A half-section in the Public Land Survey System equals how many acres?

A half-section in the Public Land Survey System equals how many acres?

• A. 320 acres
• B. 160 acres
• C. 640 acres
• D. 80 acres

Answer: (A)

In the Public Land Survey System, each section is a square mile, which equals 640 acres. A half-section is simply half of that area, so it covers 320 acres. This follows directly from halving 640. For extra context, a township is 6 miles by 6 miles and contains 36 sections, which is why a single section is one square mile. The other fractional pieces—full section (640), quarter-section (160), eighth-section (80)—reflect other common divisions of the same square-mile area.