Cubic Yard Calculator
Calculate cubic yards for soil, gravel, mulch or concrete. Enter the area dimensions and depth, and get volume, weight, bag count and cost.
Calculate Cubic Yards of Soil, Gravel, Mulch or Concrete
Cubic Yards Formula
Where:
- \(A\) — area of the shape in square feet (ft²)
- \(d\) — depth or height in feet (ft)
- \(L\), \(W\), \(D\), \(b\), \(h\) — length, width, diameter, base and perpendicular height of the shape, all converted to feet
- \(27\) — number of cubic feet in one cubic yard (1 yd = 3 ft, so \(3 \times 3 \times 3 = 27\))
The formula computes the volume of the space in cubic feet and divides by 27 to express it in cubic yards. For a rectangular box, the box option simply uses \(L \times W\) as the area and the height as \(d\).
Cubic Yards – Calculation Example
Example: you want to cover a rectangular garden bed 20 ft long and 10 ft wide with a 3-inch layer of topsoil. The calculator's default values assume a 5% waste margin, topsoil at 1.1 US tons per cubic yard, 2 ft³ bags and a bulk price of $30 per cubic yard.
Depth in feet: \(3 \text{ in} = 3 \div 12 = 0.25 \text{ ft}\)
Volume: \(20 \text{ ft} \times 10 \text{ ft} \times 0.25 \text{ ft} = 50 \text{ ft}^3\)
Exact volume: \(50 \div 27 = 1.852 \text{ yd}^3\)
With 5% margin: \(1.852 \times 1.05 = 1.944 \text{ yd}^3 = 52.5 \text{ ft}^3\)
Result: order about 1.944 cubic yards (52.5 ft³ ≈ 1.487 m³), or 27 bags of 2 ft³. Estimated weight: 1.944 × 1.1 ≈ 2.14 US tons. Estimated cost: 1.944 × $30 ≈ $58.33.
How to Use the Cubic Yards Calculator
- Shape of the area or space — pick the shape that matches your project: a rectangle, circle or triangle area with a depth of material, or a rectangular box. Only the dimensions used by the selected shape are shown.
- Dimensions — enter the required measurements, choosing the unit (in, ft, yd or m) for each. For area shapes, enter the Depth / height (d) as the thickness of material, typically in inches; for the box shape it is the box height.
- Material — choose a preset density (topsoil, gravel, sand, mulch, concrete) to get an estimated weight in US tons, or Custom density to enter your own value in tons per cubic yard. Leave No weight estimate to skip this.
- Waste margin — enter a percentage of extra material; 5–10% is typical for spills, uneven subgrade and compaction.
- Bag size — select the size of the bags the product is sold in (0.5, 1, 2 or 3 ft³) to see how many bags you need.
- Price per cubic yard — enter the bulk delivered price to estimate the total cost, or 0 to skip the cost estimate.
- Read the results: cubic yards to order (including the margin), exact cubic yards, cubic feet, cubic meters, bags needed, estimated weight and estimated cost. The Calculation details block shows every intermediate step.
What Is a Cubic Yard?
A cubic yard (yd³) is a unit of volume equal to a cube measuring 3 feet on each side: \(3 \times 3 \times 3 = 27\) cubic feet. It is the standard unit for selling loose bulk materials in the United States — soil, gravel, sand, mulch, crushed stone and concrete are all quoted by the cubic yard. One cubic yard is approximately 0.765 m³.
Bulk materials are usually ordered by the truckload in whole or half cubic yards, while bagged products are sold in small volumes (commonly 0.5 to 3 ft³). To compare the two, you need to convert your project's volume into both units — which is exactly what this calculator does. A quick reference: 1 cubic yard fills 13.5 bags of 2 ft³, and 27 bags of 1 ft³ cover one cubic yard.
The weight of a cubic yard varies a lot with the material and its moisture content: dry mulch weighs about 0.4 US tons, topsoil about 1.0–1.3, sand about 1.35, gravel about 1.4 and concrete about 2.0 US tons per cubic yard. The weight estimate is useful when you need to check a delivery truck's load limit or a trailer's carrying capacity.
Assumptions, Limitations and Practical Tips
- All dimensions are converted to feet first, and the volume is divided by 27. Scientific units are exact by definition: 1 ft = 12 in = 0.3048 m, 1 yd = 3 ft.
- The shapes are ideal: a perfect rectangle, circle or triangle with a uniform depth. Real garden beds, driveways and holes are rarely that regular — if the depth varies, average it and add a larger waste margin.
