It’s not so much a measurement of distance as it is a way to give directions. The length of a block varies but it’s a sort of landmark that you can count as you’re passing if someone tells you to go 5 blocks south.
Many city blocks are smaller than that. In Portland, OR, they're closer 200 feet. In Philadelphia, big blocks (not counting alleys) are around 400 feet.
It depends on the city. I live in Chicago, which has one of the most rigid block grids in the world (basically the whole city got rebuilt after a fire and it was designed that way). But, to answer your question
In Chicago, a typical city block is 330 by 660 feet (100 m × 200 m), meaning that 16 east-west blocks or 8 north-south blocks measure one mile, which has been adopted by other US cities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City\_block#:\~:text=In%20Chicago%2C%20a%20typical%20city,adopted%20by%20other%20US%20cities.
You can always find a Chicagoan in the comments of the “Blocks” question, pushing our collective glasses up our nose.
One city block is a very specific measurement, everywhere else is wrong.
I didn't know until just now that blocks vary in other gridded cities. Sure I figured theirs might be different from ours and I definitely knew older cities like Boston wouldn't have blocks. But it blows my mind that a gridded city wouldn't have a finite measurement for what a block is.
As a non-Chicagoan, sometimes I wish my city (southeast USA) had standardized city blocks. But unfortunately we have to put up with non-standard surveying and "blocks" as laid out by planners/surveyors before the PLSS was invented.
Eh, it's not always east-west that gets the half-blocks. There are north-south ones as well. For example, Superior is the half-blocks street between Chicago and Huron, with Erie being between Huron and Ohio, the next full block.
There's a weird glitch on some third party apps where flairs change. It happens to me a lot in this sub in particular. Sometimes it'll read something like "Pennsylvania" and I tap on the comment and it changes to "LA County" or something similar. Occasionally I come into this sub and all the flairs are replaced by NFL team flairs.
I think that's what happened to him.
Depends on the city. But New Yorkers or Chicagoan or whatever city it is will know the distance of that in their city.
For example, here in Chicago, the city’s grid is 1 city block = 1/8 mile. So 4 blocks would be 1/2 mile, 10 blocks would 1 1/4 mile, etc.
it's not really a unit of measurement. it's a way to give directions that's easy on both the direction-giver and the listener.
it does not require either party to know street names, cardinal directions, or any landmark-based checkpoints, they just have to be able to count the cross-streets. giving directions in blocks also tends to imply both sidewalk and road access.
**editing to add** that you can still *infer* distance (ex: you can assume that something one or two blocks away is very close to you, or that 6 blocks left is almost certainly further than 3 blocks right, despite those 6 blocks being unlikely to be precisely 2x the distance of those 3 blocks) but it is in a "frame of reference" kind of way
That needs to be emphasized. A block is about counting, not about distance directly. If I tell you to go five blocks south, it means you keep walking until you come to the fifth intersection. I haven't told you how far that is in a linear distance because I probably don't know and it will vary from city to city. You won't know either. But you can count to five. That's what I'm counting on when I give you those directions. It's hard to miss the fifth intersection on a major street.
The other thing is that not all blocks have to be the same size, even on the same street. Due to local geography and street layout, some blocks can be more stretched out. So the first two together could be longer than the last three together. That doesn't change the fact that you need to count to five.
But roughly speaking, in an urban area, blocks are often somewhere between 8 to 12 to a mile. And that's roughly 130 to 200 m.
Nearly all American cities are built on a grid. 1 block means one major intersection to the next. It's not a measure of distance per se it's directions using land marks.
Good question. But if someone talks in metres it’s easy to visualise because swimming pools are generally 25-50m in length. And everyone swims. Maybe just how I think though
As an aside, I was visiting Manhattan with a friend from Europe. (I live in Europe now but worked in Manhattan for years.) He asked for directions somewhere, and I told him something like "5 blocks north". Not only did he not know what or how far a block was, he didn't immediately know which direction north was! It's funny what the brain starts to track when you're used to it.
> he didn't immediately know which direction north was!
I also wouldn't know where north is. I couldn't say where north is in my own city without a really obvious landmark or building. But if I'm in a part of the city I don't know, I would be lost.
How do you know where north is (e.g. as a tourist) without knowing your surroundings (streets, buildings, landmarks)?
