Cubic Yard Calculator
Turn length, width and depth into cubic yards, cubic feet, cubic metres and litres, then into tons and bags for the material you are buying. Depth can be in inches, feet, millimetres or centimetres; the conversion is handled for you.
Depth and material
Areas
Measure each area and pick its shape. Leave an area’s depth blank to use the depth above.
Prices (optional)
Enter what your supplier or store charges to see the cost both ways.
Volume estimate
Volume
1.58 cubic yards
= 42.6 cu ft = 1.21 m³ = 1,206 litres
A bulk order rounds up to 2 cubic yards.
Exact volume, no extra added.
No material chosen · Depth 12 in unless set per area · 0% extra
- Area
- 39 sq ft3.63 m²
- Cubic yards
- 1.58order 2 yd³
- Cubic feet
- 42.6
- Cubic metres
- 1.211,206 litres
| Bag size | Bags | Per yd³ |
|---|---|---|
| 2 cu ft mulch bag | 22 | 13.5 |
| 0.75 cu ft soil bag | 57 | 36 |
| 0.5 cu ft stone bag | 86 | 54 |
| 80 lb concrete bag (0.6 cu ft) | 72 | 45 |
Your areas, to scale
| Area | Size | Depth | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raised bed8 ft × 4 ft | 32 sq ft | 12 in | 32 cu ft |
| Round planter⌀ 3 ft | 7.1 sq ft | 18 in | 10.6 cu ft |
| Total | 39 sq ft | 42.6 cu ft |
What a cubic yard is
A cubic yard is the volume of a cube one yard (3 ft) on each side: 27 cubic feet, 46,656 cubic inches, 0.765 cubic metres, 765 litres or about 202 US gallons. It is the unit American suppliers use for anything sold loose and spread: mulch, topsoil, compost, sand, gravel and ready-mixed concrete. People say "a yard" for short. It is not a square yard, which is an area (9 sq ft), and the two get mixed up on order forms more often than you would think.
How to calculate cubic yards
- Find the area in square feet. Length times width for a rectangle; 3.1416 times the radius squared for a circle; half the base times the height for a triangle. Measure in feet, or in inches and divide by 12 first.
- Convert the depth to feet. This is the step people skip. Three inches is 0.25 ft; 4 in is 0.333 ft; 6 in is 0.5 ft. Entering 4 instead of 0.333 gives a result twelve times too large, and it has happened to everyone once.
- Multiply, then divide by 27. Area in square feet times depth in feet is cubic feet. Divide by 27 for cubic yards.
- Add an allowance and round up. Bulk is sold in half-yard or whole-yard steps, so a result of 2.3 yards is an order for 2.5 or 3. The project planner and the single-material calculators add the allowance for you.
The calculator above accepts the dimensions in whatever unit you have, including feet-and-inches like 12' 6" and metric, and does the conversions, so the arithmetic mistakes are taken off the table.
Worked example
A 12 by 10 ft area filled 4 in deep, with no allowance added:
Result
- Area120 sq ft
- Cubic feet40.0
- Cubic yards1.48
- Cubic metres1.13
- Litres1,133
12 x 10 = 120 sq ft; 4 in is 0.333 ft; 120 x 0.333 = 40.0 cubic feet; 40.0 ÷ 27 = 1.48 cubic yards. In bags, that is 20 of the 2 cu ft mulch bags, 54 of the 0.75 cu ft soil bags, 80 of the 0.5 cu ft stone bags, 67 of the 80 lb concrete-mix bags. A supplier would sell it as 1.5 yards; with a 10 percent allowance it is 1.63 yards, which is an order for 2.
