Nautical Miles to Land Miles Converter

How many land miles are in a nautical mile?

One nautical mile is 1.150779448 land miles. The ratio comes from two exact definitions: a nautical mile is 1,852 meters and a statute (land) mile is 1,609.344 meters, so the quotient 1,852 ÷ 1,609.344 is 1.15077944802..., which the converter rounds to the figure above.

land miles = nautical miles × 1.150779448In reverse, nautical miles = land miles × 0.868976, or land miles ÷ 1.150779448.

In rough terms a nautical mile is about 15% longer than the mile on a road sign. It also equals roughly 6,076 feet, against 5,280 feet for the land mile.

Why there are two kinds of mile

The land mile grew out of the Roman mille passus, a thousand paces, and was later fixed at 5,280 feet. The nautical mile has a different origin: it was tied to the Earth's geometry as roughly one minute of latitude, which made it convenient for navigators reading positions off a chart. An international conference in 1929 settled on a fixed length of 1,852 meters so every country would use the same number.

Ships and aircraft still measure distance in nautical miles and speed in knots, where one knot is one nautical mile per hour. Everyone planning a trip on land thinks in statute miles, which is why conversions between the two come up so often.

How to convert nautical miles to land miles

1. Type the number of nautical miles into the first box.
2. The statute miles appear in the second box immediately, rounded to six decimals.
3. For a quick mental estimate, add 15% to the nautical figure.

Example 1 (territorial waters). A coastal state's territorial sea reaches 12 nautical miles. 12 × 1.150779448 = 13.809353 land miles.

Example 2 (a long flight). A route of 3,000 nautical miles is 3,000 × 1.150779448 = 3,452.338344 land miles.

Example 3 (speed). A ship holding 20 knots covers 20 nautical miles each hour, which is 20 × 1.150779448 = 23.015589 land miles per hour.

Nautical miles to land miles conversion table

Converting back to nautical miles

To turn statute miles into nautical miles, divide by 1.150779448 (or multiply by 0.868976). A 100-mile road trip measured at sea would be 100 × 0.868976 ≈ 86.9 nautical miles. The land miles to nautical miles converter does this in one step.

Do not confuse the nautical mile with the geographical mile or with the old British Admiralty mile of 6,080 feet. This page uses the international value of exactly 1,852 meters.