Building & DIY

How Much Gravel Do I Need? (Tons, Yards, and Cost)

By IFCalculator August 22, 2026 7 min read

To find how much gravel you need, multiply the area by the depth to get volume, then convert that to tons. Measure length and width in feet, turn the depth from inches into feet by dividing by 12, and multiply the three together. That gives cubic feet; divide by 27 for cubic yards, then multiply by about 1.4 to get tons.

One cubic yard of gravel weighs roughly 1.4 tons (about 2,800–3,000 lb), and it covers about 100 square feet at 2 inches deep. Those two numbers let you eyeball almost any job before you ever open a calculator.

How do you calculate how much gravel you need?

Multiply area by depth, then convert to yards and tons. Take the length times the width for square feet, change the depth from inches to feet by dividing by 12, and multiply. That result is cubic feet. Divide it by 27 to get cubic yards, and multiply cubic yards by 1.4 for tons.

Measure the area in feet — a driveway 40 ft long and 12 ft wide is 480 square feet.
Convert the depth to feet — 3 inches divided by 12 is 0.25 feet. This step trips up more people than any other.
Find the volume in cubic feet — 480 × 0.25 = 120 cubic feet.
Convert to cubic yards — divide by 27, since one yard is 3 × 3 × 3 feet. 120 ÷ 27 = 4.44 cubic yards.
Convert to tons — multiply cubic yards by 1.4. That is 4.44 × 1.4 ≈ 6.2 tons.

So a standard two-car driveway at 3 inches deep needs a little over 6 tons of gravel. Round up to about 6.5 tons to cover settling and the low spots you did not measure.

The single most common error is leaving the depth in inches. If you multiply 480 square feet by 3 instead of 0.25, you get 1,440 cubic feet and order roughly twelve times too much gravel. Always convert inches to feet first.

How much does a yard of gravel weigh in tons?

A cubic yard of gravel weighs about 1.4 to 1.5 tons, or roughly 2,800 to 3,000 pounds. Crushed stone and road base sit at the heavier end near 1.5 tons, while lighter pea gravel runs closer to 1.2 to 1.4 tons per yard. For planning, 1.4 tons per cubic yard is a safe working figure.

Weight varies with the stone, its size, and how wet it is. Wet gravel weighs more because water fills the gaps between the stones, so a rain-soaked pile delivered by the ton gives you slightly less actual rock than a dry one.

Should you order gravel by the ton or the cubic yard?

It depends on your supplier. Many quarries sell crushed stone by the ton because that is how the truck scale reads it, while landscape yards often price decorative gravel and pea gravel by the cubic yard. Calculate the volume in cubic yards first, then convert to tons only if that is the unit you are quoted in.

When you get a quote, ask which unit the price refers to before comparing suppliers. A $40 "yard" and a $40 "ton" are not the same amount of rock. One cubic yard is about 1.4 tons, so a per-ton price looks cheaper until you convert it back to volume.

How much area does a ton of gravel cover?

One ton of gravel covers roughly 100 square feet at 2 inches deep, about 80 square feet at 2.5 inches, and around 60 square feet at 4 inches. Coverage drops as depth grows because the same weight of stone has to spread thinner or pile deeper. The table below turns common areas and depths straight into yards and tons.

Area	Depth	Cubic yards	Tons
100 sq ft	2 in	0.62	0.9
100 sq ft	4 in	1.23	1.7
200 sq ft	3 in	1.85	2.6
500 sq ft	3 in	4.63	6.5
500 sq ft	4 in	6.17	8.6
1,000 sq ft	3 in	9.26	13.0

Read the table as a sanity check on your own math. If you worked out a 500-square-foot patio at 3 inches and landed anywhere near 4.6 yards or 6.5 tons, your arithmetic is sound. Numbers far from these rows usually mean a depth left in inches or a missed divide-by-27.

How deep should gravel be?

Depth depends on the job. A decorative bed or garden path needs only 2 inches. A walkway or patio surface wants about 2 to 3 inches over a firm base. A residential driveway should have 3 to 4 inches of compacted stone on top, and for heavy vehicles that top layer sits over a deeper base of 8 to 12 inches built up in stages.

Deeper is not always better. Loose gravel more than 4 inches deep on a driveway shifts and ruts under tires because there is no firm base beneath it. The strength comes from compacting the layers, not from dumping one thick pile.

How much does gravel cost?

Bulk gravel runs about $15 to $75 per ton at the pit in 2026, depending on type. Crushed stone and road base are cheapest at $15 to $30 a ton; pea gravel costs $20 to $40; decorative river rock costs the most. By volume, expect roughly $28 to $75 per cubic yard before delivery.

Delivery is usually a flat $100 to $200 per trip, and many suppliers waive it above a minimum order. If you need close to a full truckload, buying it all at once often costs less per ton than two smaller loads with two delivery fees.

For a 6-ton driveway order, the stone itself might run $120 to $300 at bulk rates, plus delivery. Add excavation and grading and a full installed gravel driveway typically lands between $1,500 and $6,000. The rock is rarely the expensive part; the labor to prep and compact the base is.

How much extra gravel should you order?

Order about 5 to 10 percent more than your calculation shows. Ground is never perfectly flat, gravel compacts once vehicles or foot traffic press it down, and edges spill. A small surplus is cheap insurance against a second delivery fee, and leftover gravel is easy to use for topping off ruts later.

Running short is more expensive than running over. A second delivery can cost as much in fees as several extra tons of stone, and a half-finished driveway or path has to sit until it arrives. When in doubt, round up to the next half ton.

Frequently asked questions

How many square feet does a ton of gravel cover?

About 100 square feet at 2 inches deep, or roughly 60 square feet at 4 inches deep. The deeper you go, the less area a ton covers, because the same weight of stone has to pile up higher. These figures assume standard gravel near 1.4 tons per cubic yard.

How much gravel do I need for a 20x20 area?

A 20 by 20 area is 400 square feet. At 3 inches deep that is 400 × 0.25 ÷ 27 ≈ 3.7 cubic yards, or about 5.2 tons. At 2 inches it drops to roughly 2.5 yards and 3.5 tons. Order a little extra for settling.

How do I convert cubic yards of gravel to tons?

Multiply cubic yards by about 1.4 for typical gravel. So 5 cubic yards is roughly 7 tons. Use 1.5 for heavier crushed stone and around 1.3 for lighter pea gravel if you want a tighter estimate.

Why do I divide cubic feet by 27?

Because one cubic yard is a cube that measures 3 feet on each side, and 3 × 3 × 3 equals 27 cubic feet. Once you have your volume in cubic feet, dividing by 27 converts it to the cubic yards that suppliers usually sell in.

Does pea gravel weigh the same as crushed stone?

No. Pea gravel is a bit lighter, around 1.2 to 1.4 tons per cubic yard, while crushed stone and road base run closer to 1.5. If your supplier sells by the ton, the lighter stone gives you slightly more volume for the same weight.

How much gravel should I order for waste?

Add 5 to 10 percent to your calculated amount. Compaction, uneven ground, and edge spillage all eat into coverage, and a second delivery for a shortfall costs more in fees than the extra stone would have. Round up to the next half ton or half yard.

Once you have your area and depth, the arithmetic is quick, but a tool removes the unit-conversion slips that cause most bad orders. Enter your length, width, and depth in the gravel quantity estimator to get cubic yards and tons at once, with a waste allowance built in. If your project mixes materials, the sand quantity estimator works the same way for a base layer.