How many chains are in 1 mile?

One mile contains exactly 80 chains (8 furlongs x 10 chains/furlong).

How many miles is 1 chain?

One chain equals exactly 1/80 of a mile (0.0125 miles).

Why is a mile 80 chains?

Because 1 mile = 8 furlongs and 1 furlong = 10 chains. 8 x 10 = 80. Gunter designed the chain to fit the existing furlong-mile relationship with a decimal multiplier.

Miles to Chains (mi to ch) Converter

1 mi = 80 ch

1 Mile equals 80 Chains (1 mi = 80 ch). Convert Miles to Chains with formula, table, and examples.

One mile equals exactly 80 chains. This clean ratio exists because Gunter designed his chain (66 feet) so that 10 chains = 1 furlong and 80 chains = 1 mile. The chain was the imperial system's hidden decimal unit.

How to Convert Miles to Chains

ch = mi × 80

Multiply the value in Miles by 80

Take your value in Miles
Multiply by 80
Read the result in Chains

Common Miles to Chains Conversions

Miles (mi)	Chains (ch)	Status
0.1 mi	8 ch
0.25 mi	20 ch
0.5 mi	40 ch
1 mi	80 ch
2 mi	160 ch
5 mi	400 ch
10 mi	800 ch
26.2 mi	2,096 ch
50 mi	4,000 ch
100 mi	8,000 ch
200 mi	16,000 ch
500 mi	40,000 ch

Good to Know About Miles to Chains Conversion

The mile-to-chain ratio of 80:1 is Gunter's masterpiece. By making 1 furlong = 10 chains, he created a decimal island in the imperial ocean. This single design decision made land surveying calculable for 300 years. The metric system gets credit for decimals, but Gunter did it first, locally.

Miles to Chains: What You Need to Know

A mile is 80 chains. A furlong is 10 chains. An acre is 10 square chains. Gunter's 1620 design made the chain the backbone of English land calculation: multiply and divide by 10 within an otherwise non-decimal system.

What is a Mile? mi

An imperial unit of length equal to 5,280 feet or approximately 1.609 kilometers. The standard unit for road distances in the US and UK.

Imperial Us-customary road distances (US/UK) running aviation

Learn more about Mile →

What is a Chain? ch

Exactly 66 feet or 4 rods (20.1168 m). Invented by Edmund Gunter for land surveying. 80 chains make one mile. Still used in US public land surveys.

Imperial land surveying US public land

Learn more about Chain →

Going the other way? Use our Chains to Miles converter.

Miles to Chains FAQ

One mile contains exactly 80 chains (8 furlongs x 10 chains/furlong).
One chain equals exactly 1/80 of a mile (0.0125 miles).
Because 1 mile = 8 furlongs and 1 furlong = 10 chains. 8 x 10 = 80. Gunter designed the chain to fit the existing furlong-mile relationship with a decimal multiplier.

Non-Frequently Asked Questions About Miles to Chains

Questions nobody should ask - but someone did.

Nearly. 80 chains per mile, 10 chains per furlong, 10 square chains per acre - these are the only base-10 relationships in imperial length. Gunter smuggled decimal math into the imperial system 170 years before the metric system existed. He was a mathematical revolutionary disguised as a surveyor.
Laying a 20-meter chain 80 times takes about 80 measurements at 1 minute each = 80 minutes. That is faster than walking the mile (about 60 minutes). Chain measuring is slightly slower than walking. Surveyors were not fast, but they were accurate.
80 chains per hour = 1 mile per hour. That is extremely slow - barely faster than a slow walk. At 80 chains per hour, you would be overtaken by joggers, cyclists, and particularly motivated squirrels. Speed limits in chains per hour would have much larger numbers: highway speed would be about 5,600 chains per hour.