How many meters are in a kilometer?
There are 1,000 meters in a kilometer. The prefix kilo means one thousand, so a kilometer is a thousand meters, just as a kilogram is a thousand grams.
The kilometer is part of the metric system, which uses powers of ten to make conversions easy. One kilometer equals 1,000 meters, 100,000 centimeters or 1,000,000 millimeters. To change kilometers into meters, you simply multiply by 1,000, and to change meters into kilometers, divide by 1,000.
A kilometer is about 0.621 miles, so a mile is a little longer, about 1.609 kilometers. Walking a kilometer usually takes an adult about 10 to 12 minutes. A 5K race is 5 kilometers, about 3.1 miles, and a marathon is 42.195 kilometers.
Where the meter came from
The meter was created in France in the 1790s and was originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, passing through Paris. Since 1983, it has been defined by the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
Did You Know?
Most countries use kilometers on road signs. The United States, the United Kingdom, Liberia and Myanmar are among the few that still mainly use miles.