How Big Is 5 Acres of Land? (With Examples)

As you assess properties you will likely see them measured out in acres, which will leave you wondering just how big is an acre - let alone 5?

Technically speaking, an acre is 217,800 square feet.  If you are still a bit lost in regards to just how big 5 acres actually is, a good way to visualize the amount of land in use would be to imagine the size of roughly 4 and a half football fields.

When evaluating land, investors and aspiring homeowners can sometimes feel a bit puzzled when the properties they look at are all being measured in acres.  The reason for this is that we don’t use acres as a measurement for anything other than land and it’s not every day that most people are hunting down property.  What is striking about a parcel of land that has 5 acres of land on it is just how much potential there is for different types of development.

The authority that manages the most amount of land in the United States is the Bureau Of Land Management; overseeing over 270 million acres of land.  In addition, land is managed by non-profit land trusts, real estate organizations, as well as federal, state, and city governments.

‍Examples Of 5 Acres Of Land

If you are an average homeowner, you rarely consider just how big lands are that have multiple acres on them.  The size of an acre alone offers up so many possibilities to pursue development projects that can range from a wide variety of ideas.

That’s why many real estate investors strive to purchase either small amounts of highly valued land or large amounts of land that are less costly - yet offer enormous opportunities.  When acquiring real estate that has 5 acres or even more, we often see purchases this large out in rural areas with the intention of pursuing some sort of industrial or commercial business prospects.

However, we do see land properties this large being sold off even within urbanized areas.  While this generally out of the norm for the average homeowner, it does happen within the business world as well as by your own state or city government.

To bring to perspective just how large 5 acres of land is and what you can do with that much land, we are going to highlight this by illustrating some real-life comparisons for you.  Let’s dive into some examples of lands that amount to 5 acres.

How Many Football Fields Fit In 5 Acres?

As mentioned above, 5 acres of land is just under 5 football fields - roughly 4 and a half fields.  Given that football is such a popular sport in the United States, this is often the easiest way to visualize the size of 5 acres.

The standard that the National Football League (NFL) has in place for certified football fields is always 100 yards long and 53 and one-third yards wide, which is just under what a single acre would be.  This includes the end zones of the football field.

A football field is a perfect example of a large plot of land that can be easily be found in urban areas across the United States that requires roughly an acre for the field alone.  If you calculate the amount of space needed for seats for the attendees, the number gets even higher.

Football fields and other sporting arenas are among the most demanding things we have for land use in the United States and depending on the location of the arena, the cost of the land could be enormous.

How Many Homes Fit In 5 Acres?

Most people on the market for buying a home rarely consider the size of a single acre or even the size of 5. That’s because the average home doesn’t even come close to requiring that much land.

Throughout the United States, single-family homes can vary in size depending on the state, city, and town.  The reason for this is that certain living environments have restrictions on how much space can be allocated per household.  As urbanization grew and expanded throughout the 20th century, living spaces got tighter and tighter, which resulted in less space for average folks to live in.

With that being said the average home requires roughly less than a quarter of an acre to be built.  Usually, you can expect to fit about 5 homes into a single acre and as many as 25 homes into a 5-acre parcel of land.

That means that if you consider that the average household has about 4 people living in it, you can expect up to find roughly 100 people living in a single 5-acre plot of land.  This amount of people will generally be found in 5-acre parcels of land that are located within urban areas.

This becomes a bit more challenging to calculate when you factor in the size difference between a home in an urban city and a home located out in the countryside.  When you consider the amount of land that homeowners residing in rural areas have at their disposal, it is common to see individuals owning single-home properties that can be well over an acre and in some cases owning up to even 5 acres or more!

How Many Parking Lots Fit In 5 Acres?

If there is one thing in the United States that takes up a whole lot of room it is the demand for parking spaces.

Given that Americans are so dependant on automotive transport for getting around, our cars tend to require a lot of room to be stored.  Whether it’s at home in your driveway, outside in the street, or a parking lot that you can commonly find near shopping malls and department stores.

