PSI ↔ kPa Converter
Convert between pounds per square inch (PSI) and kilopascals (kPa) instantly — both ways. Type in either box and the other updates live, with bonus conversions to bar, atmospheres, mmHg and more, plus a live dual-scale pressure gauge.
Type a value in either box — the other converts automatically.
Controls how the converted values are rounded.
| Unit | Value |
|---|---|
| Convert to see all units | |
How to use the PSI to kPa converter
Type into either box and the other updates as you go — psi to kilopascals or kPa back to psi, with bar, megapascals, atmospheres and mmHg alongside, a live dual-scale gauge, and a report you can download.
Type into either box
Enter psi or kPa — whichever your gauge, placard or datasheet gives you. The other converts live, no submit needed.
Set the decimal places
Auto rounds sensibly for the size of the number. Fix it at 0 or 1 decimal when you’re matching a placard that rounds to 10 kPa.
Check it against something real
The comparison bars show your pressure against atmospheric, a car tire and a road bike tire — a quick sanity check on the figure.
Read the dial & save a PDF
The gauge shows psi outside and kPa inside on one needle. Ten unit conversions and a reference table download with it.
How the conversion is calculated
The pascal is the SI unit of pressure — one newton spread over one square metre — and a kilopascal is a thousand of them. A psi is one pound-force over one square inch, which works out to 6,894.757 pascals. That gives the only number this page really turns on: 1 psi = 6.894757 kPa.
Worked example — a 35 psi tire on a metric placard
As kilopascals: 35 × 6.894757 = 241.3 kPa
What the placard prints: 240 kPa (rounded to the nearest 10)
What 240 kPa is back in psi: 240 × 0.145038 = 34.8 psi
The quick estimate: 35 × 7 = 245 — about 1.5% high
Either number gets you the same tire. The rounding on a placard is smaller than the error on most forecourt gauges.
PSI and kPa conversion charts
The lookups that come up most — the conversion both ways, the tire pressures printed on metric placards, the whole pascal family side by side, and familiar pressures to check your figure against.
| PSI | Kilopascals | Bar | Atmospheres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 psi | 6.89 kPa | 0.069 bar | 0.068 atm |
| 5 psi | 34.47 kPa | 0.345 bar | 0.340 atm |
| 10 psi | 68.95 kPa | 0.689 bar | 0.681 atm |
| 15 psi | 103.42 kPa | 1.034 bar | 1.021 atm |
| 20 psi | 137.90 kPa | 1.379 bar | 1.361 atm |
| 25 psi | 172.37 kPa | 1.724 bar | 1.701 atm |
| 30 psi | 206.84 kPa | 2.068 bar | 2.041 atm |
| 32 psi | 220.63 kPa | 2.206 bar | 2.178 atm |
| 35 psi | 241.32 kPa | 2.413 bar | 2.382 atm |
| 40 psi | 275.79 kPa | 2.758 bar | 2.722 atm |
| 50 psi | 344.74 kPa | 3.447 bar | 3.403 atm |
| 75 psi | 517.11 kPa | 5.171 bar | 5.104 atm |
| 100 psi | 689.48 kPa | 6.895 bar | 6.805 atm |
| 150 psi | 1,034.21 kPa | 10.342 bar | 10.207 atm |
| 200 psi | 1,378.95 kPa | 13.790 bar | 13.609 atm |
A useful anchor sits at 15 psi: it’s 103 kPa, near enough to one atmosphere. Above 1,000 kPa most engineering documents switch to megapascals — 1,034 kPa becomes 1.034 MPa.
| Kilopascals | PSI | Bar | Atmospheres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 kPa | 7.25 psi | 0.5 bar | 0.493 atm |
| 100 kPa | 14.50 psi | 1 bar | 0.987 atm |
| 150 kPa | 21.76 psi | 1.5 bar | 1.480 atm |
| 200 kPa | 29.01 psi | 2 bar | 1.974 atm |
| 220 kPa | 31.91 psi | 2.2 bar | 2.171 atm |
| 240 kPa | 34.81 psi | 2.4 bar | 2.369 atm |
| 250 kPa | 36.26 psi | 2.5 bar | 2.467 atm |
| 300 kPa | 43.51 psi | 3 bar | 2.961 atm |
| 400 kPa | 58.02 psi | 4 bar | 3.948 atm |
| 500 kPa | 72.52 psi | 5 bar | 4.935 atm |
| 700 kPa | 101.53 psi | 7 bar | 6.909 atm |
| 1,000 kPa | 145.04 psi | 10 bar | 9.869 atm |
The bar column is always the kPa figure divided by 100 — no rounding, no factor to remember. That relationship is exact, unlike the one between kPa and psi.
