Cubic Yard Calculator
Enter length, width, and depth to instantly calculate cubic yards for concrete, gravel, mulch, soil, or any bulk material.
Easily find the precise volume of dirt, mulch, or concrete required for your next landscaping and construction project.
Before you call a supplier for concrete, mulch, gravel, or fill dirt, you need one number: cubic yards. Suppliers price and deliver in cubic yards — not square feet, not bags, not inches of depth. The cubic yard calculator converts your project dimensions into that number directly, handling the unit conversion that catches most people off guard when they try to do it by hand.
The Formula: Why 27 Keeps Coming Up
One cubic yard is a cube measuring 3 feet on every side: 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 cubic feet. That’s the conversion factor behind every cubic yard calculation. Measure your length, width, and depth in feet, multiply them together to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. For a 10 ft × 15 ft area at 4 inches deep: convert depth to feet first (4 ÷ 12 = 0.333 ft), then 10 × 15 × 0.333 = 50 cubic feet ÷ 27 = 1.85 cubic yards. Always round up to the nearest half yard when ordering — most suppliers don’t break deliveries below 0.5 yd³.
One Cubic Yard in Context
A cubic yard is larger than most people picture. It fills roughly the bed of a full-size pickup truck — a standard 6-foot truck bed holds about 1.5 cubic yards loosely loaded. A standard concrete mixer truck carries 8–10 cubic yards. Knowing this helps you figure out whether you need a delivery or can haul material yourself.
| 1 Cubic Yard Equals | Value |
|---|---|
| Cubic feet | 27 ft³ |
| Cubic inches | 46,656 in³ |
| Cubic meters | 0.7646 m³ |
| Gallons | ~202 gallons |
| Standard bags (1 cu ft each) | 27 bags |
Coverage by Material: What 1 Cubic Yard Gets You
The same volume covers very different areas depending on how deep you spread the material. These figures let you work backwards from coverage to cubic yards needed.
| Material | Depth | Coverage per Cubic Yard | Typical Weight per Yd³ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mulch | 2 inches | 162 sq ft | 400–800 lbs |
| Mulch | 3 inches | 108 sq ft | 400–800 lbs |
| Topsoil / fill dirt | 3 inches | 108 sq ft | 1,400–1,700 lbs |
| Gravel (#57 crushed stone) | 4 inches | 81 sq ft | ~2,800 lbs |
| Sand | 2 inches | 162 sq ft | ~2,700 lbs |
| Concrete (poured slab) | 4 inches | 81 sq ft | ~4,050 lbs |
| Concrete (poured slab) | 6 inches | 54 sq ft | ~4,050 lbs |
Common Project Examples
| Project | Dimensions | Depth | Cubic Yards Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden bed mulch | 10 × 20 ft | 3 inches | 1.85 yd³ → order 2 |
| Concrete driveway | 10 × 20 ft | 4 inches | 2.47 yd³ → order 2.5 |
| Concrete patio slab | 12 × 16 ft | 4 inches | 2.37 yd³ → order 2.5 |
| Gravel driveway base | 10 × 40 ft | 4 inches | 4.94 yd³ → order 5.5 |
| Topsoil for lawn | 30 × 50 ft | 3 inches | 13.89 yd³ → order 15 |
Square Feet to Cubic Yards: When You Only Know the Area
If you already know the square footage of your project area, converting to cubic yards only needs the depth: multiply square footage by depth in feet, then divide by 27. A 500 sq ft patio at 4 inches deep: 500 × 0.333 ÷ 27 = 6.17 cubic yards. The depth conversion from inches to feet (divide by 12) is the step most people miss when doing this manually.
Why Ordered Volume Rarely Matches Calculated Volume
Three things consistently create a gap between what the calculator says and what actually gets used on site:
- Compaction. Loose fill, gravel, and mulch compact under weight and over time. What fills 1 cubic yard loosely may settle to 0.85–0.90 yd³ compacted. Always add 10% to your calculated figure for any compactable material.
- Subgrade irregularity. Ground is never perfectly flat. Low spots, soft areas, and edge creep all consume more material than the calculation assumes. For large areas — lawns, driveways, parking pads — add 15% rather than 10%.
- Supplier minimums. Many concrete and aggregate suppliers have a minimum order of 1 cubic yard, and most won’t split deliveries below 0.5 yd³. Always round your order up to the nearest delivery increment, not down.
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It depends on the material's density. Gravel and crushed stone run roughly 1.4–1.5 tons per cubic yard. Topsoil is closer to 1.0–1.3 tons per cubic yard. Concrete is approximately 2.0 tons per cubic yard. To convert: cubic yards × material density (tons/yd³) = tons. Your supplier can confirm the exact density for the product they stock.
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A standard full-size pickup with a 6-foot bed holds approximately 1 to 1.5 cubic yards of loose material. An 8-foot bed gets you to about 2 cubic yards. That's volume — the truck's payload rating (typically 1,500–2,000 lbs) is the real limiting factor for dense materials like gravel or wet soil, which can weigh over 2,700 lbs per cubic yard.
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Break the area into simpler shapes — rectangles, triangles, or circles — calculate each section separately, then add the cubic yard totals together. For an L-shaped bed, split it into two rectangles at the corner. For a circular area: π × radius² × depth (ft) ÷ 27. For a triangular section: 0.5 × base × height × depth (ft) ÷ 27.
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One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet. A standard 1-cubic-foot bag of mulch, soil, or gravel means you need 27 bags to match one cubic yard. At typical retail prices, bagged material costs 2–4× more per cubic yard than buying in bulk — bulk delivery becomes cost-effective on anything over 2–3 cubic yards.