Cubic Yards to Tons: Converting Gravel, Sand, and Soil

Updated 2026-08-09 · Yardly

There is no single number that turns cubic yards into tons — every material has its own density factor, and you multiply by that factor. Dry loose gravel and crushed stone land around 1.4 tons per cubic yard, screened topsoil around 1.1, and bark mulch only about 0.4. Get the factor right and the order is simple arithmetic. Get it wrong and you are off by half a truckload.

Why the two units never match

Every volume calculator on this site answers in cubic yards, because that is how you measure a project: length × width × depth. But the quarry that loads your truck answers in tons, because that is what its scale reads.

That mismatch is not the supplier being difficult. Weight is the honest way to sell bulk aggregate. A loader bucket of stone can be heaped or level, damp or dry, freshly crushed or settled in a stockpile for a month — the volume it appears to be shifts constantly. A truck scale does not care. It reads the same mass every time, and in the US those commercial scales are inspected and certified under legal metrology rules overseen by the NIST Office of Weights and Measures and enforced by state inspectors. So the yard quotes tons, and you have to translate.

The conversion, and the mental shortcut

The formula is short:

Cubic yards × tons per cubic yard = tons to order

Going the other direction, when a supplier prices by the ton and you want to know how much ground it covers:

Tons ÷ tons per cubic yard = cubic yards delivered

The only variable is the density factor, and suppliers sometimes quote it in pounds per cubic foot instead. Converting is one step, and there is a shortcut worth memorizing:

Pounds per cubic foot ÷ 74 = tons per cubic yard

That 74 is just 2,000 ÷ 27 — the pounds in a short ton divided by the cubic feet in a cubic yard. So the classic “100 pounds per cubic foot” rule of thumb for crushed stone works out to 100 ÷ 74 = 1.35 tons per cubic yard. Run it backwards and a material sold at 1.4 tons per yard is about 104 lb/ft³.

Density factors by material

These are typical loose, dry ranges in short tons per cubic yard. Treat them as ordering estimates, not spec values:

Material	Tons per cubic yard (loose, dry)
Crusher run / dense-graded base	1.35 – 1.50
Washed #57 or #67 stone	1.30 – 1.42
Coarse #3 / #4 base stone	1.25 – 1.35
Pea gravel	1.20 – 1.38
River rock, rounded	1.20 – 1.40
Concrete or masonry sand	1.30 – 1.40
Decomposed granite	1.10 – 1.30
Screened topsoil	1.00 – 1.30
Fill dirt, clay-heavy	1.20 – 1.50
Compost	0.50 – 0.80
Shredded bark mulch	0.35 – 0.50

Two patterns are worth noticing. First, almost every mineral material — stone, sand, dirt — clusters between 1.1 and 1.5, so if a quote implies something far outside that band, check the ton type before you check the math. Second, organics break the pattern completely. Mulch at 0.4 means a ton is two and a half cubic yards, which is why mulch is nearly always sold by the yard or the bag and rarely by weight. The mulch calculator works in yards for that reason.

The size numbers in that table — #57, #4, #3 — are not supplier slang. They are standard gradation classes defined in ASTM D448, the classification for aggregate sizes used in road and bridge construction, which is why the same designation means the same thing from one quarry to the next.

Three worked conversions

Patio base gravel. A 12 × 16 ft patio needs a 4-inch compacted base: 192 sq ft × 0.333 ft = 64 cu ft ÷ 27 = 2.37 cubic yards compacted. Add the usual 20% compaction margin → 2.84 loose cubic yards → × 1.4 = 3.98 tons, so order 4.

Topsoil for a lawn. Spreading 2 inches over 2,000 sq ft: 2,000 × 0.167 ft = 333 cu ft ÷ 27 = 12.3 cubic yards → × 1.1 = 13.6 tons, order 14. The soil calculator handles the volume half of this.

Reverse: what does one ton actually cover? At 1.4 tons per yard, a ton is 0.71 cubic yards = 19 cubic feet. Spread 3 inches (0.25 ft) deep, that covers 19 ÷ 0.25 = about 77 sq ft. Handy when a supplier has a one-ton minimum and you are trying to work out whether that is too much for a small border.

Moisture is the biggest error source

Published density figures are dry-basis numbers. ASTM C29/C29M, the standard test method that produces them, measures bulk density in a controlled dry condition and explicitly cautions that aggregate sitting in a stockpile or hauling unit carries absorbed and surface moisture the test does not account for.

In practice that means a stockpile soaked by three days of rain can weigh 5–10% more per cubic yard than the same stone dry — more for sand, which holds water in its fine pores, and much more for topsoil. You are billed for that water and you receive less material. If you are ordering by weight after a wet spell, add roughly 5–10% to your tonnage to land on the volume you actually planned for. Or order early in a dry stretch, which is free.

Loose versus compacted: don’t mix the two

The same stone has two different densities depending on its state, and the numbers above are all loose. Once a plate compactor works dense-graded base into place, it packs 10–15% denser.

That distinction matters because the two figures answer different questions. Loose density converts a delivery — the truck is weighed with the stone loose and agitated. Compacted density describes what is in the ground after you finish. Use compacted density to size a delivery and you will under-order, because you have assumed every cubic yard on the truck is already packed. The gravel driveway guide walks through the compaction margin that keeps this from biting you.

Short ton, long ton, or tonne

One last trap, and it is a costly one for anyone reading an international spec sheet:

• Short ton (US ton): 2,000 lb — the default at every American quarry.
• Metric tonne: 2,204.6 lb — about 10% heavier.
• Long ton (imperial): 2,240 lb — rare in landscaping, common in older marine and mining documents.

Every factor in this guide is a short ton. If you take a tons-per-cubic-yard number from a metric source and apply it to a US quote, you build a systematic 10% error into every order you place. Check which ton appears on the invoice before you multiply.

Sanity-check before you call

Run this quick check on any conversion:

1. Is the factor between 1.1 and 1.5? If it is a mineral material and it isn’t, something is off — wrong ton type, or a compacted figure used as a loose one.
2. Is the volume the loose volume? Compaction margin gets added before the ton conversion, not after.
3. Did you round up? Suppliers deliver in whole tons or half-ton increments. Running 4% short on a patio base means a second delivery fee for a wheelbarrow of stone.
4. Did you ask for the yard’s own density? Any established supplier can tell you the tons-per-yard figure for the specific pile you are buying from. That single question beats every table on the internet, including this one.

Keep reading

• Need the volume before you convert it? The gravel calculator and sand calculator both output cubic yards from your dimensions.
• Buying stone by the ton for a driveway? The gravel driveway guide covers layer depths and the compaction margin that changes the order.
• Estimating soil for beds or a lawn instead? Topsoil for raised beds and lawns explains why soil density swings so much more than stone.

Frequently asked questions