Convert Knots to Miles per Hour
Knots to miles per hour is the conversion pilots, sailors, and weather watchers reach for when they need a speed from a nautical instrument translated into the units used on the road. One knot is about 1.150779 miles per hour, so the number gets a little bigger when you switch from knots to mph.
Knots to Miles per hour conversion table
| Knots (kn) | Miles per hour (mph) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.150779 |
| 2 | 2.301559 |
| 3 | 3.452338 |
| 5 | 5.753897 |
| 10 | 11.507794 |
| 20 | 23.015589 |
| 50 | 57.538972 |
| 100 | 115.077945 |
| 500 | 575.389724 |
| 1,000 | 1,150.779448 |
The formula
To convert knots to miles per hour, multiply the speed in knots by 1.150779:
mph = knots × 1.150779
A worked example
Say an airliner is cruising at 500 knots and you want that speed in mph:
500 × 1.150779 = 575.39 mph
That's a typical cruising speed for a commercial jet at high altitude — well over the speed most people associate with flying, because ground speed and airspeed both get reported in knots in aviation.
Why it's an approximation
The nautical mile (1.852 km) and the statute mile (1.609344 km) are both exact definitions on their own, but dividing one by the other produces a number with digits that never settle into a short, clean pattern. So 1.150779 is the standard rounded factor — accurate enough for virtually any real use, but technically a rounded stand-in for a longer decimal.
When you'll use it
Reading aviation speed reports, converting a boat's knot-based speedometer for a passenger used to mph, and understanding wind or storm speeds reported in knots on U.S. weather broadcasts.
Frequently asked questions
How many miles per hour are in a knot?
About 1.150779 mph. It's close to a 1-to-1 swap, but a knot is always a bit faster than a mile per hour.
Is the knots to mph conversion exact?
No — it's an approximation. The nautical mile and the statute mile are both exactly defined, but the ratio between them doesn't work out to a clean number, so 1.150779 is a rounded figure carried out to six decimal places.
Why is a knot faster than a mile per hour?
A knot is based on the nautical mile, which is longer than the statute mile used for mph. A nautical mile equals one minute of latitude on the globe, which happens to be a bit more distance than a standard mile.