- Density
- 103 lb/ft³
- Weight of 1 cubic yard
- 2,781 lb
- Tons per cubic yard
- 1.39
Suppliers sell bulk material in two different units. Stone yards and quarries usually weigh it and bill by the ton, while landscape suppliers and contractors often measure it in cubic yards. Moving between the two means knowing how much one cubic yard of your material weighs, and that number changes a lot from one material to another.
The Cubic Yards to Tons Formula
Every conversion starts from density, the weight of one cubic foot of the material. A cubic yard holds 27 cubic feet, so:
Tons = cubic yards × 27 × density (lb/ft³) ÷ 2,000
To go the other way, divide: cubic yards = tons × 2,000 ÷ density ÷ 27.
Worked example: you need 5 cubic yards of gravel at 103 lb/ft³. Five yards is 135 cubic feet. At 103 lb each that is 13,905 lb, which is 6.95 tons.
Going back the other direction, if a quarry quotes 12 tons of sand at 103 lb/ft³, the volume is 12 × 2,000 ÷ 103 ÷ 27 = 8.63 cubic yards.
Weight of a Cubic Yard by Material
The table lists the density this site uses for each material, along with the weight of one cubic yard and the matching tons-per-yard factor. Click a material name to open its full calculator.
| Material | Density (lb/ft³) | Weight per cubic yard (lb) | Tons per cubic yard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| #57 Stone | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| 3/4" Crushed Stone | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Pea Gravel | 100 | 2,700 | 1.35 |
| River Rock | 108 | 2,916 | 1.46 |
| Sand | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Paver Base | 115 | 3,105 | 1.55 |
| Limestone | 98 | 2,646 | 1.32 |
| Driveway Gravel | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Drainage Rock | 103 | 2,781 | 1.39 |
| Topsoil | 80 | 2,160 | 1.08 |
| Mulch | 25 | 675 | 0.34 |
| Fill Dirt | 80 | 2,160 | 1.08 |
Dense, angular, well-graded stone sits at the top of the range because small pieces fill the gaps between large ones. Rounded stone, clean single-size stone, and organic material weigh less because more of the volume is air. Mulch sits at the bottom: a cubic yard weighs well under half a ton.
Why the Numbers Move
Published densities are averages. Three things push the real weight of your delivery away from the table.
Moisture. Water adds weight without adding volume. Dry sand and stone are close to the table figures, but rain-soaked sand, topsoil, and fill dirt can come in noticeably heavier. If your supplier stores material outdoors, ask whether it was weighed wet.
Compaction and fines. Material that has settled in a pile or truck bed packs more tightly than freshly screened stone. A product with plenty of fine dust between the larger pieces, such as crushed stone with fines, weighs more than a clean washed version of the same rock.
Rock type. Limestone, granite, trap rock, and river gravel have different mineral weights. The table uses one representative figure per product, so a particular quarry can run a few percent higher or lower.
For ordering, the practical effect is small. Round up by around 10% for spreading loss, and a few percent of density drift disappears inside that cushion. For expensive materials, or when you are close to a truck’s weight limit, get the actual figure from the yard.
Converting Ordering Quantities
A few quick conversions come up repeatedly when comparing quotes:
- A ton of gravel is 0.72 cubic yards, so a price per cubic yard should be about 1.4 times the price per ton to be an equal deal.
- Topsoil at 80 lb/ft³ weighs 1.08 tons per cubic yard, which makes tons and yards nearly interchangeable for rough estimates.
- Three cubic yards of mulch weigh only about 1 ton, so mulch is almost always priced by volume.
If you are still working out how many cubic yards a project needs, use the material calculators on this site: enter length, width, and depth and they return both cubic yards and tons.