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Speed

Kilometres per hour to miles per hour

1 km/h = 0.621371 mph

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One kilometre per hour is 0.6213711922 miles per hour. The factor is identical to the one between kilometres and miles, because dividing both sides by the same hour changes nothing — a speed conversion is a distance conversion in disguise.

About the units

Both units are a distance divided by an hour, and the whole difference lies in the distance. A statute mile is exactly 1,609.344 metres, fixed by the 1959 international agreement on the yard. The kilometre is a thousand metres. Kilometres per hour is the road speed unit almost everywhere; miles per hour survives in the United States, the United Kingdom and a handful of other places. Neither is an SI unit — the SI unit of speed is metres per second — but both are accepted, and no country posts road signs in metres per second.

The exact factor

The exact relationship is 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h, so 1 km/h = 0.62137119223733 mph. The speed limits that matter are worth knowing outright: 30 mph is 48 km/h, 50 mph is 80 km/h, 60 mph is 97 km/h, and 70 mph is 113 km/h. Going the other way, 50 km/h is 31 mph, 90 km/h is 56 mph, and 120 km/h is 75 mph. The Fibonacci trick from the distance conversion works here too — 8 km/h is about 5 mph, 13 about 8, 21 about 13.

Where you meet this conversion

Driving abroad, above all. A rental car crossing from Ireland into Northern Ireland moves from kilometres to miles at the border with no change in the road. Vehicle speedometers show both scales for exactly this reason, with the secondary scale in smaller figures. Weather reports give wind speed in one or the other depending on the country, and sports coverage of cycling, running and motorsport switches units between broadcasters covering the same event.

Common values

Value (km/h) Converted (mph)
1 0.621371
2 1.24274
5 3.10686
10 6.21371
25 15.5343
50 31.0686
100 62.1371
500 310.686
1 000 621.371

Values are rounded for reading. The converter above keeps full precision.

The other way around

1 mph = 1.60934 km/h

Miles per hour to kilometres per hour multiplies by 1.609344. The mental method for road signs: add sixty per cent, so 70 mph becomes 70 plus 42, which is 112 against the true 113.

Value (mph) Converted (km/h)
1 1.60934
2 3.21869
5 8.04672
10 16.0934
25 40.2336
50 80.4672
100 160.934
500 804.672
1 000 1 609.34

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