U.S. customary units

The U.S. customary units are the units of measurement currently used in the United States and they are mostly of British origin. Since 1959, the U.S. customary units are related to SI units. The directors of the national standards laboratories of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States entered into agreement, effective July 1, 1959, whereby the equivalent of 1 yard = 0.9144 meter and 1 avoirdupois pound = 0.453 592 37 kilogram were adopted.

As a broad generality, in the United States, the SI metric system of units is predominantly used in the fields of physics, chemistry and similar sciences. However, by and large, the so-called U.S. customary units are still widely used in industry, engineering, marketing and the general public of the United States.

This article selectively lists and defines the most commonly used U.S. customary units in terms of the corresponding SI units.

Units of length

The inch, foot, yard, and mile are the only four customary length measurements in everyday use by industry, engineers and the general public in the United States. In common usage, the "mile" is understood to be the statute mile (as differentiated from the "nautical mile").

Units of Length
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 mil	mil	--	0.0254 mm (a)
1 inch	in	--	2.54 cm (b)
1 foot	ft	12 in	0.3048 m
1 yard	yd	3 ft	0.9144 m
1 statute mile	mi	5,280 ft	1.609 km
1 nautical mile	--	6,076 ft	1.852 km
(a) 1 mil is 1/1000 of an inch (b) 1 inch is 1/12 of a foot

It is quite common in the United States to use the word "feet" as the plural of the word "foot". One would say that the "A is one foot longer than B". However, one would say that "A is ten feet longer than B". That same usage applies to the words "square foot" and "square feet" as well as to "cubic foot" and "cubic feet".

Units of area

The square inch, square foot, square yard and acre are the four customary units of area measurement in everyday use by industry, engineers and the general public in the United States.

Units of Area
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 square inch	sq in	--	6.4516 cm²
1 square foot	sq ft	144 sq in	0.0929 m²
1 square yard	sq yd	9 sq ft	0.836 m²
1 acre	--	43,560 sq ft	4,047 m² (a)
(a) 1 acre = 0.4047 hectare (a non-SI metric unit)

Units of volume

The three units commonly used for measuring volumes in the United States by industry, engineers and the general public are the cubic inch, cubic foot and cubic yard. In addition, there is a group of units that define certain liquid volumes, and one that defines dry material volumes.

Other than the cubic foot, cubic inch and cubic yard, these units are differently sized from the units in the Imperial system once used in the United Kingdom, although the names of the units are similar. Also, while the United States has separate systems for defining certain volumes of liquids and dry material, the Imperial system has one set of units for both. By and large, the Imperial system has been replaced by the metric system in the United Kingdom.

Units of Volume (general)
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 cubic inch	cu in	--	16.387 mL
1 cubic foot	cu ft	1,728 cu in	28.317 L
1 cubic yard	cu yd	27 cu ft	0.7646 m³

It should be noted that in the United States, the natural gas and petroleum refining industries commonly use the letter M to denote one thousand (10³ ) and the letters MM to denote one million (10⁶ ) when stating gas volumes in cubic feet.

Units of Liquid Volume
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 fluid ounce	fl oz	--	29.574 ml
1 (liquid) pint	pt	16 fl oz	0.4732 L
1 (liquid) quart	qt	2 pt	0.9464 L
1 U.S. gallon	gal	4 qt	3.7854 L (a)
1 (oil) barrel	bbl	42 gal	158.987 L (b)
1 (beer) barrel	bbl	31 gal	117.348 L
(a) One U.S. gallon is exactly 231 cubic inches. An Imperial gallon (U.K.) is approximately 20% larger than a U.S. gallon (b) All countries define an (oil) barrel as 42 U.S. gallons

Units of Dry Volume
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 (dry) pint	pt	33.6 cu in	0.5506 L
1 (dry) quart	qt	2 pt	1.1012 L
1 (dry) gallon	gal	4 qt	4.4048 L
1 peck	pk	2 gal	8.8098 L
1 bushel	bu	4pk	35.2391 L

Units of weight

In the everyday usage of the United States, the words weight and mass are interchangeable. In modern scientific usage however, weight and mass are two different quantities. Mass measures the amount of matter in an object whereas weight measures the amount of gravitational force acting on an object. Strictly speaking, one should make a distinction between pound-force and pound-mass. Thus, the units of weight in the tables below are in fact the units of force exerted by the action of standard gravity on the listed units of mass.