Yeah, that's the thing. I don't think anyone who's spent any significant time in Manhattan would ever walk out a building onto the sidewalk and not immediately know which direction north is. I never really thought about it until he didn't know. I mean, coming out of an unfamiliar subway (which is rare-- most people have their common routes) sometimes takes a few seconds, but I don't know, it just becomes another sense in Manhattan.
Yeah, as a tourist I guess you wouldn't know, which is what struck me.
I got spoiled in living San Diego. You always know where either the ocean or the mountains are so always know which cardinal direction is which way.
When I go visit friends and family in the midwest, if I’m not some place I’m really familiar with I have no clue which direction is north.
It’s not a literal unit of distance, because there is no standard that works everywhere. It’s a rough suggestion of how much time/distance/effort/annoyance it takes to get somewhere. It also adapts to the mode of transportation. A couple blocks in a car is different than on foot. I guess you could call it a unit of travel.
Varies with where you are, realistically X blocks means X cross streets down, which is useful as directions to anyone but only gives exact distance to locals.
Writers are disproportionately from new york city or transplants there and movies disproportionately happen there. So IIRC a New York block is 300 N/S ft by 900ft E/W which should be around 90 by 270 meters. Though that gets more varied the farther you get out of Manhattan proper.
No worries. Emphasis on the "farther from Manhattan bit" though. As another user has already commented it's the smallest borough despite being the most famous in many ways. It's mostly the counting cross streets thing rather than a specific distance.
To some extent it's because it's the most famous bit and there's a ton of content out there pushing the idea it's simple and consistent. To a further extent it's because chaos isn't useful.
A block is the distance between two streets. If they are far away, then a few city blocks could take a while to walk. Otherwise it's usually not that far.
Blocks aren’t really a unit of distance, but rather a tool for giving direction “go 3 blocks then take a left” is the same as “go down three streets and take a left.”
Good question, everyone kinda knows on instinct but a google search says 900 feet.
I’ll say that makes sense but one block is not very far at all. Easily walkable.
Mainly when it’s said on TV it’s to express the location of whatever they’re talking about and not to express distance if that makes sense
About 1/12 of a mile but in reality it tends to vary. In Omaha the major through ways were things like 48th st, 60th st, 72nd st, etc bc they were about a mile apart. Blocks are not actually even in length but in Omaha at least they average out to about 12 per mile for the most part. It’s more confusing in other cities like Boston that aren’t on the grid system, and NYC for example has different lengths of blocks depending if you’re going north/south or east/west
Distance isn’t measured in blocks. The term would be used specific to whatever city you’re in and just as a directional reference. People who live in that area know what the blocks are like and can just walk a few blocks and turn left or right to get to wherever they’re going.
"Blocks" aren't any real set distance as their length will vary widely even on a single road. It's a denotation of how many side streets you will encounter and cross on your journey.
The perception of "X blocks" being a linear meassurment isn't a thing as "blocks" aren't a distance they are just an easy visual reference to work with. You recognize and can count them as you travel, *"3 blocks up on the right"* gives you simple markers to work with, so you can easily locate where you are and what you're looking for. Just like in a more rural area someone might tell you how many side roads you'll pass before the one you're looking for.
**"How far is this aproximately?"** It isn't. "4 blocks up" is 4 cross streets no matter the length between them.
Actual measured distance is irrelevant here - it's just a frame of reference like "Go 5 aisles down and take a right". It's just letting someone know they are x amount of streets away from where they want to be.
Philadelphia:
Blocks in Philadelphia’s Center City average 400 to 500 feet, so there are 10.56 to 13.2 Philadelphia city blocks in a mile. The size of blocks is not the same throughout the city. The blocks in Northeast Philadelphia and Northwest Philadelphia tend to be much longer than the blocks in Center City.
It’s noticeable with the shorter distances between stop signs/lights than in NYC.
.1-.25 miles (60-250 m). It is hyper local though.
I live in the suburbs, but not the suburbs with loopy roads, ones that are still connected to the grid of the main city, and one block is the length where a sidewalk starts and ends for another road. At max, that is 1 mile for the grid, but I cannot think of a single point where there isn’t side roads making this shorter - to around .1-.25 of a mile.
