Definition

FAR expresses the relationship between the amount of useable floor area permitted in a building (or buildings) and the area of the lot on which the building stands.

It is obtained by dividing the gross floor area of a building by the total area of the lot.

FAR is usually expressed as a decimal fraction (for example, 0.5 or 12.3).

Drag your mouse across the color tiles at the top of the page to see three examples of FAR 1.0.