Difference Between Metes and Bounds and Township and Range

If you examine title or survey land across state lines, you will read two completely different legal description systems, and they call for different work. The difference between metes and bounds and township and range comes down to this: township and range fixes a parcel to a national survey grid, while metes and bounds traces a parcel's perimeter from physical landmarks. One you can convert at your desk. The other often needs the original survey, and sometimes a surveyor in the field.

This guide is for the moment a deed lands on your desk and you have to decide how to handle it.

Township and Range (the PLSS Grid)

Township and range is the everyday name for the Public Land Survey System. Thirty states (essentially everything surveyed under federal authority after 1785) sit on this rectangular grid. A parcel is identified by its position in the grid, not by its shape on the ground:

NW¼ SE¼ Section 14, T15S R3W, Sixth Principal Meridian

Read that right to left and it pins a 40-acre tract in Kansas: the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 14, Township 15 South, Range 3 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian. Because every grid value is a known offset from a meridian's initial point, the description resolves to a fixed location with no field work, that is exactly why it converts cleanly to latitude/longitude.

Metes and Bounds (the Perimeter Trace)

Metes and bounds is the older system, used in the original 20 colonial and state-grant states and for irregular parcels almost everywhere. Instead of a grid address, it walks the boundary by bearing and distance, corner to corner:

Beginning at an iron pin on the south margin of County Road 11, thence S 45° 30' E 400 feet to a stone, thence S 12° 00' W 210 feet to a fence post, thence...

Each call (a "course") follows the last until the description closes back on the point of beginning. The accuracy depends on monuments that can rot, move, or vanish, which is why metes-and-bounds boundaries are the ones that end up in dispute and resurvey.

How to Tell Which One You Are Reading

You can identify the system in a single glance at the deed:

Watch the seams. Ohio is the classic trap: the Virginia Military District uses metes-and-bounds calls alongside PLSS Sections in the same county. Texas runs its own land-grant survey system entirely. And a single title chain can switch systems over time, a colonial grant later resurveyed into aliquot parts. For a state-by-state map of which system governs where, see Metes and Bounds vs. PLSS: Which System Covers Your State?.

How to Handle Each in Your Workflow

1. Identify the system first. This is the decision that sets everything after it. Misread it and you reach for the wrong tool.
2. For township and range, convert it. Drop the description into the PLSS converter (for example NW¼ SE¼ Sec 14, T15S R3W, 6th PM) and you get the centroid latitude/longitude, the county, and the parcel boundary on a map. The step-by-step conversion guide covers aliquot parts and edge cases.
3. For metes and bounds, source the survey. There is no grid to compute from. Pull the recorded plat or the original survey, confirm the monuments still exist, and when the boundary controls a closing or a dispute, bring in a licensed surveyor.
4. For mixed parcels, treat each part on its own terms and reconcile where the colonial boundary meets the Section line.

For title examiners and real estate attorneys, getting step one right is the whole game, read more on title and escrow workflows. Surveyors and GIS teams mapping many PLSS parcels at once can export full Section polygons as GeoJSON, Shapefile, KML, or DXF on the Business plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between metes and bounds and township and range?

Township and range locates a parcel by its position in a national rectangular grid measured from a principal meridian, so it converts to coordinates without field work. Metes and bounds traces the parcel's perimeter from bearings, distances, and physical landmarks, and depends on those monuments still being in place.

How do I know which system my deed uses?

Look at the wording. References to a Section, Township, Range, and principal meridian mean township and range (PLSS). A description that says "beginning at" a point and lists compass bearings and distances to monuments is metes and bounds.

Can township and range and metes and bounds appear in the same property?

Yes. Ohio's Virginia Military District mixes both in the same county, and many title chains switch systems over time as older grants were resurveyed into PLSS aliquot parts. Read each description on its own terms and reconcile them where the boundaries meet.

Can Township America convert a metes and bounds description?

The PLSS converter is built for township and range descriptions, which resolve to coordinates from the survey grid. Metes-and-bounds boundaries are traced from physical monuments, so they generally require the recorded survey, and, when the boundary is in question, a licensed surveyor.

Have a township and range description to locate? Convert it now with the PLSS converter.