- The waste margin is applied to the exact volume, so bags, weight and cost all include it. Set the margin to 0% to get the exact, uncompensated figures. Bag counts are always rounded up to whole bags.
- Bulk densities are typical values and vary with moisture, grading and compaction. Wet soil can weigh noticeably more than dry soil; use the Custom density option if you have a supplier's specification.
- Loose materials such as mulch and gravel compact after spreading, especially gravel over a subgrade. A 5–10% margin usually covers this; for concrete order a slightly higher margin because shortfalls on a pour are costly.
- For irregular plots, split the area into simple rectangles, triangles and circles, calculate each part separately and add the results. If your project needs cubic feet only, the cubic feet calculator handles the conversion, and for the whole land area in acres see the acreage calculator.
- Metric users: the result also includes cubic meters, and dimensions can be entered in meters or centimeter-equivalent inches directly. The meters to feet converter can help translate the outputs.
Typical Depth Requirements
| Application | Typical depth |
|---|---|
| Mulch over existing beds | 2–3 in |
| Mulch over bare soil | 3–4 in |
| New lawn topsoil | 4–6 in |
| Gravel under a patio | 4–6 in |
| Gravel driveway (compacted) | 8–12 in |
| Concrete slab (patio, walkway) | 4 in |
| Concrete driveway | 5–6 in |
As a rule of thumb, one cubic yard covers 324 ft² at a 1-inch depth, 108 ft² at 3 inches, 81 ft² at 4 inches and 54 ft² at 6 inches. Depth, not just area, is where most ordering mistakes happen — double-check it before ordering.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate cubic yards by hand without a calculator?
Multiply length × width × depth, all in feet, then divide by 27. If your depth is in inches, divide it by 12 first: for example, 4 in = \(4 \div 12 \approx 0.333\) ft. So a 12 ft × 9 ft area at 4 in deep is \(12 \times 9 \times 0.333 = 36\) ft³, and \(36 \div 27 = 1.33\) yd³. Carry a couple of decimal places to avoid rounding errors before the final step.
What is the difference between a cubic yard and a square yard?
A square yard (yd²) measures area — length × width only — while a cubic yard (yd³) measures volume, which includes depth. One cubic yard of material spread 1 yard deep covers exactly 1 square yard of surface. Confusing the two is a common mistake that leads to ordering 3 times too much or too little, since a cubic yard covers 9 square yards at a 1-foot (12-inch) depth.
How do I convert cubic yards to cubic feet, cubic meters, or liters?
Multiply cubic yards by 27 to get cubic feet. For metric units, multiply by 0.7646 to get cubic meters, and by 764.6 to get liters. Going the other way: divide cubic feet by 27, or multiply cubic meters by 1.308 to get cubic yards. Example: 2 yd³ = 54 ft³ ≈ 1.53 m³ ≈ 1,529 liters.
How many bags of soil or mulch equal one cubic yard?
It depends on the bag size: 27 bags of 1 ft³, 13.5 bags of 2 ft³, 9 bags of 3 ft³, or 54 bags of 0.5 ft³ make one cubic yard. Bagged material usually costs far more per cubic yard than bulk delivery, so for projects above roughly 1–2 cubic yards it is normally cheaper to order in bulk, even if some is left over.
How do I convert between cubic yards and tons?
You need the material's density. Multiply the volume in cubic yards by the density in US tons per cubic yard: typical values are mulch about 0.4, topsoil 1.0–1.3, sand 1.35, gravel 1.4 and concrete about 2.0. So 3 yd³ of gravel weigh roughly \(3 \times 1.4 = 4.2\) US tons. Densities vary with moisture and compaction, so use your supplier's specification when it matters, such as checking a truck's load limit.
How do I calculate cubic yards for an irregular or L-shaped area?
Break the area into simple rectangles, triangles and circles, compute the volume of each piece separately, then add the results together. For an L-shaped bed, split it into two rectangles. For a curved border, approximate it with rectangles and a circle segment. If the depth varies across the plot, use the average depth and add a larger waste margin — 10–15% — to cover the uneven spots.
What are the most common mistakes when ordering material by the cubic yard?
The biggest one is entering the depth in inches without converting to feet, which makes the result 12 times too large. Others: measuring in square yards instead of feet, forgetting the waste margin for compaction and spills, ignoring that gravel sold loose settles after spreading, and rounding down instead of up. Also check whether your supplier sells in whole or half-yard increments — many bulk yards will not split loads more finely than that.