Kilometer to Mile
Convert kilometer (km) to mile (mi) instantly. Great for recipes, DIY projects and height conversions.
Kilometer → Mile
0.621371
mi
1 km = 0.621371 mi
Frequently asked questions
0.621371 miles. The international mile is defined as exactly 1,609.344 metres, which follows from the mile being 5,280 feet and a foot being exactly 0.3048 m.
Multiply by 0.6 and add a little. There is also a neat trick using consecutive Fibonacci numbers, which approximate the golden ratio and happen to sit very close to the 1.609 factor: 5 km ≈ 3 mi, 8 km ≈ 5 mi, 13 km ≈ 8 mi, 21 km ≈ 13 mi. Each pair is accurate to within about half a percent.
No. A nautical mile is 1,852 metres, about 15% longer than a statute mile, and it is defined as one minute of latitude. It is used in marine and air navigation, and a speed of one nautical mile per hour is a knot. Converting a ship's or aircraft's distance with the statute mile factor understates it by roughly a seventh.
Multiply by 0.621371
A kilometre is 0.621371 miles, because the international mile is defined as exactly 1,609.344 metres.
Miles = kilometres × 0.621371
That definition follows from the foot: a mile is 5,280 feet, and a foot is exactly 0.3048 m, giving 5,280 × 0.3048 = 1,609.344 m precisely.
Why this conversion comes up
India, like most of the world, signs its roads and sells its cars in kilometres. The United States and the United Kingdom remain the significant exceptions for road distance — the UK in a particularly mixed way, using miles for road signs and speed limits while buying petrol in litres and food in grams.
So the conversion appears most often when reading American or British content: a car review quoting miles per gallon and a 0–60 mph time, a running plan written in miles, a news report of a distance, or a hire car abroad with a speedometer in the other unit.
Common values
- 1 km = 0.62 mi
- 5 km = 3.11 mi — the standard short race
- 10 km = 6.21 mi
- 21.1 km = 13.11 mi — a half marathon
- 42.195 km = 26.22 mi — a marathon
- 50 km = 31.07 mi
- 100 km = 62.14 mi
Speed limits and the mental shortcut
For speeds, the useful conversions are:
- 50 km/h ≈ 31 mph
- 60 km/h ≈ 37 mph
- 80 km/h ≈ 50 mph
- 100 km/h ≈ 62 mph
- 120 km/h ≈ 75 mph
The elegant mental approximation uses the Fibonacci sequence, because consecutive Fibonacci numbers approximate the golden ratio, which happens to sit very close to the km-to-mile factor of 1.609. So 5 km ≈ 3 mi, 8 km ≈ 5 mi, 13 km ≈ 8 mi, 21 km ≈ 13 mi, 34 km ≈ 21 mi — each pair accurate to within about 0.5%.
For other values, multiply by 0.6 and add a little: 80 km → 48, plus a bit, gives about 50 miles against an exact 49.7.
The nautical mile is a different unit
Worth separating, because the word is the same. A nautical mile is 1,852 metres — about 15% longer than a statute mile — and it is defined as one minute of latitude, which is why it is used in marine and air navigation. A speed of one nautical mile per hour is a knot.
Converting a ship's or aircraft's distance using the statute mile factor understates it by roughly a seventh.