Height is one of the most common everyday conversions because people still describe it differently depending on the country. In the US and often in the UK, height is usually given in feet and inches. In most of Europe, Latin America, and much of Asia, height is given in centimeters.

If you work with medical forms, passport applications, fitness plans, dating profiles, or clothing size charts, you will run into this constantly.

For exact conversions, use our length converter or jump directly to feet to meters and inches to centimeters.

The Core Conversion

  • 1 inch = 2.54 cm exactly
  • 1 foot = 12 inches
  • 1 foot = 30.48 cm

That means every height in feet and inches can be converted in two steps:

  1. Convert the feet to inches.
  2. Add the remaining inches.
  3. Multiply the total by 2.54.

Example: 5’10” to cm

Take 5 feet 10 inches:

  1. 5 × 12 = 60 inches
  2. 60 + 10 = 70 inches
  3. 70 × 2.54 = 177.8 cm

So:

5’10” = 177.8 cm

Common Height Conversions

Feet and InchesCentimeters
5’0”152.4 cm
5’2”157.5 cm
5’4”162.6 cm
5’6”167.6 cm
5’8”172.7 cm
5’10”177.8 cm
6’0”182.9 cm
6’2”188.0 cm
6’4”193.0 cm

Converting Centimeters Back to Feet and Inches

To go the other way:

  1. Divide centimeters by 2.54 to get total inches.
  2. Divide by 12 to get feet.
  3. The remainder becomes inches.

Example: 180 cm

  1. 180 ÷ 2.54 = 70.87 inches
  2. 70.87 ÷ 12 = 5 feet with 10.87 inches left

So 180 cm is roughly 5’11”.

Quick Mental Shortcut

For rough mental math:

  • 6 feet is about 183 cm
  • 5 feet is about 152 cm
  • every extra inch adds about 2.5 cm

That shortcut is not perfect, but it is good enough for quick estimates.

Where People Get Confused

Feet and inches are not decimal

This catches people all the time. 5.10 feet is not the same thing as 5’10”.

  • 5.10 feet means 5.10 as a decimal number of feet.
  • 5'10" means 5 feet plus 10 inches.

Those are different values.

Rounding can shift the inches

When converting from centimeters, tiny rounding differences can make a result look like 5’10” or 5’11”. If the context is medical or official, use the exact centimeter value first and round only at the end.

When to Use Exact Values

Use exact values for:

  • medical records
  • visa and passport forms
  • sports registration
  • custom tailoring
  • equipment fitting such as bicycles or climbing gear

Use rounded values for:

  • casual conversation
  • quick online profiles
  • rough size comparisons

If you need exact results for a specific number, use inches to centimeters, centimeters to inches, or the full length converter.