How many bags make a cubic yard
Bagged material is sold by volume (mulch, soil) or by weight with the volume on the label (sand, gravel, concrete). Either way, the number of bags in a yard is 27 divided by the bag's volume or yield. These are the bag sizes in the calculators, taken from the makers' data:
| Bag | Volume or yield (cu ft) | Bags per cu yd | Whole bags to buy | Sold as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 lb bag | 0.300 | 90.0 | 90 | Concrete mix (40 lb bag) |
| 50 lb bag | 0.375 | 72.0 | 72 | Concrete mix (50 lb bag), Fast-setting concrete (50 lb bag) |
| 40 lb pail | 0.400 | 67.5 | 68 | Polymeric jointing sand (40 lb pail) |
| 60 lb bag | 0.450 | 60.0 | 60 | Concrete mix (60 lb bag), Fast-setting concrete (60 lb bag) |
| 0.5 cu ft bag / 50 lb bag | 0.500 | 54.0 | 54 | Pea gravel (0.5 cu ft bag), Crushed stone #57 (0.5 cu ft bag), Crusher run / road base (0.5 cu ft bag or 50 lb bag), Decomposed granite (0.5 cu ft bag), River rock (0.5 cu ft bag), Paver base (0.5 cu ft bag or 50 lb bag), Bedding sand (50 lb bag), Polymeric jointing sand (50 lb bag), Play sand (50 lb bag) |
| 50 lb bag | 0.540 | 50.0 | 50 | Pea gravel (50 lb bag) |
| 60 lb bag / 80 lb bag | 0.600 | 45.0 | 45 | Bedding sand (60 lb bag), Play sand (60 lb bag), Concrete mix (80 lb bag) |
| 90 lb bag | 0.670 | 40.3 | 41 | Concrete mix (90 lb bag) |
| 0.75 cu ft bag / 40 lb bag | 0.750 | 36.0 | 36 | Topsoil (0.75 cu ft bag or 40 lb bag), Garden soil mix (0.75 cu ft bag) |
| 0.8 cu ft bag | 0.800 | 33.8 | 34 | Rubber mulch (0.8 cu ft bag) |
| 1 cu ft bag / 40 lb bag | 1.000 | 27.0 | 27 | Compost (1 cu ft bag or 40 lb bag), Topsoil (1 cu ft bag), Garden soil mix (1 cu ft bag) |
| 1.5 cu ft bag | 1.500 | 18.0 | 18 | Compost (1.5 cu ft bag), Garden soil mix (1.5 cu ft bag) |
| 1.55 cu ft bag | 1.550 | 17.4 | 18 | Rubber mulch (1.55 cu ft bag) |
| 2 cu ft bag | 2.000 | 13.5 | 14 | Hardwood bark mulch (2 cu ft bag), Pine bark mulch (2 cu ft bag), Cedar mulch (2 cu ft bag), Dyed / colored wood mulch (2 cu ft bag), Garden soil mix (2 cu ft bag) |
| 3 cu ft bag / Bale | 3.000 | 9.0 | 9 | Hardwood bark mulch (3 cu ft bag), Dyed / colored wood mulch (3 cu ft bag), Pine straw (Bale) |
A bag sold by weight is listed at the volume its maker publishes, or, where the maker gives none, at the volume its weight comes to at the material's density; the methodology page says which is which for every bag. Bags on the same row hold the same volume whatever the label says.
Tons per cubic yard
Stone, sand and sometimes soil are sold by weight. The conversion is the material's density, and it is different for each one. These are the densities the calculators use:
| Material | lb per cu ft | lb per cu yd | Tons per cu yd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwood bark mulch (shredded) | 15.5 | 419 | 0.21 |
| Dyed / colored wood mulch | 22 | 594 | 0.30 |
| Rubber mulch | 26 | 702 | 0.35 |
| Compost | 40 | 1,080 | 0.54 |
| Topsoil (screened) | 78 | 2,106 | 1.05 |
| Pea gravel (3/8 in) | 93 | 2,511 | 1.26 |
| Crushed stone #57 (3/4 in, clean) | 100 | 2,700 | 1.35 |
| Crusher run / road base (3/4 in minus) | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Decomposed granite (1/4 in minus) | 90 | 2,430 | 1.22 |
| River rock (1-3 in) | 92 | 2,484 | 1.24 |
| Paver base (compacted 3/4 in minus aggregate) | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Bedding sand (ASTM C33 concrete sand) | 100 | 2,700 | 1.35 |
| Polymeric jointing sand | 100 | 2,700 | 1.35 |
| Play sand (washed, screened) | 100 | 2,700 | 1.35 |
| Concrete mix (premixed bags, 4,000 psi) | 140 | 3,780 | 1.89 |
Each density traces to a manufacturer's data sheet, a retailer's listing, a university extension publication or a standards body; the methodology page lists the source, the date it was read and the note behind every figure.
