AWG to square mm Wire Gauge Conversion

American Wire Gauge (AWG) is a U.S. standard set of wire conductor sizes. The "gauge" is related to the dia. of the wire.

The AWG standard includes copper, aluminum and other wire materials. Typical household copper wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. Telephone wire is usually 22, 24, or 26. The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the wire.

The table below can be used to convert American Wire Gauge (AWG) to square mm cross sectional area.

American Wire Gauge (AWG)	Diameter (inches)	Diameter (mm)	Cross Sectional Area (mm²)
0000	0.46	11.68	107.16
000	0.4096	10.40	84.97
00	0.3648	9.27	67.40
0	0.3249	8.25	53.46
1	0.2893	7.35	42.39
2	0.2576	6.54	33.61
3	0.2294	5.83	26.65
4	0.2043	5.19	21.14
5	0.1819	4.62	16.76
6	0.162	4.11	13.29
7	0.1443	3.67	10.55
8	0.1285	3.26	8.36
9	0.1144	2.91	6.63
10	0.1019	2.59	5.26
11	0.0907	2.30	4.17
12	0.0808	2.05	3.31
13	0.072	1.83	2.63
14	0.0641	1.63	2.08
15	0.0571	1.45	1.65
16	0.0508	1.29	1.31
17	0.0453	1.15	1.04
18	0.0403	1.02	0.82
19	0.0359	0.91	0.65
20	0.032	0.81	0.52
21	0.0285	0.72	0.41
22	0.0254	0.65	0.33
23	0.0226	0.57	0.26
24	0.0201	0.51	0.20
25	0.0179	0.45	0.16
26	0.0159	0.40	0.13
27	0.018	0.36	0.096
28	0.013	0.33	0.08
30	0.01	0.25	0.049
32	0.008	0.20	0.031
33	0.0071	0.18	0.026
34	0.0063	0.16	0.020
35	0.0056	0.14	0.015
36	0.005	0.13	0.013
37	0.0045	0.11	0.0095
38	0.0040	0.10	0.0078
39	-	0.09	0.0064
40	-	0.08	0.0050

The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter, and the thinner the wire.

Because of less electrical resistance a thick wire will carry more current with less voltage drop than a thin wire. For a long distance it may be necessary to increase the wire diameter - reducing the gauge - to limit the voltage drop.