| Tire | Typical PSI | Kilopascals | Bar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain bike | 25–35 psi | 170–240 kPa | 1.7–2.4 bar |
| Gravel / hybrid bike | 50–70 psi | 340–480 kPa | 3.4–4.8 bar |
| Road bike | 90–120 psi | 620–830 kPa | 6.2–8.3 bar |
| Passenger car | 30–35 psi | 200–240 kPa | 2.1–2.4 bar |
| SUV / light truck | 32–40 psi | 220–280 kPa | 2.2–2.8 bar |
| Motorcycle | 32–42 psi | 220–290 kPa | 2.2–2.9 bar |
| Van / light commercial | 45–65 psi | 310–450 kPa | 3.1–4.5 bar |
| Compact spare | 60 psi | 420 kPa | 4.1 bar |
These are typical ranges, not a substitute for the placard on your door jamb or the sidewall maximum. Set every tire cold, before driving.
| Unit | What it is | In kPa | In psi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pascal (Pa) | SI base — one newton per m² | 0.001 kPa | 0.000145 psi |
| Hectopascal (hPa) | 100 Pa — the weather unit | 0.1 kPa | 0.0145 psi |
| Kilopascal (kPa) | 1,000 Pa — tires, air, HVAC | 1 kPa | 0.145038 psi |
| Megapascal (MPa) | 1,000,000 Pa — hydraulics, materials | 1,000 kPa | 145.038 psi |
| Bar | 100,000 Pa — gauge convention | 100 kPa | 14.5038 psi |
| Millibar (mbar) | Identical to a hectopascal | 0.1 kPa | 0.0145 psi |
| Atmosphere (atm) | Standard sea-level pressure | 101.325 kPa | 14.6959 psi |
| Torr / mmHg | One 760th of an atmosphere | 0.133322 kPa | 0.0193368 psi |
| kg/cm² (at) | Technical atmosphere | 98.0665 kPa | 14.2233 psi |
Five of these are the same unit with a different prefix, which is what makes them easy to mix up. A misplaced prefix moves the answer by a factor of 1,000 — far worse than any rounding error.
| Where you meet it | PSI | Kilopascals | Also written |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood pressure, 120 mmHg | 2.3 psi | 16 kPa | 0.16 bar |
| Atmosphere at sea level | 14.7 psi | 101.3 kPa | 1,013 hPa |
| Car tire | 32 psi | 220 kPa | 2.2 bar |
| Home water supply | 40–80 psi | 276–552 kPa | 2.8–5.5 bar |
| Shop air compressor | 90–150 psi | 620–1,034 kPa | 6.2–10.3 bar |
| Road bike tire | 100 psi | 689 kPa | 6.9 bar |
| Espresso brew pressure | 130 psi | 900 kPa | 9 bar |
| Pressure washer | 1,500–3,000 psi | 10,300–20,700 kPa | 10.3–20.7 MPa |
| Full scuba cylinder | 3,000 psi | 20,700 kPa | 20.7 MPa |
| Concrete, 25 MPa mix | 3,626 psi | 25,000 kPa | 25 MPa |
Notice where the last column switches from bar to MPa. Once a figure passes a few thousand kilopascals, engineering practice moves to megapascals so the numbers stay readable.
Pascals, kilopascals, megapascals, hectopascals and the bar are all the same unit wearing different prefixes. Each step is a clean factor of ten, so converting between them is only ever moving a decimal point — but that also means a misplaced prefix is a 1,000× error, not a rounding slip.
- kPa for air, MPa for structure — tires, HVAC and compressed air are quoted in kilopascals; hydraulics, concrete and material strength in megapascals.
- hPa and mbar are identical — weather forecasts use hectopascals, older barometers use millibars, and 1,013 of either is one atmosphere.
- Gauge or absolute still applies — a tire gauge reads zero in open air. Absolute pressure adds one atmosphere, so 101.325 kPa on top of whatever the gauge shows.
Everything the converter works out
One figure in either box gives you the full picture — every common pressure unit, a scale you can picture, a dial that reads both ways, and a report you can keep.
The figures behind every pressure reading
Built for anyone reading the metric scale
The kilopascal is the official unit almost everywhere, and the psi is what most gauges in the US still show. The gap between them is a factor of nearly seven, so a misread is never a small one.
