Feet per second to miles per hour (ft/s to mph) converter

What is a feet per second to miles per hour converter?

A feet per second to miles per hour converter is an online tool that turns a speed expressed in feet per second (ft/s) into the equivalent speed in miles per hour (mph), and back again. Both units belong to the imperial or US customary system, but they describe motion over very different time and distance scales: feet per second is convenient for short, fast events such as a sprint, a falling object, or a projectile, while miles per hour is the everyday unit for vehicles, wind, and travel. The converter lets you move between the two without remembering the underlying ratio.

How does the converter work?

The converter relies on the fact that one mile equals 5,280 feet and one hour equals 3,600 seconds. To go from feet per second to miles per hour you scale the distance up (feet to miles) and the time up (seconds to hours) at the same time. Internally the tool divides the number of feet per second by 5,280 to get miles per second, then multiplies by 3,600 to get miles per hour. Because both fields are linked, editing either side recalculates the other instantly, so you can type a value in feet per second or in miles per hour and read the matching result.

Formula for conversion

The relationship between the two units comes directly from the definitions of the mile and the hour:

To convert feet per second to miles per hour:

$\text{mph} = \text{ft/s} \times \frac{3600}{5280} = \text{ft/s} \times 0.681818$

To convert miles per hour back to feet per second:

$\text{ft/s} = \text{mph} \times \frac{5280}{3600} = \text{mph} \times 1.466667$

A handy shortcut is that 22 ft/s equals exactly 15 mph, and 60 mph equals exactly 88 ft/s.

Conversion table

The following table lists common feet-per-second values together with their miles-per-hour equivalents:

Examples

Example 1: One foot per second

Convert 1 ft/s to miles per hour using the factor 0.681818:

$1 \times 0.681818 = 0.681818 \text{ mph}$

So a speed of one foot per second is just under seven tenths of a mile per hour.

Example 2: A familiar 22 ft/s

Convert 22 ft/s to miles per hour:

$22 \times 0.681818 = 15 \text{ mph}$

This is the classic identity used by physics teachers: 22 feet per second equals exactly 15 miles per hour.

Example 3: Highway speed in reverse

Convert 60 mph to feet per second using the factor 1.466667:

$60 \times 1.466667 = 88 \text{ ft/s}$

A car cruising at 60 mph is covering 88 feet every second.

Example 4: A metric input

The converter also accepts other units. Convert 100 km/h to miles per hour:

$100 \times 0.621371 = 62.1371 \text{ mph}$

So 100 kilometers per hour is about 62.14 miles per hour.

Notes

• One mile is defined as 5,280 feet and one hour as 3,600 seconds, which makes the conversion factor exactly 3600 / 5280.
• The value 0.681818 is a rounded form of the repeating decimal 0.6818…, so very precise work may keep more digits.
• The converter handles decimals, so fractional speeds such as 12.5 ft/s convert without rounding errors on input.
• Both fields support additional units (km/h, m/s, knots), letting you mix imperial and metric speeds in a single calculation.

Frequently asked questions

How many miles per hour is 1 foot per second?

One foot per second equals approximately 0.681818 miles per hour. Multiply any feet-per-second value by 0.681818 to get miles per hour.

How many feet per second is 60 mph?

Sixty miles per hour equals exactly 88 feet per second. Multiply miles per hour by 1.466667 to convert to feet per second.

Why does 22 ft/s equal exactly 15 mph?

Because 22 × 3600 / 5280 simplifies to exactly 15, the pair 22 ft/s and 15 mph is an exact whole-number identity, which is why it is often used as a teaching shortcut.

Is feet per second faster than miles per hour?

A single foot per second is a smaller speed than a single mile per hour, since 1 ft/s is only about 0.68 mph. To match 1 mph you need roughly 1.47 ft/s.

Can I convert miles per hour to feet per second with the same tool?

Yes. The converter is bidirectional. Enter a value in the miles-per-hour field and the feet-per-second result appears automatically, using the factor 1.466667.

What if I need to convert between metric speeds?

Both input fields offer kilometers per hour, meters per second, and knots in addition to the imperial units, so you can convert across systems, for example 100 km/h to about 62.14 mph, in a single step.