diff --git a/js/id/svg/areas.js b/js/id/svg/areas.js
index 27edc0243..ae47bf224 100644
--- a/js/id/svg/areas.js
+++ b/js/id/svg/areas.js
@@ -1,42 +1,22 @@
 iD.svg.Areas = function(projection) {
-
-    var area_stack = {
-        building: 0,
-        manmade: 1,
-        natural: 1,
-        boundary: 2
-    };
-
-    function findKey(a) {
-        var vals = Object.keys(a.tags).filter(function(k) {
-            return area_stack[k] !== undefined;
-        });
-        if (vals.length > 0) return area_stack[vals[0]];
-        else return -1;
-    }
-
-    function areastack(a, b) {
-        if (!a || !b || !a.tags || !b.tags) return 0;
-        if (a.tags.layer !== undefined && b.tags.layer !== undefined) {
-            return a.tags.layer - b.tags.layer;
-        }
-        var as = 0, bs = 0;
-        as -= findKey(a);
-        bs -= findKey(b);
-        return as - bs;
-    }
-
     return function drawAreas(surface, graph, entities, filter) {
         var areas = [];
 
         for (var i = 0; i < entities.length; i++) {
             var entity = entities[i];
             if (entity.geometry(graph) === 'area') {
-                areas.push(entity);
+                var points = graph.childNodes(entity).map(function(n) {
+                    return projection(n.loc);
+                });
+
+                areas.push({
+                    entity: entity,
+                    area: entity.isDegenerate() ? 0 : d3.geom.polygon(points).area()
+                });
             }
         }
 
-        areas.sort(areastack);
+        areas.sort(function(a, b) { return a.area - b.area; });
 
         var lineString = iD.svg.LineString(projection, graph);
 
@@ -62,6 +42,6 @@ iD.svg.Areas = function(projection) {
         }
 
         var fill = surface.select('.layer-fill'),
-            paths = drawPaths(fill, areas, filter, 'way area');
+            paths = drawPaths(fill, _.pluck(areas, 'entity'), filter, 'way area');
     };
 };
diff --git a/test/spec/svg/areas.js b/test/spec/svg/areas.js
index 4f984540a..807a799f4 100644
--- a/test/spec/svg/areas.js
+++ b/test/spec/svg/areas.js
@@ -52,4 +52,21 @@ describe("iD.svg.Areas", function () {
 
         expect(surface.selectAll('.other')[0].length).to.equal(1);
     });
+
+    it("stacks smaller areas above larger ones", function () {
+        var graph = iD.Graph({
+                'a': iD.Node({id: 'a', loc: [0, 0]}),
+                'b': iD.Node({id: 'b', loc: [1, 0]}),
+                'c': iD.Node({id: 'c', loc: [1, 1]}),
+                'd': iD.Node({id: 'd', loc: [0, 1]}),
+                's': iD.Way({area: true, tags: {building: 'yes'}, nodes: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'a']}),
+                'l': iD.Way({area: true, tags: {landuse: 'park'}, nodes: ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'a']})
+            }),
+            areas = [graph.entity('s'), graph.entity('l')];
+
+        surface.call(iD.svg.Areas(projection), graph, areas, filter);
+
+        expect(surface.select('.area:nth-child(1)')).to.be.classed('tag-landuse-park');
+        expect(surface.select('.area:nth-child(2)')).to.be.classed('tag-building-yes');
+    });
 });