Km to Miles Converter

How to convert kilometers to miles

The kilometer is a thousand meters, the road and race distance of most of the world. The mile it converts into — 5,280 feet, exactly 1.609344 km by the chain of definitions — is what American and British runners, drivers and maps still use. Dividing by 1.609344 (rather than multiplying by a rounded 0.62) keeps the answer exact to the same standard as the definitions themselves.

Race distances are why most people land here: a 5K is 3.10686 miles, a 10K — this page's default — is 6.21371 miles, and the table's 42.2 km entry is the marathon, 26.2188 miles against its official 42.195 km. Driving runs the other way: a 100 km/h country is driving at 62 mph, a 130 km motorway stretch is 80.78 miles, and a metric odometer reading of 150,000 km is a 93,206-mile car — a figure that matters when an imported vehicle's history is judged by the wrong unit.

The common mistake is the 0.62 shortcut used for pacing: over a marathon it reads 26.16 miles against the true 26.22, small on paper and a real misjudgement at mile 25. The Fibonacci trick beloved of mental maths (5 km ≈ 3 mi, 8 km ≈ 5 mi, 13 km ≈ 8 mi) is a fine party estimate at about 0.5% off, no more. And as with its sibling page, the nautical mile (1.852 km) is a different unit — never convert a sea or air distance with this factor.

Worked example

10 kilometers is 6.213712 miles: 10 ÷ 1.609344 = 6.213712 — the 10K race distance in the unit American runners pace by, and the reason a “6-mile” training run is not quite a 10K.

How to use this converter

1. Enter your value in kilometers in the box above — the result updates as you type.
2. Read the converted value in miles in the headline panel.
3. Check the factor, the formula and the inverse result (your answer converted back) in the stats if you need to show your working.
4. Use the Kilometers to Miles conversion table below for other common values without typing each one.

Frequently asked questions