It’s our large parking lots in particular that require a massive amount of need for land, which will likely leave you wondering just how many parking lots fit into 5 acres of land.

For standard vehicles, you can expect to fit just about 5 parking lots into 5 acres of land.  This is a nice and even measurement, as individuals that choose to utilize their land for parking spaces generally tend to buy their land in multiple aces, single acres, half acres, and quarter acres.

To illustrate just how many parking lots fit into 5 acres of land, you should try to visualize just how many cars fit into a single parking lot.  For the common 3-axle vehicles that we drive in the United States, you can typically expect to find that 140 cars fit nicely into a completely full parking lot.

So, 140 cars are about what you would find in just a single-acre parking lot.  While a 5-acre plot of land can fit up to 700 vehicles inside of it.  

How Many Golf Courses Fit In 5 Acres?

If there is any sport that requires a large amount of land it is golf.  Golf courses are the most demanding sport for land use on the planet.

This is a pretty astounding notion considering that golf courses are also the sport where the amount of space is used least, as the pitch tends to only have a handful of golfers at a time on it, and the amount of space that actually gets used is so minuscule.

With that being said, golf courses can range in size depending on the location of the pitch, which is generally influenced by whether a golf course is located within a city or out in a rural area.  As you can imagine a golf course within a city generally has a bit more constraint, as far as room to play around with.  Whereas a golf course in a rural environment will tend to have more flexibility when it comes to space.

A golf course found within city limits will typically require about 120 to 140 acres of land to have a quality game. The golf courses that you find out in rural areas will generally use about 160 to 180 acres of land - with some using up to as much as 200 acres of land for a single pitch. That’s a whole lot of room to play golf! That entails that 5 acres will fill just 2.5% of a large golf course.

How Many Soccer Fields Fit In 5 Acres?

Another beloved sport that we typically like to play in the United States is soccer.  Given that soccer is not only popular in our nation, but the world, we can expect to see a lot of acres of land globally allocated to this sport.

The average soccer field that is recognized by the Federal International Football Association (FIFA) is 120 yards long and 100 yards wide.  This makes the number of acres that a soccer field requires about 1.8 acres of land.

Now for a 5-acre plot of land, you can expect to fit about 2.7 soccer fields inside of it.

While this is the standard that is in place by FIFA for their official and professional soccer fields, you can expect the size of the field to vary slightly depending on the league the sport is being played in, as well as whether the field is located in a public park for recreational use.

The common soccer fields you see in public parks and other public recreation centers will generally be anywhere from 1 acre to 1.4 acres.  With that being said, you will be able to fit anywhere from 3 and a half soccer fields into a 5-acre parcel of land to up to 5 soccer fields.

How Many Baseball Fields Fit In 5 Acres

The classic American sport of baseball, which has its signature pitches located all over the United States is a bit of a trickier comparison to analyze land for.

The reason for this is that baseball fields tend to vary greatly depending on their location and the level of professionalism that the game is being played in.  This sport is so popular in the United States that it has more leagues than just about any sport we play; with little leaguers and t-ballers stepping on to the pitch as early as 4 or 5 years old - all the way to the pros in Major League Baseball (MLB).

With that being said the number of acres will have to be considered for each type of league.

Let’s take a look a the different amounts of acres needed for different baseball fields.

• A baseball field that has 60ft bases will need to have 1.5 acres of land for play, which will fit 3.3 fields into 5 acres.
• A baseball field that has 70ft bases will need to have 2.0 acres of land for play, which will fit 2.5 fields into 5 acres.
• A baseball field that has 80ft bases will need to have 3.0 acres of land for play, which will fit 1.6 fields into 5 acres.
• A major league field will require 90ft bases and will need 4.5 acres of land for play, which will fit 1.1 fields into 5 acres.

These fields can be ranged from the classic baseball fields you see at public parks to the ones you see in large stadium arenas.