Convert American Wire Gauge (AWG) sizes to metric cross-sectional area in square millimeters (mm²). The AWG system is used in North America; most of the world uses mm² (IEC 60228).
| AWG | mm² | Diameter (mm) | Diameter (in) | Circular Mils |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/0 | 107.2193 | 11.684 | 0.46 | 211,600 |
| 3/0 | 85.0288 | 10.4049 | 0.409642 | 167,806 |
| 2/0 | 67.4309 | 9.2658 | 0.364797 | 133,076 |
| 1/0 | 53.4751 | 8.2515 | 0.324861 | 105,534 |
| 1 | 42.4077 | 7.3481 | 0.289297 | 83,693 |
| 2 | 33.6308 | 6.5437 | 0.257626 | 66,371 |
| 3 | 26.6705 | 5.8273 | 0.229423 | 52,635 |
| 4 | 21.1506 | 5.1894 | 0.204307 | 41,741 |
| 5 | 16.7732 | 4.6213 | 0.181941 | 33,102 |
| 6 | 13.3018 | 4.1154 | 0.162023 | 26,251 |
| 7 | 10.5488 | 3.6649 | 0.144285 | 20,818 |
| 8 | 8.3656 | 3.2636 | 0.12849 | 16,510 |
| 9 | 6.6342 | 2.9064 | 0.114424 | 13,093 |
| 10 | 5.2612 | 2.5882 | 0.101897 | 10,383 |
| 11 | 4.1723 | 2.3048 | 0.090742 | 8,234 |
| 12 | 3.3088 | 2.0525 | 0.080808 | 6,530 |
| 13 | 2.624 | 1.8278 | 0.071962 | 5,178 |
| 14 | 2.0809 | 1.6277 | 0.064084 | 4,107 |
| 15 | 1.6502 | 1.4495 | 0.057068 | 3,257 |
| 16 | 1.3087 | 1.2908 | 0.050821 | 2,583 |
| 17 | 1.0378 | 1.1495 | 0.045257 | 2,048 |
| 18 | 0.823 | 1.0237 | 0.040303 | 1,624 |
| 19 | 0.6527 | 0.9116 | 0.035891 | 1,288 |
| 20 | 0.5176 | 0.8118 | 0.031961 | 1,022 |
| 21 | 0.4105 | 0.7229 | 0.028462 | 810 |
| 22 | 0.3255 | 0.6438 | 0.025347 | 642 |
| 23 | 0.2582 | 0.5733 | 0.022572 | 510 |
| 24 | 0.2047 | 0.5106 | 0.020101 | 404 |
| 25 | 0.1624 | 0.4547 | 0.0179 | 320 |
| 26 | 0.1288 | 0.4049 | 0.015941 | 254 |
| 27 | 0.1021 | 0.3606 | 0.014196 | 202 |
| 28 | 0.081 | 0.3211 | 0.012641 | 160 |
| 29 | 0.0642 | 0.2859 | 0.011258 | 127 |
| 30 | 0.0509 | 0.2546 | 0.010025 | 100 |
| 31 | 0.0404 | 0.2268 | 0.008928 | 80 |
| 32 | 0.032 | 0.2019 | 0.00795 | 63 |
| 33 | 0.0254 | 0.1798 | 0.00708 | 50 |
| 34 | 0.0201 | 0.1601 | 0.006305 | 40 |
| 35 | 0.016 | 0.1426 | 0.005615 | 32 |
| 36 | 0.0127 | 0.127 | 0.005 | 25 |
The cross-sectional area in mm² for any AWG gauge can be calculated:
Area (mm²) = (π/4) × [0.127 × 92(36-n)/39]²
Note that AWG and IEC metric sizes don't have exact 1:1 equivalents. A 12 AWG wire (3.31 mm²) is closest to the 4 mm² IEC standard size, but they are not identical.