How to convert milliliters to US cups
Every milliliter is 0.004227 US cups, so the conversion is a single multiplication:
Worked example: 500 mL → 500 × 0.00422675 = 2.1134 cup.
Quick mental estimate: Divide by 240: 500 ÷ 240 ≈ 2.0833 cup (exact: 2.1134).
Milliliters to US cups conversion table
| Milliliters (mL) | US cups (cup) |
|---|---|
| 1 mL | 0.004227 cup |
| 2 mL | 0.008454 cup |
| 3 mL | 0.01268 cup |
| 5 mL | 0.02113 cup |
| 10 mL | 0.04227 cup |
| 15 mL | 0.0634 cup |
| 20 mL | 0.08454 cup |
| 25 mL | 0.1057 cup |
| 50 mL | 0.2113 cup |
| 75 mL | 0.317 cup |
| 100 mL | 0.4227 cup |
| 200 mL | 0.8453 cup |
| 250 mL | 1.0567 cup |
| 500 mL | 2.1134 cup |
| 1,000 mL | 4.2268 cup |
Values rounded to four decimals. For a value that is not in the table, use the converter above — it accepts decimals and negative numbers.
When you need this conversion
- Recipes, especially between American cup-based measures and metric millilitres.
- Fuel consumption and tank capacities, quoted in gallons in the United States and litres almost everywhere else.
- Paint, chemicals and garden products, sold in different container sizes by region.
Getting it right
There are three cups in circulation: the US customary cup (236.6 mL) used in recipes, the US legal cup (240 mL) used on nutrition labels, and the metric cup (250 mL) used in Australia and much of Europe. This page uses the US customary cup.
Sanity-check the direction of the result before you use it. One milliliter is 0.004227 US cups, so converting milliliters to US cups should make the number smaller. If it moved the other way, the conversion was applied backwards — the reverse converter is one click away.
About the units
Milliliter (mL)
The milliliter is one thousandth of a liter, equal to one cubic centimeter. Medicine doses, cosmetics and small recipe quantities use milliliters.
US cup (cup)
The US cup is a cooking measure of 236.588 milliliters in US recipes. A metric cup is 250 mL and a US legal cup on nutrition labels is 240 mL, which is why recipes converted between countries sometimes come out slightly off.
Frequently asked questions
How many US cups are in 1 milliliter?
1 milliliter equals 0.004227 US cups. To convert any value, multiply the number of milliliters by 0.00422675.
How do I convert milliliters to US cups in my head?
Divide by 240: 500 ÷ 240 ≈ 2.0833 cup (exact: 2.1134).
Is the mL to cup conversion exact?
1 US cup is exactly 236.5882365 mL, so 0.00422675 is the rounded reciprocal.
How do I convert milliliters to US cups in Excel or Google Sheets?
Put the value in A1 and use =A1*0.00422675. Both Excel and Google Sheets also have a built-in function, =CONVERT(A1,"mL","cup"), which avoids typing the factor by hand.
How many decimal places should I keep?
For everyday use two decimals are plenty. Keep four if the result feeds another calculation, and round only at the very end — rounding intermediate steps is the most common reason a result comes out slightly wrong.