What trucks carry
Volume is rarely the limit; weight is. A full-size pickup bed is about 2 to 2 1/2 cubic yards level with the sides, and a yard of dry mulch is light enough that a pickup can carry one or two. A yard of soil, sand or stone weighs over a ton, more than most half-ton pickups are rated to carry; the payload rating is on the sticker inside the driver's door, and it includes the people in the cab. Suppliers' dump trucks have the same problem in reverse: a truck that carries ten yards of mulch may be limited to five or six yards of stone, so a larger order of stone can mean two deliveries. Ask what one load of the material you want can carry, and plan the order around that number.
Mistakes people make
- Depth in inches, area in feet. Convert the depth to feet first, or let the calculator do it.
- Square yards for cubic yards. One is area, the other volume. Suppliers sell volume.
- Converting tons with the wrong density. Mulch, soil and stone are nothing alike. Use the material's own figure.
- Ordering a "scoop". A loader bucket is whatever size that yard's loader is, often half a yard to a yard. Ask, and order in yards.
- No allowance. Rough ground, settling and compaction all eat material. Five to ten percent.
Frequently asked questions
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
Twenty-seven: a yard is 3 ft, and 3 x 3 x 3 = 27. In inches it is 46,656 cubic inches (36 x 36 x 36). The mistake to avoid is multiplying feet by feet by inches and dividing by 27; the depth has to be in feet first, so 4 in is 4 ÷ 12 = 0.333 ft.
How many square feet does a cubic yard cover?
It depends on the depth: 324 sq ft at 1 in, 162 at 2 in, 108 at 3 in, 81 at 4 in, 54 at 6 in, 27 at 12 in. The rule is 324 divided by the depth in inches. The mulch and gravel calculators turn this round for you: enter the area and depth and they give the yards.
How do I convert cubic yards to tons?
Multiply the cubic yards by the material's weight per cubic yard and divide by 2,000. The weight per yard is the density in pounds per cubic foot times 27, and it is different for every material: the table above gives the figures the calculators use, each with its source. There is no single answer to "how many tons in a yard", which is why the calculators ask what the material is.
How many wheelbarrow loads are in a cubic yard?
Divide 27 by what your wheelbarrow holds. A typical contractor's barrow is rated at 6 cubic feet, so a cubic yard is about 4.5 heaped loads, in practice 5 or 6 because nobody fills a barrow of wet gravel to the brim. A small 3 cubic foot garden barrow needs 9 loads. For soil and stone the limit is weight: a 6 cubic foot barrow of gravel weighs several hundred pounds.
How big is a cubic yard in metric?
0.765 cubic metres, or 765 litres. A cubic metre is 1.308 cubic yards, so a supplier who sells by the cubic metre is giving you about 30 percent more per unit than one who sells by the yard. The calculators show both.
What does a pile of one cubic yard look like?
Dumped from a truck, a yard of mulch or soil makes a cone roughly 5 to 6 ft across and 3 ft high; stacked as a cube it is 3 ft on a side, about the size of a washing machine. Two yards fill a full-size pickup bed to the top of the sides. Ten yards cover a two-car driveway. It helps to picture it before you order, because most first-time orders are either twice too much or half enough.