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Asphalt Calculator: Tons of Hot Mix for a Driveway or Lot

Estimate how many tons of hot mix asphalt a driveway or parking lot needs from its area and depth, and what it will cost. Add rectangles, circles, triangles or a known area, set the compacted depth, and price the job per ton or per square foot for a quote.

Your numbers

Areas to pave

Area 1
ft
ft

Up to 6 areas, added together: a driveway plus a turnaround or an apron, for example. A triangle's height is measured square to its base.

Depth and weight

in
%

Optional. Add a margin for thickened edges, low spots in the base and what stays in the truck.

lb/yd²/in

Pounds per square yard per inch of depth. 110 is a typical value (about 147 lb per cubic foot, 1.98 tons a cubic yard); state DOT figures run from about 109 to 114. Use your plant's figure for the mix.

Starts at 3 in, the asphalt the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association mentions over a 6 to 8 in aggregate base; 4 to 6 in for a full-depth driveway with no stone base.

Price

$

Hot mix asphalt to order

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Cubic yards
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Cubic feet
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Total area
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Cost (per ton)
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An estimate for quoting and ordering, not a substitute for measuring on site or for a pavement design.

Tons are US short tons (2,000 lb) of compacted asphalt at the weight above; the base course under it is ordered separately.

The calculation runs in your browser and ParrotNotes does not store your numbers. They sit in the page address so you can bookmark or share the result.

How many tons of asphalt do I need?

Asphalt plants sell hot mix by the ton, so the sum runs from area to weight. Measure each area in feet and work out its square feet; divide by 9 for square yards. Multiply the square yards by the compacted depth in inches and by the weight of the mix per square yard per inch, about 110 lb, then divide by 2,000 for tons. Add a circle for a turnaround (π × (diameter ÷ 2)²) or a triangle for a flared apron, or type in an area you already know.

Worked example: a driveway 12 ft wide and 50 ft long is 600 square feet, or 66.67 square yards. At 3 in compacted that is 66.67 × 3 × 110 ÷ 2,000 = 11 tons, about 5.56 cubic yards in place. With 5% extra for edges and waste, order 11.55 tons; round the order up to what the plant loads, never down.

How thick should the asphalt be?

For a driveway, the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association notes that some contractors lay 3 in of asphalt over 6 to 8 in of compacted aggregate. A full-depth asphalt driveway, with no stone base, needs more: 4 in may be adequate and 5 or 6 in is stronger. To resurface a sound driveway, a surface course of 1.5 to 2 in usually does, which is why the overlay job starts at 2 in.

Parking lots are designed rather than guessed: the plan splits the lot into light-, medium- and heavy-duty sections for the traffic and the soil, with truck lanes and dumpster pads thicker than the parking stalls. Use the depth on the plans for each section and add each one as its own estimate. The depth in the calculator is always the compacted thickness, not the loose mix behind the paver.

The stone base under the asphalt is a separate order, sold by the ton or the yard like any aggregate. Work it out in the gravel calculator with the base depth, then add the two to the quote.

For the stone base under the asphalt: Gravel Calculator (tons and cubic yards of base)

Asphalt quote calculator: price per ton or per square foot

Pick how you price. Per ton multiplies the tons, extra included, by the price, which is how plants sell the material. Per square foot multiplies the area by your rate, which is how many paving contractors quote homeowners, and the extra does not change it.

Run the job both ways to sanity-check a quote. The material is tons × the plant's price per ton; the per-square-foot price has to cover that plus base repair, tack coat, labor, trucking, equipment and margin. If the two numbers are close, the rate is too low.

What a ton of asphalt covers

The calculator starts at 110 lb per square yard per inch, a typical weight for compacted hot mix that works out to about 147 lb per cubic foot or 1.98 tons per cubic yard. At that weight a ton covers about 18 square yards at 1 in, 81.8 square feet at 2 in and 54.5 square feet at 3 in.

Mixes differ with the stone in them, so state DOTs publish their own estimating figures: Iowa DOT uses 145 lb per cubic foot for base mixes (about 109 lb per square yard per inch), an Illinois DOT plan uses 112, and the WSDOT design manual 2.05 tons per cubic yard, about 114. When the plant gives you the weight for the mix you are buying, type it in.

Tips for the driveway visit

Measure every area on its own, the apron and any turnaround included, and check where the old surface is broken up: soft spots need base repair before any overlay. Note the slope and where water runs, the edge the homeowner wants, and whether the trucks can reach the work.

Then write down what the homeowner told you: how long the car can stay off the driveway, what they expect to spend, cracks that keep coming back, and when they want it done. Those notes decide the quote as much as the tons do.

Sources, checked October 2026. All figures are estimates:

More for paving, home-services and building-materials sales: Door-to-door sales, Building materials sales, Construction daily report.

The tons are only part of the quote

The tonnage goes on the quote. What the homeowner said on the driveway about cracks and drainage, the edge they want, access for the trucks and when they need the car back goes in ParrotNotes: record the visit and get the summary and next steps.

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