Townships and Ranges Explained

Every PLSS land description starts with a township and range designation — something like T5N R3W. These two numbers locate a specific 6-by-6-mile square on the survey grid. If you work with rural land in any of the 30 PLSS states, understanding how townships and ranges work is the first step to reading any legal land description.

This guide covers what townships and ranges are, how they are numbered, why they sometimes deviate from a perfect grid, and how to read them in the formats you encounter on deeds, permits, and plat maps.

The Two Reference Lines

Before any township or range can be numbered, the survey needs a starting point. That starting point is defined by two reference lines:

• A principal meridian — a line running north-south (a line of longitude)
• A baseline — a line running east-west (a line of latitude)

These two lines cross at a point called the initial point. Every township and range in that survey area is measured outward from this intersection. Think of the initial point as the origin on a graph — the (0,0) position from which the grid extends in four directions.

The PLSS has 37 principal meridians spread across the country. Some cover multiple states, others apply to a single state or region. For example, the 6th Principal Meridian anchors surveys across Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and parts of Colorado, while the Indian Meridian covers most of Oklahoma.

What Is a Township?

The word "township" has two meanings in the PLSS, and the distinction matters:

1. Township tier — a horizontal strip of land 6 miles wide, running east-west parallel to the baseline
2. Township (the square) — the 6-by-6-mile area created where a township tier intersects a range column

When someone says "Township 4 North," they are identifying a tier — the fourth strip north of the baseline. When they say "T4N R5E," they are identifying a specific square at the intersection of that tier and range.

Township Numbering

Township tiers are numbered outward from the baseline in both directions:

• North of the baseline: T1N, T2N, T3N, T4N, ...
• South of the baseline: T1S, T2S, T3S, T4S, ...

T1N is the first 6-mile strip immediately north of the baseline. T2N is the next strip north of T1N. The numbering continues outward as far as the survey extends. Some principal meridian systems have townships numbered well into the hundreds — the 5th Principal Meridian, for instance, covers territory from Arkansas all the way to the Canadian border in North Dakota and Minnesota.

What Is a Range?

A range is a vertical strip of land 6 miles wide, running north-south parallel to the principal meridian. Ranges are numbered outward from the principal meridian in both directions:

• East of the principal meridian: R1E, R2E, R3E, R4E, ...
• West of the principal meridian: R1W, R2W, R3W, R4W, ...

R1E is the first 6-mile strip immediately east of the principal meridian. R1W is the first strip immediately west.

How Townships and Ranges Create the Grid

When you overlay township tiers (horizontal strips) with ranges (vertical strips), the intersections create a grid of squares, each approximately 6 miles on a side. Each square is uniquely identified by its township tier number and range number.

                    Principal Meridian
                          │
     R3W    R2W    R1W    │    R1E    R2E    R3E
   ┌──────┬──────┬──────┬─┤──┬──────┬──────┬──────┐
   │      │      │      │ │  │      │      │      │ T3N
   ├──────┼──────┼──────┼─┤──┼──────┼──────┼──────┤
   │      │      │      │ │  │      │      │      │ T2N
   ├──────┼──────┼──────┼─┤──┼──────┼──────┼──────┤
   │      │      │      │ │  │      │      │      │ T1N
   ├──────┼──────┼──────┼─┤──┼──────┼──────┼──────┤ ── Baseline
   │      │      │      │ │  │      │      │      │ T1S
   ├──────┼──────┼──────┼─┤──┼──────┼──────┼──────┤
   │      │      │      │ │  │      │      │      │ T2S
   └──────┴──────┴──────┴─┴──┴──────┴──────┴──────┘

In this diagram, the square at T2N R3W is located two tiers north of the baseline and three ranges west of the principal meridian. Each square contains 36 sections, each approximately 1 mile square.

Reading a Township-Range Designation

A complete township-range designation follows a consistent pattern:

T[number]direction R[number]direction

Here are examples with their full readings:

The direction is always included because it is part of the identity. T5N and T5S are completely different townships — one is north of the baseline and the other is south. Similarly, R3E and R3W are on opposite sides of the principal meridian.