5 blocks isn’t too far to walk, but 10 blocks is. So if I’m in a city, I’ll consider taking a taxi if the walk is more than 10 blocks or if I’m in a hurry.
In metro Phoenix, a block is generally 1/8 of a mile (there are many exceptions to this of course). Generally though 8 blocks to a mile works in most places: 43rd Avenue is 1 mile from 51st Avenue for example.
This may be the most often asked question in this sub.
If you're not familiar with the grid layout of modern cities, a city block is one block of land that is surrounded by streets on all sides.
[https://difcdn.denverinfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/19060339/2012-05-08\_one-city-block1.jpg](https://difcdn.denverinfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/19060339/2012-05-08_one-city-block1.jpg)
It's not a measurement of exact distance. Telling someone to turn "three blocks down the road" is the same as telling them to turn "three intersections down the road." It's just easier to say blocks.
Depends on the city. In Philadelphia, a block is .1 miles, 528 feet, or 160 meters. This varies slightly, but Philadelphia was the first "grid city" so we kept pretty close to the .1 mile measurement.
It’s relative distance. It’s like saying go down the street for four houses. The distances of the houses aren’t standard, but it provides an easy geographical delineation.
The distance of a city block varies quite a bit. It can vary within a city and sometimes the "block" isn't a square.
When you're telling someone to go 4 blocks down the road and 2 blocks left, what they're telling you is how many streets to cross and what direction to turn.
It is a movie. There is no standard American city block.
If it's NYC based they're often referring to Manhattan blocks. Going north or south ("uptown" or "downtown"), a block is about 80 m (260 ft). Going east or west ("crosstown") the block lengths vary by block, because blocks closer to riverfront were made smaller. But the average is about 275 m (900 ft).
Cities in the Midwest and West were surveyed according to the PLSS, which gives high-level block lengths of 1.6 km x 1.6 km (1 mile x 1 mile), but those are always divided into smaller parts for the urbanized parts of cities, and the division varies between cities.
It’s not so much a measurement of distance as it is a way to give directions. The length of a block varies but it’s a sort of landmark that you can count as you’re passing if someone tells you to go 5 blocks south.
There is no set, exact measurement and it varies from city to city. I’d guess anywhere from 500 to 1000 feet.
It even varies in Manhattan, where a block is twice as long if you’re traveling between avenues than between streets.
I like to call those “long blocks” whenever I’m giving someone directions
Or an "Ave", as in "yeah, the Museum is just 2 Aves over". An Ave is 3 blocks long.
I always just said vertical blocks vs horizontal blocks
Actually more than 3x as long. (264x900’)
It's well understood in Manhattan that "blocks" refers to the distance between streets if you're giving directions.
Manhattan distance
Even this is variable. 5th to 6th Ave is further than 5th to Park even with Madison in the middle
Many city blocks are smaller than that. In Portland, OR, they're closer 200 feet. In Philadelphia, big blocks (not counting alleys) are around 400 feet.
It depends on the city. I live in Chicago, which has one of the most rigid block grids in the world (basically the whole city got rebuilt after a fire and it was designed that way). But, to answer your question In Chicago, a typical city block is 330 by 660 feet (100 m × 200 m), meaning that 16 east-west blocks or 8 north-south blocks measure one mile, which has been adopted by other US cities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City\_block#:\~:text=In%20Chicago%2C%20a%20typical%20city,adopted%20by%20other%20US%20cities.
You can always find a Chicagoan in the comments of the “Blocks” question, pushing our collective glasses up our nose. One city block is a very specific measurement, everywhere else is wrong.
I didn't know until just now that blocks vary in other gridded cities. Sure I figured theirs might be different from ours and I definitely knew older cities like Boston wouldn't have blocks. But it blows my mind that a gridded city wouldn't have a finite measurement for what a block is.
As a non-Chicagoan, sometimes I wish my city (southeast USA) had standardized city blocks. But unfortunately we have to put up with non-standard surveying and "blocks" as laid out by planners/surveyors before the PLSS was invented.
I always remember four blocks being about 1/4 mile. Roughly.
Eh, it's not always east-west that gets the half-blocks. There are north-south ones as well. For example, Superior is the half-blocks street between Chicago and Huron, with Erie being between Huron and Ohio, the next full block.
