearest kilometre or mile anyway, so one decimal place is almost always enough — quoting a 5 km run as 3.1069 miles suggests a survey-grade measurement of a route that was probably estimated by GPS to within a few metres.

Mistakes people make with this conversion

Confusing statute miles with nautical miles

A nautical mile is 1,852 m — about 15% longer than a statute mile. Marine and aviation distances, and knots as a speed, all use the nautical mile.
Converting distance when you needed speed

Converting km to miles does not convert km/h to mph on its own if you also change the time base. For speed, use the speed converter; the numeric factor happens to be the same, but mixing the two up in a multi-step calculation is a common slip.
Trusting the five-eighths shortcut for long distances

Multiplying by 5 and dividing by 8 gives 0.625 instead of 0.621371 — about half a percent high. Over 1,000 km that is 3.6 miles.

Sources for this page

Special Publication 811 — Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology) · Conversion factors between US customary and SI units, and the rounding and significant-figure conventions this site follows.
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale NOAA National Hurricane Center · A worked example of the same wind speed published simultaneously in mph, knots, and km/h.

Content on this page last reviewed 12 August 2026. Spotted an error? Report it — see also how these values are calculated.

Convert Kilometer to other length units

1 km expressed in every other length unit on this site.

Meter m 1,000
Kilometer km 1
Hectometer hm 10
Dekameter dam 100
Decimeter dm 10,000
Centimeter cm 100,000
Millimeter mm 1,000,000
Micrometer µm 1,000,000,000
Nanometer nm 1,000,000,000,000
Picometer pm 1e+15
Femtometer fm 1e+18
Attometer am 1e+21
Megameter Mm 0.001
Gigameter Gm 0.000001
Terameter Tm 1e-9
Petameter Pm 1e-12
Exameter Em 1e-15
Angstrom Å 10,000,000,000,000
Mile mi 0.62137119
Yard yd 1,093.6133
Foot ft 3,280.8399
Inch in 39,370.079
Kiloyard kyd 1.0936133
League lea 0.20712373
Furlong fur 4.9709695
Chain ch 49.709695
Rod rd 198.83878
Perch perch 198.83878
Pole pole 198.83878
Rope rope 164.04199
Fathom fath 546.80665
Link li 4,970.9695
Hand hand 9,842.5197
Ell ell 874.89064
Barleycorn barleycorn 118,110.24
Mil mil 39,370,079
Microinch µin 39,370,079,000
Caliber cl 3,937,007.9
Centiinch cin 3,937,007.9
Nautical Mile nmi 0.5399568
Nautical Mile (UK) NM (UK) 0.53961182
Nautical League nl 0.1799856
Nautical League (UK) nl (UK) 0.17987061
Mile (US survey) mi (US) 0.62136995
Furlong (US survey) fur (US) 4.9709596
Chain (US survey) ch (US) 49.709596
Rod (US survey) rd (US) 198.83838
Fathom (US survey) fath (US) 546.80556
Foot (US survey) ft (US) 3,280.8333
Link (US survey) li (US) 4,970.9596
Inch (US survey) in (US) 39,370
League (statute) st.league 0.20712332
Pica pica 236,220.47
Point pt 2,834,645.7
Twip twip 56,692,913
Light Year ly 1.0570008e-13
Astronomical Unit AU 6.6845871e-9
Parsec pc 3.2407793e-14
Kiloparsec kpc 3.2407793e-17
Megaparsec Mpc 3.2407793e-20
Earth's Equatorial Radius R⊕(eq) 0.00015678559
Earth's Polar Radius R⊕(pol) 0.00015731304
Earth's Distance from Sun d⊕☉ 6.684492e-9
Sun's Radius R☉ 0.0000014374012
Bohr Radius a₀ 18,897,261,000,000
Electron Radius (classical) rₑ 3.5486912e+17
Fermi F 1e+18
X-unit X 9.9792432e+15
Planck Length ℓP 6.1871425e+37
Mile (Roman) mi (Rom) 0.67576517
Roman Actus actus 28.18591
Arpent arpent 17.087708
Cubit (UK) cubit 2,187.2266
Cubit (Greek) cubit (Gk) 2,160.8166
Long Cubit long cubit 1,874.7657
Reed reed 364.53777
Long Reed long reed 312.46094
Span (cloth) span 4,374.4532
Finger (cloth) finger 8,748.9064
Nail (cloth) nail 17,497.813
Handbreadth handbreadth 13,123.36
Fingerbreadth fingerbreadth 52,493.438
Aln aln 1,684.1317
Famn famn 561.37725
Ken ken 472.06329
Russian Archin archin 1,406.0742
Vara Castellana vara (cast) 1,197.3868
Vara Conuquera vara (con) 399.12894
Vara de Tarea vara (tarea) 399.12894
Ja (Korean foot) 자 3,300
Chi 치 33,000
Pun 푼 330,000
Gan 간 550
Jang 장 330
Ri (Korean) 리 2.5462963

About the kilometer

The kilometer (km) is a SI unit of length.

About the mile

The mile (mi) is a Imperial unit of length. The international mile, defined as exactly 1,760 yards.

Related conversions

Frequently asked questions

How many miles is a 5K?

5 km is 3.107 miles, usually quoted as 3.1. A 10K is 6.214 miles and a half marathon (21.0975 km) is 13.109 miles.

Is there a quick way to convert kilometres to miles in my head?

Multiply by 5 and divide by 8. For 80 km: 80 × 5 = 400, ÷ 8 = 50 miles. The true answer is 49.7 miles, so the shortcut runs about half a percent high — fine for road signs, not for anything measured.

Are nautical miles the same as miles?

No. A nautical mile is exactly 1,852 m against a statute mile's 1,609.344 m, so it is about 15% longer. Sea and air navigation use nautical miles; road distances use statute miles.

How many miles are in a kilometer?

One kilometer equals 0.62137119 miles.

How do you convert kilometers to miles?