How many inches in a cm?

1 cm = 0.3937 inOne centimeter is 0.3937 inches, a bit more than 3/8 inch. Going the other way, one inch is exactly 2.54 cm.

One centimeter equals about 0.3937 inches, a little more than 3/8 of an inch. Going the other way, one inch is exactly 2.54 centimeters, so each inch on a ruler holds about two and a half centimeters. A US dime is about 1.8 centimeters across, which gives a handy feel for the size.

Inches0.3937 in
Nearest 1/16 inch3/8 in
Feet and inches0 ft 0.394 in
Centimeters1 cm
Millimeters10 mm
Meters0.01 m
Yards0.0109 yd

Centimeters to inches, 1 to 30 cm

cm	inches	nearest 1/16 in
1	0.394	3/8
2	0.787	13/16
3	1.181	1 3/16
4	1.575	1 9/16
5	1.969	1 15/16
6	2.362	2 3/8
7	2.756	2 3/4
8	3.150	3 1/8
9	3.543	3 9/16
10	3.937	3 15/16
11	4.331	4 5/16
12	4.724	4 3/4
13	5.118	5 1/8
14	5.512	5 1/2
15	5.906	5 7/8
16	6.299	6 5/16
17	6.693	6 11/16
18	7.087	7 1/16
19	7.480	7 1/2
20	7.874	7 7/8
21	8.268	8 1/4
22	8.661	8 11/16
23	9.055	9 1/16
24	9.449	9 7/16
25	9.843	9 13/16
26	10.236	10 1/4
27	10.630	10 5/8
28	11.024	11
29	11.417	11 7/16
30	11.811	11 13/16

Printable ruler, the red line marks 0.394 in. Print at 100% scale ("actual size") and check it against a known length, such as a credit card's 3 3/8 in long side.

How to convert it yourself

Divide centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, or multiply by 0.3937. Multiply inches by 2.54 to get centimeters.

Example: 20 cm ÷ 2.54 = 7.874 in; 10 in × 2.54 = 25.4 cm.

Convert another length

Questions people ask

How many cm in an inch?

Exactly 2.54 cm.

How many inches is 2.5 cm?

0.984 inches, just under 1 inch.

Is a cm bigger than an inch?

No. An inch is about 2.5 times longer than a centimeter.