How Big Is the Pentagon?

While the Pentagon only stands 77 feet (about 23.5 meters) tall, it is 1,414 feet (about 431 meters) wide. Its width is shorter than the height of the Empire State building (the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1972) by only 39 feet (about 12 meters). The building itself covers 29 acres (about 117,360 square meters) including a 5 acre courtyard (about 20,235 square meters) in its center. It sits on 583 acres (about 2.4 million square meters) of land, which includes 200 acres of lawn (about 809,370 square meters) as well as 67 acres (about 271,140 square meters) of parking space.

More facts about the pentagon:

• The Army Corps of Engineers built the Pentagon in only 16 months, from 11 September 1941 to 15 January 1943.


• The Pentagon's 17.5 miles (about 28 kilometers) of hallways was designed for efficiency so that people can walk between any two points within seven minutes.


• Approximately 33,000 people worked at the Pentagon during WWII. In 2012, the Pentagon reported having about 23,000 employees.