How many cubic yards are in a ton of gravel?

About 0.7 cubic yards. Most crushed stone weighs roughly 1.4 tons per cubic yard, so one ton covers a little over two thirds of a yard. Lighter rounded stone gets closer to 0.77 yards per ton and dense crusher run closer to 0.65.

How much area does a ton of gravel cover?

At 2 in deep a ton of crushed stone covers roughly 100 sq ft. At 4 in it covers about 50 sq ft, and at 6 in about 33 sq ft. Coverage halves every time you double the depth.

How deep should gravel be for a driveway?

Plan on 6 in total for a car — a 4 in compacted base course of crusher run with a 2 in top course of decorative stone. Driveways used by trucks want 8–10 in, placed and compacted in separate lifts of no more than 4 in each.

How many 50 lb bags of gravel are in a cubic yard?

About 54 bags. A 50 lb bag of crushed stone holds roughly half a cubic foot, and a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Buying a full yard in bags typically costs several times the bulk delivered price.

Do I need landscape fabric under gravel?

For anything you will walk or drive on, yes. A woven geotextile keeps the stone from being pressed down into the soil, which is the usual reason a gravel drive needs topping up every couple of years. It also suppresses weeds, though that is the smaller benefit.

Does the calculator account for compaction?

It does, through the waste allowance field. The default 10% covers normal settling and edge loss. Raise it to 15% if the ground is soft or the area is irregular, and lower it to 5% only if you are filling a contained, hard-bottomed space.

Gravel Calculator

Enter the length, width and depth of the area you are covering and this calculator returns the volume in cubic yards, the weight in tons, and the number of 50 lb bags. It also estimates a delivered price using typical yard rates for the gravel type you pick.

Length

Length unit

Width

Width unit

Depth

4 in is a typical walkway; 6–8 in for a driveway.

Depth unit

Gravel type

Waste / compaction allowance(%)

Gravel settles. 10% is the usual allowance.

Gravel needed

2.72cubic yards

Weight: 3.80tons
50 lb bags: 153bags
Area covered: 200.0sq ft
Loose volume: 73.3cubic feet
Estimated delivered costat about $45/ton for crushed stone (#57): $171

What this figure includes

Volume is calculated for a rectangular area at a uniform depth, with your waste allowance added. Cost uses a national-average delivered price per ton and does not include a short-load fee, a spreading or compaction crew, geotextile fabric, edging, or excavation of the existing surface. Bulk gravel is sold by the ton in most of the US and by the cubic yard in some regions — confirm which one your supplier quotes.

How this is calculated

The formula

Gravel volume is a plain rectangular-prism calculation, with one conversion step and one weight step bolted on:

Volume (cu ft) = length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft)

Cubic yards = cubic feet ÷ 27

The divide-by-27 trips people up more than anything else on this page. A cubic yard is three feet by three feet by three feet, so it holds 27 cubic feet, not 3. Depth is nearly always given in inches on a jobsite, so it has to be converted first: divide inches by 12 to get feet. Four inches of depth is 0.333 ft, six inches is 0.5 ft.

Turning yards into tons uses a density figure specific to the material:

Tons = cubic yards × tons per cubic yard

Most crushed stone runs about 1.4 tons per cubic yard loose. Denser, angular material like crusher run packs closer to 1.5–1.6. Rounded river rock has more air between the stones and sits nearer 1.3. Those numbers are for dry material; gravel that has been rained on can weigh five to ten percent more, which matters when you are near a truck's legal load limit but not when you are ordering.

A worked example

You are laying a gravel parking pad 20 ft long and 10 ft wide at 4 in deep, using #57 crushed stone, with a 10% allowance.

Convert the depth: 4 ÷ 12 = 0.333 ft
Volume: 20 × 10 × 0.333 = 66.7 cu ft
Add 10%: 66.7 × 1.10 = 73.3 cu ft
Cubic yards: 73.3 ÷ 27 = 2.72 cu yd
Tons: 2.72 × 1.4 = 3.80 tons
Delivered at roughly $45/ton: about $171

That is one small dump-truck load. Note how quickly the number climbs with depth — going from 4 in to 8 in doubles both the volume and the bill, so decide the depth before you decide the budget.

Choosing a depth

For a garden path or a decorative bed, 2 in over fabric is enough to hide the ground. Walkways and patios want 3–4 in. A driveway that carries a car wants 4 in of compacted base plus a 2 in top course, so 6 in total; a driveway that will see delivery trucks or an RV wants 8–10 in built in two or three lifts, each compacted separately. A single 8 in dump will never compact properly all the way down — the plate compactor only reaches about 4 in.

Why the waste allowance is not optional

Freshly tipped gravel is full of voids. Once it is raked out and run over with a compactor it loses roughly 10–15% of its loose volume. On top of that you will lose stone into soft ground at the edges, into wheel ruts, and into whatever low spots the site has. Ordering exactly the calculated volume reliably means a second trip, and a second delivery fee often costs more than the extra half ton would have.

Bulk versus bagged

Bagged gravel is convenient and expensive. A 50 lb bag holds about 0.5 cu ft, so a single cubic yard is roughly 54 bags. At typical retail bag prices, that yard costs three to five times what the same material costs delivered in bulk. Bags make sense below about half a yard, or when the delivery truck cannot reach the work. Above one yard, order bulk and rent a wheelbarrow.

Before you order

Measure the actual area rather than the plan dimensions, because paths curve and pads rarely square up. Break irregular shapes into rectangles, run each one through the calculator, and add the results. Ask the supplier whether their price is per ton or per yard, whether delivery is included below a minimum load, and whether they charge a short-load fee — those three questions usually move the total more than the choice of stone does.

Frequently asked questions

How many cubic yards are in a ton of gravel?: About 0.7 cubic yards. Most crushed stone weighs roughly 1.4 tons per cubic yard, so one ton covers a little over two thirds of a yard. Lighter rounded stone gets closer to 0.77 yards per ton and dense crusher run closer to 0.65.
How much area does a ton of gravel cover?: At 2 in deep a ton of crushed stone covers roughly 100 sq ft. At 4 in it covers about 50 sq ft, and at 6 in about 33 sq ft. Coverage halves every time you double the depth.
How deep should gravel be for a driveway?: Plan on 6 in total for a car — a 4 in compacted base course of crusher run with a 2 in top course of decorative stone. Driveways used by trucks want 8–10 in, placed and compacted in separate lifts of no more than 4 in each.
How many 50 lb bags of gravel are in a cubic yard?: About 54 bags. A 50 lb bag of crushed stone holds roughly half a cubic foot, and a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Buying a full yard in bags typically costs several times the bulk delivered price.
Do I need landscape fabric under gravel?: For anything you will walk or drive on, yes. A woven geotextile keeps the stone from being pressed down into the soil, which is the usual reason a gravel drive needs topping up every couple of years. It also suppresses weeds, though that is the smaller benefit.
Does the calculator account for compaction?: It does, through the waste allowance field. The default 10% covers normal settling and edge loss. Raise it to 15% if the ground is soft or the area is irregular, and lower it to 5% only if you are filling a contained, hard-bottomed space.