Pyeong (평) Converter

Korean rooms, apartments and land are measured in pyeong (평), a traditional area unit. One pyeong is 3.305785 m² (about 35.58 sqft) — roughly two tatami mats, or a square about 1.82 m on each side. Type any number below to convert between pyeong, square meters and square feet.

Value

Unit

1 pyeong = 3.305785 m² = 35.58306 sqft · 1 m² = 0.3025 pyeong · 1 sqft = 0.0281 pyeong

Common apartment & room sizes

Pyeong	Square meters	Square feet	Typical use
10 평	33.06 m²	355.8 sqft	Studio / officetel
18 평	59.50 m²	640.5 sqft	Small 2-room home
24 평	79.34 m²	854.0 sqft	Compact family apartment
32 평	105.79 m²	1,138.7 sqft	Standard 3-bedroom
40 평	132.23 m²	1,423.3 sqft	Large apartment

The iconic Korean "national floor plan" is listed as 84 m² (exclusive floor area) — that is about 25.4 pyeong or 904 sqft. Listings usually show the exclusive (private) area in m² and the marketed size in pyeong, so the same home can look bigger in a pyeong-based ad.

ℹ️ Why Koreans still use pyeong. The metric system is official in Korea, and real-estate documents legally list area in m². But in everyday speech people describe homes, shops and land in pyeong — "a 30-pyeong apartment", "a 50-pyeong café". Knowing the conversion makes Korean property listings, Airbnb sizes and lease contracts far easier to read.

Why Korea still measures rooms in pyeong

One pyeong is exactly 400/121 square metres — 3.305785 m², or about 35.6 square feet. It is roughly the floor area two people can lie down in, which is how the unit came about.

Official documents, property registers and listings are written in square metres. Yet almost every conversation about housing in Korea happens in pyeong: an estate agent will say "24 pyeong" and then point at a document that says 84 m². Both numbers describe the same flat.

The number that matters most: 84 m²

If you look at Korean apartments for any length of time you will meet 84 m² constantly. It sits just under the statutory national housing scale of 85 m² of exclusive floor area, a threshold that carries tax and loan consequences, so developers build to it relentlessly. In everyday speech it is "the 84" or, in pyeong, about 25.4.

Exclusive area vs supplied area — the trap

Korean listings quote two different areas and they differ by a lot:

전용면적 (exclusive area) — the space inside your own front door. This is the honest number and the one used for the 85 m² rule.
공급면적 (supplied area) — exclusive area plus your share of corridors, stairwells and lobbies. Typically 25–35% larger.

So the same apartment is "24 pyeong" by exclusive area and "32 pyeong" by supplied area. When someone quotes a pyeong figure, the useful follow-up question is which of the two they mean. Converting a supplied-area pyeong figure into square metres and imagining that much living space is the classic mistake.

Rough sense of scale

1–2 pyeong (3–7 m²) — a bathroom, or a goshiwon study room.
5–8 pyeong (17–26 m²) — a typical one-room studio.
18–20 pyeong (59–66 m²) — a compact two-bedroom.
25–26 pyeong (84 m²) — the standard family apartment.
34 pyeong (114 m²) — the next size up, common in newer complexes.

Common questions

Is pyeong an official unit? No. Korea uses the metric system for all official purposes, and contracts and registries are written in square metres. Pyeong survives in speech and in advertising.

How do I convert in my head? Multiply pyeong by 3.3 for square metres; divide square metres by 3.3 for pyeong. For a faster estimate, take a third of the square metres and add a little.

Does the same unit apply to land? Yes — farmland and building plots are still discussed in pyeong, and for large plots you will also hear danbo and jeongbo.

Written and maintained by OPDADA (Korea) · Last reviewed August 2026 · Spotted an error? Let us know.