One cup of granulated sugar is 0.44092452 pounds, so converting cups of granulated sugar to pounds means multiplying by 0.44092452. That factor is specific to this ingredient — it comes from its density, not from any relationship between the two units.
Water is the yardstick: 1 mL of it weighs 1 g. Granulated sugar comes in at 0.84535 g per mL, or 84.54% of water, which is why a cup of it is 200 g rather than 236.6 g. Volume and weight only line up for water, and only in metric.
A cup of granulated sugar is 200 g when it is measured the standard way, but how it gets into the cup changes the answer: between about 180 g and 240 g covers the range from lightly spooned to firmly packed. That 20% spread is larger than most of the adjustments recipes fuss over, and it disappears entirely the moment the ingredient is weighed instead.
Pounds are how granulated sugar is bought rather than cooked, so this is the bag-size arithmetic: one pound is 2.268 cups, a 2 lb pack is 4.536 cups and a 5 lb sack is 11.34. That last figure is the one worth knowing before a large bake — it tells you whether one bag covers the recipe.
How the figure is arrived at: One of the most reliable ingredients to measure by volume: the crystals are uniform and do not compact under their own weight.
The formula
cups- The amount of granulated sugar you are converting, in cups
0.44092452437- Pounds per cup for granulated sugar, from its density of 0.84535 g/mL
pounds- The equivalent quantity in pounds
How it works, step by step
- Enter the quantity in cups.
- It is multiplied by 0.44092452437, the pounds-per-cup figure for granulated sugar.
- The result appears in pounds, with a second reading in g beneath it.
- Use the measure table if you want a standard recipe quantity rather than a number you type in.
Worked examples
1/3 cup of granulated sugar in pounds
A recipe calling for 1/3 cup of granulated sugar needs 0.146975 pounds on the scale. The arithmetic is 0.333333 × 0.44092452 = 0.14697484, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.0734874 pounds.
3/4 cup of granulated sugar in pounds
Take 3/4 cup of granulated sugar: 0.75 × 0.44092452 gives 0.330693 pounds. Doubling the batch takes it to 0.661387 pounds, because the relationship is a straight proportion once the density is known.
3 cup of granulated sugar in pounds
A recipe calling for 3 cup of granulated sugar needs 1.32277 pounds on the scale. The arithmetic is 3 × 0.44092452 = 1.3227736, and halving the recipe halves the weight to 0.661387 pounds.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many pounds are in 1 cup of granulated sugar?
One cup of granulated sugar is 0.44092452 pounds. Half that quantity is 0.220462 pounds and double it is 0.881849 pounds, so the figure scales straight up and down — there is no offset in this conversion, only the factor.
Why is a cup of granulated sugar not 236 g like water?
Because weight per cup depends on what is in the cup. Granulated sugar has a density of 0.84535 g per mL where water has 1.00, so a cup of it weighs 200 g rather than 236.6 g. That is a difference of 36.6 g per cup, and it is the reason a single volume-to-weight factor cannot be applied to every ingredient.
Does how I measure it change the weight?
Yes, and by more than most people expect. Handling changes the weight of a cup of granulated sugar by roughly 20% — about 20 g either side of 200 g — because one of the most reliable ingredients to measure by volume: the crystals are uniform and do not compact under their own weight. Weighing removes the question entirely.
Is a fluid ounce of granulated sugar the same as an ounce?
No. A fluid ounce is a volume — one eighth of a US cup, 29.57 mL — and an ounce is a weight. One fluid ounce of granulated sugar weighs 0.8818 oz, so the two readings differ by 11.8%. They coincide only for something with the density of water, and then only roughly.
Is this a US cup or a metric cup?
US customary: 236.59 mL, which is the cup every US recipe means. A metric cup is 250 mL, so the same cup of granulated sugar would weigh 211.34 g instead of 200 g — 11.3 g more, or 5.67%. Australian and some European recipes use the metric cup, and the difference is large enough to matter in baking.
Do I need a scale for this, or will measuring cups do?
A scale, if the result matters. Volume measuring carries a spread of about 20% for granulated sugar — roughly 40 g on a 200 g cup — while a domestic scale is accurate to a gram or two. For anything where the ratio of ingredients drives the outcome, bread and pastry above all, weigh it.
How many cups of granulated sugar is 1 lb?
1 lb of granulated sugar is 2.268 cups — 2.26796 cups to one pound, so 1 × 2.26796 = 2.268. Going that way is a division by 0.440925, or a multiplication by 2.26796 if you prefer.
Granulated sugar in cups and pounds
| Cups | Pounds | Unrounded |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 cup | 0.0551156 lb | 0.05511556555 |
| 1/4 cup | 0.110231 lb | 0.1102311311 |
| 1/3 cup | 0.146975 lb | 0.1469748415 |
| 1/2 cup | 0.220462 lb | 0.2204622622 |
| 2/3 cup | 0.29395 lb | 0.2939496829 |
| 3/4 cup | 0.330693 lb | 0.3306933933 |
| 1 cup | 0.440925 lb | 0.4409245244 |
| 1 1/2 cup | 0.661387 lb | 0.6613867866 |
| 2 cup | 0.881849 lb | 0.8818490487 |
| 3 cup | 1.32277 lb | 1.322773573 |
| 4 cup | 1.7637 lb | 1.763698097 |
Based on 200 g per cup of granulated sugar. One cup of granulated sugar is 0.44092452 pounds.
| Measure | Grams | Ounces | Millilitres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup | 200 g | 7.05 oz | 236.6 mL |
| 3/4 cup | 150 g | 5.29 oz | 177.4 mL |
| 2/3 cup | 133.3 g | 4.7 oz | 157.7 mL |
| 1/2 cup | 100 g | 3.53 oz | 118.3 mL |
| 1/3 cup | 66.67 g | 2.35 oz | 78.86 mL |
| 1/4 cup | 50 g | 1.76 oz | 59.15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | 12.5 g | 0.441 oz | 14.79 mL |
| 1 tsp | 4.167 g | 0.147 oz | 4.929 mL |
US customary measures: 1 cup = 236.59 mL, 1 tbsp = 14.79 mL, 1 tsp = 4.93 mL.
| Ingredient | Grams per cup | Ounces per cup | Density (g/mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncooked white rice | 185 g | 6.526 oz | 0.7819 |
| Uncooked brown rice | 190 g | 6.702 oz | 0.8031 |
| Dried lentils | 192 g | 6.773 oz | 0.8115 |
| Granulated sugar (this page) | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Arborio rice | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Dried chickpeas | 200 g | 7.055 oz | 0.8454 |
| Packed brown sugar | 220 g | 7.76 oz | 0.9299 |
Ordered by weight. The spread across this group is why a single generic cups-to-grams factor cannot work.