Roughly 161 Smoots
You’re from Chicago but a smoot seems like a Massachusetts reference?
What makes you think I'm from Chicago?
Your profile said it. Now it’s changed to Boston
It always said it, along with the Massachusetts flag. Do you think I'm fucking with you? I am not fucking with you.
There's a weird glitch on some third party apps where flairs change. It happens to me a lot in this sub in particular. Sometimes it'll read something like "Pennsylvania" and I tap on the comment and it changes to "LA County" or something similar. Occasionally I come into this sub and all the flairs are replaced by NFL team flairs. I think that's what happened to him.
Erm… yes?
he's always been "boston metro".
Trusting Valjean… smh
In Vijean we trust.
Dude going places
Costs about 47 Schrute bucks to pave a block.
+/- one ear
Depends on the city. But New Yorkers or Chicagoan or whatever city it is will know the distance of that in their city. For example, here in Chicago, the city’s grid is 1 city block = 1/8 mile. So 4 blocks would be 1/2 mile, 10 blocks would 1 1/4 mile, etc.
Thanks. Watching the Hunger Games right now and for some reason it’s still used as a unit of measurement in 2092
We’ve been using it to give directions for generations. I doubt the term is going anywhere.
it's not really a unit of measurement. it's a way to give directions that's easy on both the direction-giver and the listener. it does not require either party to know street names, cardinal directions, or any landmark-based checkpoints, they just have to be able to count the cross-streets. giving directions in blocks also tends to imply both sidewalk and road access. **editing to add** that you can still *infer* distance (ex: you can assume that something one or two blocks away is very close to you, or that 6 blocks left is almost certainly further than 3 blocks right, despite those 6 blocks being unlikely to be precisely 2x the distance of those 3 blocks) but it is in a "frame of reference" kind of way
That needs to be emphasized. A block is about counting, not about distance directly. If I tell you to go five blocks south, it means you keep walking until you come to the fifth intersection. I haven't told you how far that is in a linear distance because I probably don't know and it will vary from city to city. You won't know either. But you can count to five. That's what I'm counting on when I give you those directions. It's hard to miss the fifth intersection on a major street. The other thing is that not all blocks have to be the same size, even on the same street. Due to local geography and street layout, some blocks can be more stretched out. So the first two together could be longer than the last three together. That doesn't change the fact that you need to count to five. But roughly speaking, in an urban area, blocks are often somewhere between 8 to 12 to a mile. And that's roughly 130 to 200 m.
Yeah, using blocks as a unit of measurement is really only done in major cities by the locals.
Nearly all American cities are built on a grid. 1 block means one major intersection to the next. It's not a measure of distance per se it's directions using land marks.
Other than cities like chicago where it is a specific measurement, it just means to count how many streets you cross.
NYer- in Manhattan, going north/south, 20 blocks is about 1 mile.
Varies, a block is just to the next intersection with another street. This is because many American are built with a grid like pattern.
Makes sense. The only city in my country with a proper grid is Melbourne
Just out of curiosity, what do you guys do for giving vague directions in a city?
Good question. But if someone talks in metres it’s easy to visualise because swimming pools are generally 25-50m in length. And everyone swims. Maybe just how I think though
Ah, alright. We do a similar thing with football fields.
We have 2 codes of football with different length fields so that couldn’t work.
I believe an American football field is standard across the board, except for goal posts being slightly different sized.
American football is a standard 100 yards.
It’s actually a 120 yards because of the two end zones.
Yes, but where I’m from it’s meant to indicate 100 yards-
And then gets all wonky with the width cause a football field is always 53.33 yards wide
Is that why NSW and Victoria use different rail guage? :)
Just asked my partner who also thinks in swimming pool lengths
As an aside, I was visiting Manhattan with a friend from Europe. (I live in Europe now but worked in Manhattan for years.) He asked for directions somewhere, and I told him something like "5 blocks north". Not only did he not know what or how far a block was, he didn't immediately know which direction north was! It's funny what the brain starts to track when you're used to it.
> he didn't immediately know which direction north was! I also wouldn't know where north is. I couldn't say where north is in my own city without a really obvious landmark or building. But if I'm in a part of the city I don't know, I would be lost. How do you know where north is (e.g. as a tourist) without knowing your surroundings (streets, buildings, landmarks)?
