We will use the drag force, or "wind resistance force" equation, which is

FD = Cd A v2
Where FD is the drag force (Greek letter "rho") is the density of air = 1.22 kg/m3 Cd is the drag coefficient A is the area of the chute v is the velocity through the air Meanwhile, the weight of the rocket, otherwise known as the force of gravity (FG), is computed to be

FG = m g
Where m is the mass of the rocket g is the acceleration of gravity = 9.81 m/s2 Let's find when they're equal: FG = FD m g = Cd A v2 ...and solving for chute area... A = (2 m g) / ( Cd v2) Now the chute area, in terms of the chute diameter, is A = D2 / 4, so the chute diameter is D = sqrt(4 A / ).

The Answer
Combining the two equations above for A & D leads us to the final form of the chute equation as we will use it:

D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) )
Where

D is the chute diameter in meters

m is the rocket mass in kilograms g is the acceleration of gravity = 9.8 m/s2 is 3.14159265359 is the density of air = 1.22 kg/m3 Cd is the drag coefficient of the chute, which is 0.75 for a parasheet (flat sheet used for a parachute, like Estes rockets), or 1.5 for a parachute (true dome-shaped chute). v is the speed we want at impact with the ground (3 m/s or less)

Some Examples
Model Rocket Let's size a parachute for an Estes Big Bertha.

m = 62.3 g = 0.0623 kg (from the Estes catalog) Cd = 0.75 (since this is a parasheet) the rest of the variables are as above, so...

D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) ) = sqrt( (8*0.0623*9.81) / (3.14*1.22*0.75*32) ) = 0.435 m ...which is equal to 17 inches. This explains why the Big Bertha comes with an 18 inch chute. High-Power Rocket We'll size a parachute for my LOC V2, which weighs in at 8 pounds even, or 3.6 kg.

m = 3.6 kg due to all the extra stuff I've added Cd = 1.5 because the rocket uses a true domed parachute v = 5 m/s I'm increasing v because this rocket's going pretty high and I don't
want it to take forever to come down. This is the equivalent to a four-foot drop (ouch).

D = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd v2) ) = sqrt( (8*3.6*9.81) / (3.14*1.22*1.5*52) ) = 1.4 m ...which is a 4 foot 8 inch parachute. Pretty big. In reality I'm using a RocketMan R7C, which is about that size.

Finding Descent Velocity

Note that we can easily find the descent velocity, given the chute diameter, by simply rearranging the above equation to get

v = sqrt( (8 m g) / ( Cd D2) )