Gravel Calculator: Tons, Cubic Yards & Cost
This gravel calculator turns your area and depth into tons and cubic yards to order — plus bags, truckloads and cost.
What are you building?
Sets a typical depth & materialMeasure the area
Split L-shapes into sectionsHow much gravel do you have?
Depth
Paths 2" · beds 3" · bases 4" · driveways 6"Material
Density in tons per cubic yardPrice
Optional — from your supplier quoteGravel needed for common project sizes
Crushed stone at 1.40 tons per cubic yard, including 10% extra. Press Load to open any row in the gravel calculator and change the material.
| Project | Depth | Volume | Order | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft patio | 2" | 0.62 yd³ | 1.0 tons | |
| 12 × 12 ft shed pad | 4" | 1.78 yd³ | 2.7 tons | |
| 20 × 20 ft parking pad | 4" | 4.94 yd³ | 7.6 tons | |
| 10 × 50 ft single driveway | 4" | 6.17 yd³ | 9.5 tons | |
| 20 × 50 ft double driveway | 6" | 18.52 yd³ | 28.5 tons | |
| 3 × 30 ft garden path | 2" | 0.56 yd³ | 0.9 tons |
Gravel tons per cubic yard and coverage
Suppliers quote by the ton or by the cubic yard. Use these loose bulk densities to convert between the two.
Weight by material
Loose, dry bulk density used by this calculator.
| Material | Tons / yd³ | Lb / yd³ | Yd³ / ton | 1 ton at 2" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crushed stone | 1.40 | 2,800 | 0.71 | 116 sq ft |
| #57 stone | 1.50 | 3,000 | 0.67 | 108 sq ft |
| Crusher run | 1.50 | 3,000 | 0.67 | 108 sq ft |
| Pea gravel | 1.35 | 2,700 | 0.74 | 120 sq ft |
| River rock | 1.25 | 2,500 | 0.80 | 130 sq ft |
| Limestone | 1.40 | 2,800 | 0.71 | 116 sq ft |
| Decomposed granite | 1.55 | 3,100 | 0.65 | 105 sq ft |
| Stone dust | 1.60 | 3,200 | 0.62 | 101 sq ft |
| Rip rap | 1.50 | 3,000 | 0.67 | 108 sq ft |
| Sand | 1.35 | 2,700 | 0.74 | 120 sq ft |
Coverage per ton of crushed stone
Area one ton (and ten tons) covers at each depth.
| Depth | 1 ton covers | 10 tons cover |
|---|---|---|
| 2 in | 116 sq ft | 1,157 sq ft |
| 3 in | 77 sq ft | 771 sq ft |
| 4 in | 58 sq ft | 579 sq ft |
| 6 in | 39 sq ft | 386 sq ft |
Need the other direction? Switch the calculator to What will it cover? above.
How the gravel calculator works
Three steps turn a measured area into an order you can give a quarry or landscape yard.
Volume in cubic yards
Multiply the area by the depth, then divide by 27 cubic feet per cubic yard.
yd³ = L × W × (depth in / 12) / 27Weight in tons
Multiply cubic yards by the material's density in tons per cubic yard.
tons = yd³ × densityAdd extra
Add 5–10% for waste and uneven ground, plus about 15% when the gravel will be compacted.
order = tons × (1 + waste + compaction)Ordering gravel: yards, tons, bags or a truckload?
The gravel calculator gives every unit at once because suppliers don't agree on one. Here is how to use each result.
By the ton
Quarries and most bulk yards sell by weight because their trucks are weighed. Give them the tons figure and ask which density they use — wet or washed stone weighs more per yard than the table above.
By the cubic yard
Landscape yards often load by the bucket, sold in half-yard or full-yard steps. Use the cubic yards result and round up; the calculator already shows the rounded order.
Bags or bulk?
A 0.5 cu ft bag holds 1/54 of a cubic yard. Bags make sense below about half a yard; above that, bulk delivery is usually cheaper even after a $75–$150 delivery fee, and most trucks carry 7–13 tons per load.
Calculators for every gravel project
Project calculators add the details a general gravel calculator can't — pipe displacement in a French drain, base and surface layers on a driveway, the edge margin on a shed pad.
Projects
Materials
Cost & conversions
Gravel planning guides
Gravel calculator FAQ
How many tons are in a cubic yard of gravel?+
Most gravel weighs 1.25 to 1.6 tons per cubic yard. Crushed stone and limestone are about 1.4 tons, #57 stone and crusher run about 1.5 tons, pea gravel about 1.35 tons and river rock about 1.25 tons. Wet gravel weighs more.
How do I calculate gravel in cubic yards?+
Multiply length × width in feet to get square feet, multiply by the depth in inches ÷ 12 to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. A 20 × 10 ft area at 3 inches deep is 200 × 0.25 = 50 cubic feet, or 1.85 cubic yards.
How do I calculate how many tons of gravel I need?+
Work out the cubic yards, then multiply by the material density in tons per cubic yard and add 10% for waste. 1.85 cubic yards of crushed stone × 1.4 = 2.6 tons, or about 2.85 tons with 10% extra.
How much area does a ton of gravel cover?+
At 2 inches deep, one ton of crushed stone covers about 116 square feet; at 3 inches about 77 sq ft; at 4 inches about 58 sq ft; at 6 inches about 39 sq ft. Lighter stone such as river rock covers a little more.
How many bags of gravel make a cubic yard?+
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so it takes 54 bags of 0.5 cu ft or 41 bags of 0.66 cu ft. At $5 to $8 per bag, bagged gravel costs two to three times more than bulk delivery for anything over about half a yard.
How deep should gravel be?+
Use about 2 inches for paths and decorative cover, 3 inches for landscape beds, 4 inches of compacted base under patios, pavers and sheds, and 6 to 8 inches for driveways. See our depth guide for each project.
Method and sources
Densities are typical loose, dry bulk densities for each aggregate in short tons (2,000 lb) per cubic yard. Volumes use 27 ft³ per cubic yard; metric results use 1 m³ = 1.308 yd³ and 1 short ton = 0.907 tonnes. Truckloads assume a small dump truck carries about 7 tons and a tandem about 13 tons.
References
Last reviewed October 2026 by the GravelCalc team.