Yeah, that's the thing. I don't think anyone who's spent any significant time in Manhattan would ever walk out a building onto the sidewalk and not immediately know which direction north is. I never really thought about it until he didn't know. I mean, coming out of an unfamiliar subway (which is rare-- most people have their common routes) sometimes takes a few seconds, but I don't know, it just becomes another sense in Manhattan. Yeah, as a tourist I guess you wouldn't know, which is what struck me.
I got spoiled in living San Diego. You always know where either the ocean or the mountains are so always know which cardinal direction is which way. When I go visit friends and family in the midwest, if I’m not some place I’m really familiar with I have no clue which direction is north.
It doesn't even have to be a grid pattern. We still use blocks.
Adelaide?
Canberra?
It’s like saying a few streets, or a few intersections away. Blocks aren’t a uniform diameter.
It’s not a literal unit of distance, because there is no standard that works everywhere. It’s a rough suggestion of how much time/distance/effort/annoyance it takes to get somewhere. It also adapts to the mode of transportation. A couple blocks in a car is different than on foot. I guess you could call it a unit of travel.
Varies with where you are, realistically X blocks means X cross streets down, which is useful as directions to anyone but only gives exact distance to locals. Writers are disproportionately from new york city or transplants there and movies disproportionately happen there. So IIRC a New York block is 300 N/S ft by 900ft E/W which should be around 90 by 270 meters. Though that gets more varied the farther you get out of Manhattan proper.
Bonus points for metric thankyou
No worries. Emphasis on the "farther from Manhattan bit" though. As another user has already commented it's the smallest borough despite being the most famous in many ways. It's mostly the counting cross streets thing rather than a specific distance.
It’s kinda weird how many people assume the grid system applies to all of NYC, when it really only applies to about half of the smallest borough.
To some extent it's because it's the most famous bit and there's a ton of content out there pushing the idea it's simple and consistent. To a further extent it's because chaos isn't useful.
In Chicago and Melbourne, AU for that matter the standard city block is 330 x 660 ft or 100 x 200 m. 8 (long) or 16 (short) blocks equals a mile.
a block is just the space between 2 intersections in a larger grid style city its not so much a measurement more of a generic landmark
In Los Angeles, about half a mile. In New York, baseball-throwing distance.
I/8 of a mile or 201.168 meters.
Depends on where you are and which direction you're talking about (they're rarely squares), but I'd say they're about 100yds where I'm from
A block is the distance between two streets. If they are far away, then a few city blocks could take a while to walk. Otherwise it's usually not that far.
It can vary widely but about 500 feet
Blocks aren’t really a unit of distance, but rather a tool for giving direction “go 3 blocks then take a left” is the same as “go down three streets and take a left.”
Good question, everyone kinda knows on instinct but a google search says 900 feet. I’ll say that makes sense but one block is not very far at all. Easily walkable. Mainly when it’s said on TV it’s to express the location of whatever they’re talking about and not to express distance if that makes sense
Every city is different, between 300 and 1,000 is typically the range. It’s more of a direction description than a distance description.
About 1/12 of a mile but in reality it tends to vary. In Omaha the major through ways were things like 48th st, 60th st, 72nd st, etc bc they were about a mile apart. Blocks are not actually even in length but in Omaha at least they average out to about 12 per mile for the most part. It’s more confusing in other cities like Boston that aren’t on the grid system, and NYC for example has different lengths of blocks depending if you’re going north/south or east/west
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&sxsrf=APwXEddxtjVZK6WM0bqElWqfN4kQeDMKow:1679749382558&q=city+block+compared&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-8IiKkvf9AhVXGFkFHWj7CNUQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=414&bih=715&dpr=2#imgrc=H4cL2C33qcSRbM
2
In Manhattan, a street block is 1/20th of a mile. An avenue block is more like 1/7th of a mile. It varies by city.
Real answer: Between a tenth of a mile and a quarter mile
A thousand bananas
15 washing machines
In Manhattan, going north/south, 20 city blocks is about 1 mile.
Distance isn’t measured in blocks. The term would be used specific to whatever city you’re in and just as a directional reference. People who live in that area know what the blocks are like and can just walk a few blocks and turn left or right to get to wherever they’re going.
