How this calculator works
Pounds and cups measure different things, so no single number links them. The link is density. Water, milk and juice are near 1 g/mL, so a pound of water is a little under two cups. Flour is full of air, so a pound of all-purpose flour is nearly 3.6 cups. Buttered or packed ingredients sit in between. The table at the bottom shows the cups per pound for every ingredient on the page, and a custom density covers anything else.
Formula
weight in pounds = volume in cups x grams per cup / 453.59237. volume in cups = weight in pounds x 453.59237 / grams per cup. One pound is exactly 453.59237 g by the international avoirdupois definition, and one US customary cup is 236.5882365 mL.
Worked example
A recipe needs one pound of all-purpose flour. At 125 g per cup, 453.592 / 125 = 3.629 cups, or about 3 5/8 cups. One pound of granulated sugar at 200 g per cup is 2.268 cups, and one pound of water at 236.6 g per cup is 1.917 cups.
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Frequently asked questions
How many cups are in a pound of flour?
About 3.63 US cups of all-purpose flour at the USDA cup weight of 125 g. Bread flour at 127 g per cup gives 3.57 cups, and cake flour at 114 g per cup gives 3.98 cups. Scooping rather than spooning can push the answer below 3.2 cups.
Why does the same pound give different cup counts?
Because a cup counts volume, and a pound counts mass. Light, airy ingredients such as flour and oats need more cups per pound, while dense ingredients such as honey and peanut butter need fewer.
Why is there one page for both directions?
Cups to pounds and pounds to cups use the same relationship and the same inputs. Asking for either direction is a matter of which figure you enter, so this calculator handles both rather than splitting one calculation across two pages.
How do I handle a 2 kg bag of flour?
Enter the weight in kilograms. The mass input accepts kilograms, grams, ounces and pounds, and the output selector can show the result in any of them. Two kilograms of all-purpose flour is 4.409 pounds, or 16 cups.