How to measure for cubic yards
Measure the length and width in feet, and the depth in inches, since that is how people think about depth. For anything that is not a plain shape, split it into rectangles and work out each one. A rough garden bed can be treated as the rectangle that fits around it, and the small excess is a useful cushion.
Depth is the measurement that matters most, and it is rarely even. Push a stake or a tape into the ground in five or six places across the area and take the average. One inch of error across a large yard is often the difference between a right order and a wrong one.
If the material will be compacted, such as a gravel base or fill in a trench, you will need more loose material than the finished volume. Ask the supplier, since we did not find a primary source for a general allowance.
A worked example
This one is printed by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension for a 10 by 10 foot area, 3 inches deep. These lines come from the same formula the calculator above runs.
10 by 10 ft area, 3 in deep
- Area: 10 × 10 = 100 sq ft
- Volume: 100 × (3 ÷ 12) = 25 cu ft
- Cubic yards: 25 ÷ 27 = 0.93 cu yd
AgriLife prints .93 and rounds up to 1 yard, and you should too. Now take 20 by 10 feet of gravel, 4 inches deep: that is 2.47 cubic yards, and a load of 3.17 to 4.20 tons. For a job with its own rules, use the calculator for it: the gravel calculator, the mulch calculator or the soil calculator.
Cubic yards by area and depth
Use this as a check on your own figure. Most yard jobs are between 2 and 6 inches deep, and an extra 12 inch column covers trenches and fill.
| Area | 2 in | 3 in | 4 in | 6 in | 12 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 0.62 | 0.93 | 1.23 | 1.85 | 3.70 |
| 200 sq ft | 1.23 | 1.85 | 2.47 | 3.70 | 7.41 |
| 300 sq ft | 1.85 | 2.78 | 3.70 | 5.56 | 11.11 |
| 500 sq ft | 3.09 | 4.63 | 6.17 | 9.26 | 18.52 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 6.17 | 9.26 | 12.35 | 18.52 | 37.04 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 12.35 | 18.52 | 24.69 | 37.04 | 74.07 |
Mistakes that lead to a bad order
- Inches as feet. Three inches is a quarter of a foot. Multiplying by 3 makes the order twelve times too big.
- Wrong divisor. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Three feet in a yard catches people out because it is a length, not a volume.
- Weight as a fixed number. Published tables are explicit about this: Seattle's says it is not for contract payment. Wet soil and dry soil are different loads.
- Forgetting the truck. A yard of gravel can be well over a ton, and that may be more than a pickup should carry. Check the payload on the door sticker.
- Comparing a price per ton with a price per yard. Get them in the same unit first, using that supplier's own weight per yard.
Questions
How do I convert cubic feet to cubic yards?
Divide cubic feet by 27. A cubic yard is 3 feet on each side, and 3 times 3 times 3 is 27. So 54 cubic feet is exactly 2 cubic yards.
How much does a cubic yard weigh?
A cubic yard of loose gravel weighs about 2,565 to 3,400 pounds, dry soil about 2,000 to 2,600, and wood chips or mulch about 400 to 800. Moisture and compaction move all of these a lot, so ask your supplier for theirs.
How many cubic yards in a ton of gravel?
A ton of loose gravel is about 0.6 to 0.8 cubic yards, using a yard weight of 2,565 to 3,400 pounds. Some suppliers sell by weight and others by volume, so check which one your quote uses.
How many yards of dirt do I need to fill a hole?
Measure the hole's length, width and depth, then multiply and divide by 27. Allow more if the fill will be compacted, because loose fill settles and ends up taking less room than it did on the truck. We found no primary figure for how much more to add.
How many cubic yards in a dump truck?
Dump trucks vary too much for one figure, and we did not find a source we trust for a general one. Measure the bed's length, width and height, and enter them above, or ask the hauler. Check the load limit as well, since a full bed of gravel can be well over what a small truck can carry.
How many cubic yards in an 80 lb bag of concrete?
An 80 pound bag yields about 0.60 cubic feet, so about 45 bags make a cubic yard, by Quikrete's data sheet. One bag is about 0.022 of a yard. The concrete calculator compares bags against a truck.
This cubic yard figure is exact for the sizes you typed, but the weight is a rough planning estimate. Moisture, grading and compaction all move it, and compacted fill takes more loose material than the hole. Ask your supplier what their yard weighs and how they sell it, by the yard or the ton, and check the label on anything bagged.