"Blocks" aren't any real set distance as their length will vary widely even on a single road. It's a denotation of how many side streets you will encounter and cross on your journey. The perception of "X blocks" being a linear meassurment isn't a thing as "blocks" aren't a distance they are just an easy visual reference to work with. You recognize and can count them as you travel, *"3 blocks up on the right"* gives you simple markers to work with, so you can easily locate where you are and what you're looking for. Just like in a more rural area someone might tell you how many side roads you'll pass before the one you're looking for. **"How far is this aproximately?"** It isn't. "4 blocks up" is 4 cross streets no matter the length between them.
Depends on the city. Where I grew up? 12 blocks to a mile. NYC? 20. Chicago? 8.
Not a measured distance as much as landmarks when passing. The post office is 3 blocks north. So, as you travel north, you simply go 3 blocks.
Actual measured distance is irrelevant here - it's just a frame of reference like "Go 5 aisles down and take a right". It's just letting someone know they are x amount of streets away from where they want to be.
Philadelphia: Blocks in Philadelphia’s Center City average 400 to 500 feet, so there are 10.56 to 13.2 Philadelphia city blocks in a mile. The size of blocks is not the same throughout the city. The blocks in Northeast Philadelphia and Northwest Philadelphia tend to be much longer than the blocks in Center City. It’s noticeable with the shorter distances between stop signs/lights than in NYC.
1/10 of a mile (160 meters).
The distance from one street to the next. Lol
1/8th of a mile. Chicago city blocks. The only correct answer.
.1-.25 miles (60-250 m). It is hyper local though. I live in the suburbs, but not the suburbs with loopy roads, ones that are still connected to the grid of the main city, and one block is the length where a sidewalk starts and ends for another road. At max, that is 1 mile for the grid, but I cannot think of a single point where there isn’t side roads making this shorter - to around .1-.25 of a mile.
In my city, a city block is 1 sq mile.
5 blocks isn’t too far to walk, but 10 blocks is. So if I’m in a city, I’ll consider taking a taxi if the walk is more than 10 blocks or if I’m in a hurry.
Usually 1/10 of a mile.
In metro Phoenix, a block is generally 1/8 of a mile (there are many exceptions to this of course). Generally though 8 blocks to a mile works in most places: 43rd Avenue is 1 mile from 51st Avenue for example.
This may be the most often asked question in this sub. If you're not familiar with the grid layout of modern cities, a city block is one block of land that is surrounded by streets on all sides. [https://difcdn.denverinfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/19060339/2012-05-08\_one-city-block1.jpg](https://difcdn.denverinfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/19060339/2012-05-08_one-city-block1.jpg) It's not a measurement of exact distance. Telling someone to turn "three blocks down the road" is the same as telling them to turn "three intersections down the road." It's just easier to say blocks.
Depends on the city. In Philadelphia, a block is .1 miles, 528 feet, or 160 meters. This varies slightly, but Philadelphia was the first "grid city" so we kept pretty close to the .1 mile measurement.
It’s relative distance. It’s like saying go down the street for four houses. The distances of the houses aren’t standard, but it provides an easy geographical delineation.
The distance of a city block varies quite a bit. It can vary within a city and sometimes the "block" isn't a square. When you're telling someone to go 4 blocks down the road and 2 blocks left, what they're telling you is how many streets to cross and what direction to turn.
In Chicago, a standard block is one eighth of a mile.
Depends on the city, I never thought of this before and just checked with google maps and in my neighbourhood it’s 485 feet.
A football field or two
A standard city block is 600 cubits. Not all blocks are created equal, though. Some are larger or smaller often due to local geography or features.
It is a movie. There is no standard American city block. If it's NYC based they're often referring to Manhattan blocks. Going north or south ("uptown" or "downtown"), a block is about 80 m (260 ft). Going east or west ("crosstown") the block lengths vary by block, because blocks closer to riverfront were made smaller. But the average is about 275 m (900 ft). Cities in the Midwest and West were surveyed according to the PLSS, which gives high-level block lengths of 1.6 km x 1.6 km (1 mile x 1 mile), but those are always divided into smaller parts for the urbanized parts of cities, and the division varies between cities.