Cubic Yard Calculator

A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. That is the only number you have to memorize. Every bulk material sold at a landscape supply yard, a concrete plant, or a quarry is priced by the cubic yard, and every job site conversation about how much material you need happens in cubic yards.

The formula: length in feet times width in feet times depth in feet, divided by 27. Depth is almost always given in inches, so divide inches by 12 first to get feet. A ten by ten foot area filled six inches deep is 10 x 10 x 0.5 = 50 cubic feet, or 50 / 27 = 1.85 cubic yards.

For irregular shapes, break them into rectangles and triangles, calculate each separately, and add the results. A curved planting bed can be approximated as a series of rectangles. A triangular corner is base times height divided by two, times depth. A circular tree ring is pi times radius squared times depth.

The cubic yard became the standard unit for bulk materials because it is the practical scale of a truckload. A tandem dump truck holds 10 to 20 cubic yards depending on the axle configuration. A pickup truck holds one to three cubic yards of most materials before the springs bottom out. A wheelbarrow holds about 0.1 cubic yard of a light material or about 0.06 cubic yard of dense material like wet concrete.

Cubic feet is the natural unit for anything sold in bags at a big-box store. Bagged concrete, bagged mulch, and bagged topsoil are all measured in cubic feet on the bag label. When you cross from bags to bulk, remember 27 cubic feet per cubic yard. A 2 cubic foot bag of mulch is 1/13.5 of a cubic yard. Fourteen bags is a yard.

In some trades, cubic yards go by other names. Ready-mix concrete is often just called "yards." Bulk topsoil at some yards is quoted in "cy." Gravel by the ton is a weight conversion off cubic yards using material density. All of it flows through the same volume math.

Some materials are sold by the ton at the quarry or supply yard even though the working number for the job site is cubic yards. To convert cubic yards to tons, multiply by the density in tons per cubic yard.

Working densities: concrete about 2 tons per cubic yard; asphalt about 1.9 to 2.0 tons per cubic yard; pea gravel about 1.35 tons; #57 crushed stone about 1.4 tons; road base or crushed limestone about 1.5 tons; rip rap about 1.7 tons; masonry sand about 1.35 tons; concrete sand about 1.4 tons; dry topsoil about 1.1 tons; wet topsoil about 1.3 tons; wood mulch about 0.4 to 0.5 tons.

Density varies with moisture. A rain-soaked ton of gravel takes up less volume than a dry ton. When you order by the ton, ask the yard for the working density they quote for the specific material on the specific day, especially in wet weather.

A standard tandem-axle dump truck in Texas legally hauls 12 to 16 tons, which works out to roughly 10 to 12 cubic yards of most bulk materials. A tri-axle carries more, up to 20 cubic yards. A semi-dump or belly-dump carries 22 to 26 tons, or about 18 to 20 cubic yards. A pickup with a single-axle utility trailer is limited by the trailer rating, which is usually about 3,000 to 5,000 pounds. That is roughly 1.5 to 2 cubic yards of gravel or topsoil.

A half-ton pickup can safely carry about a scant half cubic yard of dense material or a cubic yard of a light material like mulch. Any more than that and you are riding on the springs, wearing out the rear tires, and creating a real safety problem on a highway.

For large jobs, delivered is almost always cheaper than picked-up when you factor in fuel, time, and truck wear. Landscape supply yards deliver, quarries deliver, and concrete plants deliver. Get quotes with delivery included and compare per cubic yard delivered.

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