Common Format Variations

Different industries and agencies format township-range designations differently, but they all convey the same information:

• Standard: T5N R3W
• Compact: T5N-R3W or 5N-3W
• Deed style: Township 5 North, Range 3 West
• Oil and gas filing: 5N-3W (often without the T and R prefixes)
• BLM GeoCommunicator: 050N 030W (zero-padded)

When a principal meridian is included, it typically appears at the end: T5N R3W, 6th PM or T5N R3W of the Indian Meridian.

The 6-Mile Square: Area and Contents

A single township (the square) is nominally 6 miles on each side, giving it an area of approximately 23,040 acres (about 36 square miles). It contains:

• 36 sections — each 1 mile square and 640 acres
• 144 quarter sections — each 160 acres
• 576 quarter-quarter sections — each 40 acres

These subdivisions are how parcels within a township are identified. The section numbering system uses a specific serpentine pattern, and each section can be further divided into quarter sections and aliquot parts.

Why Townships Are Not Perfect Squares

On a flat map, the PLSS grid looks like a neat checkerboard. On the actual curved surface of the Earth, things are more complicated.

Convergence of Meridians

Lines of longitude converge toward the poles. That means range lines — which run north-south parallel to the principal meridian — get closer together as you move north. Over a distance of 24 miles (four townships), this convergence can narrow the width of a township by a noticeable amount.

To correct for this, the survey system uses standard parallels (also called correction lines). These are east-west lines placed at intervals — typically every 24 miles (every four township tiers) — where new range measurements begin. At each standard parallel, range lines are re-measured at the full 6-mile width, creating a visible offset or "jog" in the grid.

If you look at a county road map in Kansas, Nebraska, or Oklahoma, you can often see these jogs where roads shift at standard parallels.

Fractional Townships and Sections

Not every township is a full 6-by-6-mile square. Townships along state boundaries, rivers, reservation borders, or the edges of principal meridian survey areas may be fractional — containing fewer than 36 sections or containing sections smaller than 640 acres.

When this happens, the fractional sections are typically placed along the north and west edges of the township, preserving full-size sections in the interior. Section 6 (in the northwest corner) most commonly absorbs the excess or shortage in acreage.

Guide Lines and Range Lines

The survey of a township follows a specific field procedure:

1. Range lines are run north-south at 6-mile intervals from the baseline
2. Township lines are run east-west at 6-mile intervals from the principal meridian
3. Within each township, section lines subdivide the interior into 36 one-mile squares

The intersection of range lines and township lines creates the township corners. These corners were marked in the field with monuments — originally wooden posts or stone mounds, later brass caps set in concrete. Many original monuments still exist and are referenced in modern surveys.

Multiple Principal Meridians per State

Some states fall under more than one principal meridian, which means they have more than one township-range grid. The same designation — T5N R3W, for example — can refer to completely different locations depending on which principal meridian governs the area.

This is why the principal meridian is a critical part of a complete PLSS description. In Oklahoma, T5N R3W of the Indian Meridian is in central Oklahoma, while T5N R3W of the Cimarron Meridian is in the panhandle — over 200 miles away.

When working with PLSS data, always verify which principal meridian applies. A township-range designation without a meridian reference is ambiguous in any state that spans multiple survey systems.

Converting Township-Range to GPS Coordinates

A township-range designation identifies a 36-square-mile area on the ground. To get a specific GPS point — for mapping, navigation, or GIS work — you need to convert the PLSS description to latitude and longitude coordinates.

Township America converts any township-range designation (with or without section and quarter) to GPS coordinates using official BLM survey data. Enter a description like T5N R3W Sec 14 NE and get the precise coordinates for that quarter section.

For a complete overview of how the PLSS system works from top to bottom, start with How the Public Land Survey System Works.

Try the PLSS Converter →