If you purchased the northwest quarter of a section of land, what is the length of each side of the property?

To determine the length of each side of the property when purchasing the northwest quarter of a section of land, it’s essential to understand how land is divided in the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), which is commonly used in the United States, including California.

A section of land is typically 640 acres, which is a square parcel measuring 1 mile by 1 mile. Each mile equals 5,280 feet. Therefore, each side of a section measures 5,280 feet.

The northwest quarter of a section represents one-fourth of the total area of that section. Since the quarter divides the section into four equal parts, the dimensions of each quarter remain the same as the dimensions of the entire section. Thus, if you only consider the division of area, the length of each side of the northwest quarter is still 1,320 feet. When determining the side length of a quarter section, it is calculated as:

• Each quarter section has dimensions of ( (1 \text{ mile} \div 2) ); since 1 mile is 5,280 feet, dividing that by 2 gives you 2,640 feet for each side of the quarter (noting that while 1/4 of the section