Nearly every bulk building material — concrete, gravel, topsoil, sand, mulch — is sold by the cubic yard, while every project is measured in feet and inches. This calculator handles the conversion for rectangular and circular areas and adds the weight and truckload figures you need to arrange delivery.
Need a material-specific tool? Try the Concrete, Gravel, or Mulch calculators.
About pricing on this page
This calculator is intentionally price-light. Absolute dollar figures are deliberately omitted because they vary too widely by region, brand, and installer to be useful as planning estimates. The relative-comparison tables below show how options stack up against each other — which is the durable, actionable information. For a real budget, get two or three written quotes from local suppliers and contractors after they have seen the job.
Cubic Yard Calculator
Enter dimensions and choose your material. Results give cubic yards, cubic feet, weight, and truckloads.
The Cubic Yard Formula
Cubic Yards = (Length ft × Width ft × Depth ft) ÷ 27
If depth is in inches: Depth ft = Depth in ÷ 12
The number 27 is not arbitrary. A cubic yard is a cube three feet on every side, and 3 × 3 × 3 equals 27 cubic feet. Every bulk material conversion in construction runs through that single number.
Worked example: A 24 × 30 ft driveway at 5 inches deep. 5 ÷ 12 = 0.4167 ft. 24 × 30 × 0.4167 = 300 cubic feet. 300 ÷ 27 = 11.11 cubic yards. As gravel at 2,700 lbs per yard that is 30,000 lbs, or 15 tons — two full tandem dump truck loads.
Formulas for Other Shapes
| Shape | Area Formula | Cubic Yards |
|---|---|---|
| Rectangle / square | Length × Width | (Area × Depth ft) ÷ 27 |
| Circle | 3.1416 × Radius² | (Area × Depth ft) ÷ 27 |
| Triangle | (Base × Height) ÷ 2 | (Area × Depth ft) ÷ 27 |
| Trench / footing | Length × Width | (Length × Width × Depth) ÷ 27 |
| Cylinder (post hole) | 3.1416 × Radius² | (Area × Depth ft) ÷ 27 |
Depth in Inches Converted to Feet
This conversion is where most cubic yard errors originate. Keep this table handy.
| Depth (inches) | Depth (feet) | Sq Ft per Cu Yd | Cu Yd per 100 Sq Ft | Typical Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 0.0833 | 324 | 0.31 | Mulch top-off, bedding sand |
| 2 in | 0.1667 | 162 | 0.62 | Gravel refresh, thin overlay |
| 3 in | 0.25 | 108 | 0.93 | Mulch beds, sidewalk slab |
| 4 in | 0.3333 | 81 | 1.23 | Standard slab, paver base |
| 5 in | 0.4167 | 65 | 1.54 | Light-duty driveway |
| 6 in | 0.5 | 54 | 1.85 | Driveway, truck traffic |
| 8 in | 0.6667 | 40 | 2.47 | Heavy base, soft soil |
| 12 in | 1.0 | 27 | 3.70 | Deep fill, raised beds |
Material Weight per Cubic Yard
Weight matters for two reasons: delivery is often priced by the ton, and your vehicle has a payload limit that binds long before the bed is visually full.
| Material | Lbs per Cu Yd | Tons per Cu Yd | Cu Yd per Ton | Sold By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulch (shredded bark) | 400–800 | 0.20–0.40 | 2.5–5.0 | Cubic yard |
| Compost | 1,000–1,600 | 0.50–0.80 | 1.25–2.0 | Cubic yard |
| Topsoil (dry) | 2,000–2,200 | 1.00–1.10 | 0.91–1.0 | Cubic yard |
| Topsoil (wet) | 2,500–3,000 | 1.25–1.50 | 0.67–0.80 | Cubic yard |
| Asphalt | 2,400–2,700 | 1.20–1.35 | 0.74–0.83 | Ton |
| Gravel / crushed stone | 2,600–2,900 | 1.30–1.45 | 0.69–0.77 | Ton |
| Sand | 2,600–2,900 | 1.30–1.45 | 0.69–0.77 | Ton |
| Concrete (cured) | 4,000–4,050 | 2.00–2.03 | 0.49–0.50 | Cubic yard |
How Much Fits in a Truck
For heavy material, payload weight is the binding constraint, not bed volume. Overloading a half-ton pickup with gravel is common, and it is a real safety problem on the drive home.
| Vehicle | Payload | Mulch (cu yd) | Topsoil (cu yd) | Gravel (cu yd) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-ton pickup (F-150) | 1,500–2,000 lbs | 2.0–2.5 | 0.75–1.0 | 0.5–0.75 |
| 3/4-ton pickup (F-250) | 2,500–3,500 lbs | 3.0 | 1.25–1.5 | 1.0–1.25 |
| 1-ton dump insert | 4,000–5,000 lbs | 3.0–4.0 | 2.0 | 1.5–1.75 |
| Single-axle dump truck | ~10,000 lbs | 8–10 | 5 | 3.5–4 |
| Tandem-axle dump truck | ~30,000 lbs | 15–18 | 14 | 10–12 |
Most suppliers charge a flat delivery fee per load rather than per yard, so consolidating into one larger delivery is usually cheaper than two small trips.
Using Inches Directly in the Formula
Entering 4 instead of 0.333 for a 4-inch depth inflates the answer by a factor of twelve. This single error is responsible for most wildly wrong material orders. If a 10 × 10 patio comes back needing 14 cubic yards of gravel, the depth conversion was skipped. Convert inches to feet first, every time.
Dividing by 9 Instead of 27
Nine is the conversion for square yards, twenty-seven for cubic yards. Using 9 on a volume calculation overstates the order by three times. The mnemonic that helps: square yard is 3 × 3 = 9, cubic yard is 3 × 3 × 3 = 27. Two dimensions gets 9, three dimensions gets 27.
Using Diameter Instead of Radius for Circles
The circle area formula uses radius squared, and radius is half the diameter. Plugging in a 12 ft diameter where the formula wants a 6 ft radius produces an answer four times too large, because the error is squared. Always halve the diameter before squaring.
Confusing Tons and Cubic Yards on a Quote
Gravel and sand are usually quoted by the ton while soil and mulch are quoted by the yard, and the two units are not close for dense material. Ten cubic yards of gravel is about 13.5 tons. Ordering ten tons when you needed ten yards leaves you roughly a quarter short. Confirm the unit on every quote before comparing prices.