Difference Between Metes and Bounds and Township and Range

Open any deed in the United States and the legal description will read in one of two languages. Township and Range is the grid language of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS): numbered Sections, lettered quarters, named meridians. Metes and bounds is the bearing-and-monument language of the colonial states: compass calls, distances, and physical landmarks. Knowing which one is in front of you is the first decision in every title search, deed review, and field locate.

This guide gives you the two-second test, side-by-side examples, and the next step once you know which system applies.

The Two-Second Test

Skim the description for these markers — they pick the system before you read a full sentence.

Township and Range (PLSS):

• Section numbers: Sec 14, Section 22
• Township and Range with a direction letter: T4N R5E, Township 15 South Range 3 West
• Quarter calls: NE¼, SW NE, NWSE
• A named Principal Meridian: 6th Principal Meridian, Indian Meridian, Willamette Meridian

Metes and bounds:

• A "Beginning at..." opener naming a physical point
• Compass bearings: N 45° 30' E, S 12° 15' W
• Distances in feet, rods, or chains
• Physical monuments: iron pin, stone, oak tree, creek bank
• A closing call that returns to the starting point

If the description names a Section, Township, and Range, you are in PLSS. If it traces a perimeter from a starting monument, you are in metes and bounds. The two formats almost never share a single sentence.

A Township and Range Description, Read in Order

Take this Kansas description:

NW¼ SE¼ Sec 14, T15S R3W, 6th Principal Meridian

Read it from the most specific call backward to the largest grid:

Every PLSS description follows the same grammar. The grid is the same in Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska — only the Principal Meridian changes. That is why a PLSS description is unambiguous without a map: the grid is the map.

A Metes and Bounds Description, Read in Order

Now take a simplified Virginia description:

Beginning at an iron pin on the south side of Route 11; thence S 45° 30' E, 400 feet to a stone; thence S 44° 30' W, 600 feet to an oak tree; thence N 45° 30' W, 400 feet to an iron pin; thence N 44° 30' E, 600 feet along Route 11 to the point of beginning.

Read each call as a sentence:

1. Point of beginning: the iron pin on Route 11. This is the anchor — every other call is measured from here.
2. First call: travel S 45° 30' E for 400 feet, ending at a stone.
3. Second call: turn and travel S 44° 30' W for 600 feet, ending at an oak tree.
4. Third call: travel N 45° 30' W for 400 feet to another iron pin.
5. Closing call: travel N 44° 30' E for 600 feet, returning to the point of beginning.

A metes and bounds description must close. If the calls do not bring you back to the starting monument, the description has an error, and the boundary is in dispute until a surveyor resolves it on the ground.

Side-by-Side: The Same Job, Two Languages

The contrast is structural: PLSS is a lookup against a grid; metes and bounds is a perimeter trace against the physical world.

Edge Cases You Will Hit

Ohio. The first PLSS surveys were tested in Ohio, but parts of the state — the Virginia Military District, the Connecticut Western Reserve — still carry metes and bounds descriptions from pre-PLSS grants. A title examiner in Ohio may see both systems in the same county.

Texas. Texas kept its Republic-era land grant system after annexation. Most Texas descriptions are Abstract-Block-Survey, not PLSS — and not metes and bounds in the colonial sense, though older grants are described that way.

Lot and block descriptions. Subdivided parcels (residential lots, commercial plats) are usually described by lot, block, and recorded plat number. This works in both PLSS and metes and bounds states and overrides both — the plat itself is the legal description.

Hybrid descriptions. Some deeds describe a parcel by its PLSS grid cell, then narrow the boundary with a metes and bounds call: "Section 14, T15S R3W, more particularly described as: Beginning at...". Both halves are legally binding. Convert the PLSS portion to bound a search area, then trace the metes and bounds call inside it.

What to Do Next

Once you have identified the system, the workflow forks.

Township and Range. Enter the description into the PLSS converter to get the parcel centroid in latitude/longitude, the Section polygon, the county, and the acreage. The converter covers all 30 PLSS states and all 37 Principal Meridians. For a list of deeds — title plant pulls, drilling permit batches, FSA crop insurance filings — a single CSV upload returns coordinates for every row.

Metes and bounds. Enter the calls into the metes and bounds converter to plot the parcel boundary from the bearing-and-distance sequence. If the calls reference ambiguous or missing monuments, the description may need a licensed surveyor to resolve on the ground — software cannot recreate a corner that no longer exists.

For background on which 30 states use PLSS and which 20 use metes and bounds, read Metes and Bounds vs. PLSS: Which System Covers Your State?. For a deeper read on how the PLSS grid is constructed from baselines, meridians, and Sections, see How the PLSS Works.

Whether the deed reads T15S R3W Sec 14 NW¼ SE¼ or Beginning at an iron pin, the first job is the same: identify the language, then pick the right converter to get from legal description to location.