How many acres are in a PLSS section?

• A. 640 acres
• B. 320 acres
• C. 1280 acres
• D. 160 acres

Answer: (A)

A PLSS section covers one square mile, which is 640 acres. This follows from the fact that a mile by a mile is a square mile, and one square mile equals 27,878,400 square feet. Since an acre is 43,560 square feet, 27,878,400 ÷ 43,560 = 640. In PLSS terms, a township is 6 miles on each side (36 square miles total), divided into 36 sections, so each section is 640 acres.

For context, 320 acres would be half a square mile, 160 acres would be a quarter of a square mile, and 1,280 acres would be two square miles—these values don’t match a standard PLSS section.