Standing at a door placard printed in kPa — common in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada — with a tire gauge that only reads psi, or the reverse in a rental car abroad.
- 220 kPa is the everyday 32 psi
- Placards round to the nearest 10 kPa
- Set them cold, before you drive
Reading a pump, valve, hydraulic or material datasheet in kPa or MPa against a US installation quoted in psi — where getting the prefix right matters more than the conversion.
- 1 MPa = 1,000 kPa = 145 psi
- Confirm gauge or absolute first
- Watch for kg/cm² on older gear
Working through gas law problems, barometric readings or clinical figures where pressure arrives as kPa, hPa, atmospheres or mmHg depending on the source.
- 1 atm = 101.325 kPa = 760 mmHg
- 1 hPa = 1 mbar = 0.1 kPa
- Convert to kPa before comparing
7 tips for converting pressure without errors
The slips that quietly move a reading by a factor of ten — and the checks that catch them.
PSI to kPa FAQ
The conversion, tire and unit-prefix questions people ask most when a pressure arrives in metric.
One psi is 6.894757 kilopascals, and one kilopascal is 0.145038 psi. The pascal is the SI unit of pressure — one newton per square metre — and a kilopascal is a thousand of them.
For a quick mental estimate, multiply psi by 7. That runs about 1.5% high, which is close enough to sanity-check a gauge but not to set one.
Multiply the psi figure by 6.894757. A 35 psi tire comes to 35 × 6.894757 = 241.3 kPa.
To go the other way, divide by the same number — or multiply kPa by 0.145038. A 250 kPa setting is 250 × 0.145038 = 36.3 psi.
32 psi is 220.6 kPa, which is why metric tire placards usually print 220 kPa. That rounded figure works out to 31.9 psi — well inside the tolerance of any tire gauge.
The other common car settings convert as 30 psi = 207 kPa, 35 psi = 241 kPa and 40 psi = 276 kPa. Placards almost always round to the nearest 10 kPa.
100 kPa is 14.5 psi. It’s also exactly 1 bar, and very close to atmospheric pressure at sea level, which is 101.325 kPa.
That near-match is deliberate. The bar was defined as 100 kPa precisely because it sits so close to normal atmospheric pressure, making it a convenient working unit.
No, but they’re directly related: 1 bar is exactly 100 kPa. Divide kilopascals by 100 to get bar, or multiply bar by 100 to get kilopascals.
So 220 kPa is 2.2 bar, and 900 kPa is 9 bar. The kilopascal is the SI-derived unit; the bar is a metric convention that survives on gauges because its numbers are smaller and tidier.
Because the kilopascal is the SI unit of pressure, and countries that adopted the metric system fully use it on vehicle labelling. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada commonly print kPa on the door jamb placard.
Many placards show two or even three scales, listing kPa alongside psi and sometimes bar. If yours shows only kPa, divide by 6.9 to get a figure your psi gauge can match.
A factor of one thousand. One megapascal is 1,000 kilopascals, or 145.038 psi. Both are the pascal with a different metric prefix.
They turn up in different places, which is what makes the mix-up costly. Tire and air pressures are quoted in kPa; hydraulic systems, material strength and concrete ratings in MPa. A 25 MPa concrete mix is 3,626 psi, not 3.6.
Standard atmospheric pressure at sea level is 101.325 kPa — equal to 14.6959 psi, 1.01325 bar, or 1,013.25 hectopascals.
Weather reports use hectopascals rather than kilopascals, where one hPa is a tenth of a kPa and identical to one millibar. A reading of 1013 hPa is the same as 101.3 kPa.
Reference Conversion Only — Check the Prefix and the Reference Point: This converter changes the pressure you enter between psi, kilopascals and related units using exact conversion factors (1 psi = 6.894757 kPa; 1 kPa = 1,000 Pa). It does not distinguish between gauge pressure and absolute pressure, which differ by one atmosphere (101.325 kPa) — confirm which your source uses before relying on a figure. Take particular care with metric prefixes: kPa and MPa differ by a factor of 1,000, and hPa and mbar are a tenth of a kPa. Tire pressures, tool ratings and equipment pressures shown on this page are typical published values that vary by model, load and manufacturer; always follow the vehicle placard, sidewall maximum or manufacturer specification rather than a general chart. Pressure equipment can be dangerous when over-pressurised; never exceed a rated working pressure. For reference purposes only.