There are two systems of weight used in the United States, the Avoirdupois system and the Troy system. The Avoirdupois system is the one primarily used in industry, engineering and the basic avoirdupois unit is the pound.

The Troy system is used for weighing precious metals (such as gold, silver and platinum) and gemstones.

The Apothecary system once used by pharmacists has been largely replaced by the SI metric system of units.

Avoirdupois Units of Weight
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 grain	gr	--	64.799 mg (a)
1 ounce	oz	--	28.3495 g (b)
1 pound	lb	16 oz	453.59237 g
1 (short) ton	tn	2,000 lb	907.1847 kg
1 (long) ton	tn	2,240 lb	1,016.0469 kg
(a) 1 grain is 1/7000 of a pound (b) 1 ounce is 1/16 of a pound

Troy Units of Weight
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 grain	gr	--	64.799 mg (a)
1 pennyweight	dwt	24 gr	1.55517384 g
1 troy ounce	oz t	20 dwt	31.1035 g
1 troy pound	lb t	12 oz t	373.24172 g
(a) The grain is the same weight in avoirdupois and troy weight

Bushels of grain

Although the bushel is a dry volume unit, most grains in the United States are sold commercially as bushels defined by weight. The weight of a bushel of grain depends upon the specific grain and the percentage of moisture in the grain. The table below lists the weight of a bushel of grain for some example grains, each at their "standard" amount of moisture.

Weight of a Bushel of Grain
Grain	Standard moisture, weight % (wet basis)	Pounds	Kilograms
wheat	13.5	60	27.22
shelled corn	15.5	56	25.40
barley	14.5	48	21.77
oats	14.0	32	14.52
rye	14.0	56	25.40
soybean	13.0	60	27.22

Units of pressure

The most commonly used units of pressure by industry, engineers and the general public in the United States are pound-force per square inch, foot of water and inches of mercury.

Units of Pressure
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 pound-force/foot2	psf	--	47.880 Pa
1 pound-force/inch2	psi	144 psf	6,894.757 Pa
1 poundal/foot2	pdl/ft2	--	1.4882 Pa
1 atmosphere	atm	--	101,325 Pa
1 inch of mercury (a)	in Hg	--	3376.85 Pa
1 inch of water (a)	in H2O	--	248.84 Pa
1 foot of water (a)	ft H2O	12 in H2O	2986.080 Pa
(a) At 60 °F (15.56 °C)

Units of energy and work

The most widely used unit of energy in the United States is the British thermal unit (Btu), which has a number of versions (the International Table Btu, the thermochemical Btu, the mean Btu and others). Of those various version, the most widely used is the International Table Btu and the thermochemical Btu listed in the table below.

The therm (10⁵ Btu) is used by gas distribution companies. It is approximately equal to the heat energy released by burning 100 cubic feet of natural gas.

Units of Energy and Work
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 British thermal unit (International Table) (a)	Btu	--	1055.056 J
1 British thermal unit (thermochemical)	Btu	--	1054.350 J
1 British thermal unit (mean)	Btu	--	1055.87 J
1 therm	thm	105 Btu	1055.056 × 105 J
watt-hour	Wh	--	3600.000 J
1 foot-pound-force	ft•lbf	--	1.3558 J
1 foot-poundal	ft•pdl	--	0.04214 J
(a) The International (Steam) Table value of the Btu is by far the most commonly used value of the Btu

Units of power

The two most commonly used units of power in the United States customary units are mechanical horsepower and Btu/hour. The watt, an SI metric unit of power, is also widely used.

The boiler horsepower is the rate of energy required to evaporate 34.5 lb (15.65 kg) of water at 212 °F (100 °C) in one hour. It is a rarely used unit.

Furnaces and air conditioners often have a rating given in terms of "BTU" that is actually the rating in BTU/h.

Units of Power
Unit name	Short form	Divisions	SI Equivalent
1 British thermal unit/hour (International Table Btu)	Btu/h	--	0.29307 W
1 mechanical horsepower (a)	hp	--	745.6999 W
1 boiler horsepower	hp	--	9,809.50 W
1 foot-pound-force/second	ft•lbf/s	60 ft•lbf/min	1.3558 W
(a) 1 mechanical horsepower is 550 ft•lbf/s. Brake horsepower (BHP or bhp) is defined as mechanical horsepower delivered directly to and measured at the engine's or motor's shaft.