Sources and review
- How much compost, soil or mulch, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, no date shown, read November 2026.
- Volume and weight conversion factors, City of Seattle, no date shown, read November 2026.
- TEK 04-02A, estimating concrete masonry materials, Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association, no date shown, read November 2026.
- NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.9, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2025.
- Cubic yards to tons calculator, Inch Calculator, no date shown, read November 2026.
Checked in November 2026. Spotted a wrong number? Report it and it goes in the corrections log.
How this is calculated
Every figure below is read from the code that produces the answer, so what is written here is what the calculator ran. The constants were last checked against their sources in November 2026.
The arithmetic
Cubic yards
Cubic yards = Length × Width × (Depth ÷ 12) ÷ 27
- Depth
- In inches, so divided by 12 to make feet
- 27
- Cubic feet in one cubic yard
Worked through: 10 × 10 × (3 ÷ 12) ÷ 27 = 0.93 cu yd
Weight
Tons = Cubic yards × Pounds per cubic yard ÷ 2000
- Pounds per cubic yard
- A low and a high figure for the material
Worked through: 2 × 2000 ÷ 2000 = 2 tons
The constants, and where they come from
POUNDS_PER_CU_YD
Modelled from published dataWeight of a cubic yard, low and high, by material, in pounds
- gravel
- 2565, 3400
- soil
- 2000, 2600
- sand
- 2160, 3000
- mulch
- 400, 800
Applies to: Loose material as delivered. It is not a figure for payment
Source: Volume and weight conversion factors, City of Seattle, no date on the page, read 2026-11.
Also from: TEK 04-02A, estimating concrete masonry materials, Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association, no date on the page, read 2026-11.
Also from: Cubic yards to tons calculator, Inch Calculator, no date on the page, read 2026-11.
No single authoritative table exists, and these are assembled. Seattle lists gravel at 2565, dry soil at 2025 and wood chips at 500, and says general guidance only. CMHA gives damp loose sand as 2160. The high ends and the low end for soil and mulch come from Inch Calculator's uncited ranges. We did not use USDA in-place soil density or EPA debris rows, which describe other things.
CU_M_PER_CU_YD
DefinitionalCubic metres in one cubic yard
Applies to: Definitional, everywhere
Source: Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SP 811), Appendix B.9, factors for units listed by kind of quantity, National Institute of Standards and Technology, published 2025-08, read 2026-11.
NIST lists 7.645549 E-01, stored in full and rounded only for display.
POUNDS_PER_TON
DefinitionalPounds in one short ton
Applies to: United States usage. A metric tonne is heavier
Source: Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SP 811), Appendix B.9, factors for units listed by kind of quantity, National Institute of Standards and Technology, published 2025-08, read 2026-11.
NIST lists the short ton as 2000 pounds, about 907 kilograms.
CU_FT_PER_CU_YD
DefinitionalCubic feet in one cubic yard
Applies to: Definitional, everywhere
True by definition, so there is nothing to cite. The derivation is below.
Three feet in a yard, and a volume is three lengths multiplied, so 3 × 3 × 3 = 27.
INCHES_PER_FOOT
DefinitionalInches in one foot
Applies to: Definitional, everywhere
True by definition, so there is nothing to cite. The derivation is below.
Twelve inches make a foot by definition, so a depth in inches is divided by 12.
What the labels mean
- Modelled from published data:
- derived rather than measured, calibrated against the source named beside it.
- Definitional:
- true by definition, like the number of inches in a foot, so there is nothing to cite.
If a figure here looks wrong, it may be. Tell us what you found and we will check it against the source and publish a correction if it needs one. How constants are chosen and how often they are reviewed is set out in our methodology.
How to use the cubic yard calculator
- 1
Choose a rectangle or a circle
- 2
Measure the length and width in feet
- 3
Enter the depth in inches, using an average if it varies
- 4
Choose the material to see a weight range
- 5
Round up when you order, as suppliers sell in steps
What this calculator assumes
Every estimate here rests on the assumptions below. Where your job differs from one of them, the figure will differ too.
- The area is a rectangle or a circle, at one even depth
- The depth is the loose depth. Material that gets compacted needs more than this
- Weight is given as a range for loose delivered material, not as a figure to pay on
- A ton here is a US short ton of 2,000 pounds
Pro tips
- Measure the depth in several places and use the average
- Ask whether the supplier sells by the yard or by the ton before comparing prices
- Round up, as a small second delivery can cost more than the extra material