ParrotNotes

Cubic Yard Calculator: Yards, Tons and Bags

Work out cubic yards of topsoil, mulch, gravel, sand or concrete for any area and depth, with tons, bags and cost, and convert yards to tons. Add rectangles, circles and triangles, set the depth in inches or feet, and get cubic yards, cubic feet, tons, bags and the cost of the order.

Your numbers

Areas

Area 1
ft
ft

Up to 6 areas, added together. Lengths in feet; 6 inches is 0.5 ft. A triangle's height is measured square to its base.

Depth and material

%

Optional. Add 5 to 10% for uneven ground, compaction or spillage.

t/yd³

A typical weight from published tables (see the sources). Use your supplier's figure when you have it.

The finished depth: after spreading, or the thickness of the slab. Check it in a few places.

Bags and cost

$

Cubic yards

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Cubic feet
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Cubic meters
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Total area
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Topsoil weight (1.08 t/yd³)
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Bags (0.75 cu ft bag)
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Cost (price per cubic yard)
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An estimate for ordering and quoting, not a substitute for measuring on site.

The weight is a typical dry figure from published tables; wet material weighs more.

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 to calculate cubic yards

Bulk material is sold by the cubic yard, so the sum is area × depth. Measure each area in feet and work out its square feet: length × width for a rectangle, π × (diameter ÷ 2)² for a circle, base × height ÷ 2 for a triangle. Multiply by the depth in inches and divide by 12 for cubic feet, or multiply by the depth in feet. Divide cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards.

Worked example: a garden bed 12 × 10 ft and a round bed 10 ft across, both topped with 4 in of topsoil. The rectangle is 120 square feet and the circle 78.54, so 198.54 square feet in all. 198.54 × 4 ÷ 12 = 66.18 cubic feet, and 66.18 ÷ 27 = 2.45 cubic yards. Add a second area in the calculator and it does the adding for you.

Yards to tons and tons to yards

Landscape yards sell soil and mulch by the yard, while quarries often sell stone by the ton. To convert, multiply cubic yards by the weight of one cubic yard, or divide tons by it. The second tab does this for one material and shows the same amount in every material underneath.

Its starting weights: topsoil 1.08 tons a yard (dry loam, 80 lb per cubic foot), sand 1.31 (dry sand, 97 lb), gravel 1.42 (dry gravel, 105 lb), all from the Engineering ToolBox density tables, and concrete 2.03 (150 lb per cubic foot, the top of Engineering ToolBox's range for dense concrete). Crushed stone (1.40) and mulch (0.30, about 600 lb a yard) are typical values without a published source. Example: 20 tons of gravel ÷ 1.42 = 14.08 cubic yards. Moisture changes all of these, so the scale ticket decides.

How far one cubic yard goes

A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, which is 324 square feet one inch deep. Divide 324 by the depth in inches to see what one yard covers: 162 square feet at 2 in, 108 at 3 in, 81 at 4 in, 54 at 6 in and 27 at 12 in. Turned round, that is a quick check on any quote: 400 square feet of mulch at 3 in is 400 ÷ 108 = 3.7 yards.

Depth is where estimates go wrong. Measure it in several places, and remember that loose material settles: topsoil and mulch lose some height after rain, and gravel under a patio is compacted. The waste field adds a margin for that, and for what gets spilled.

Bags or bulk

Bagged material is sold in cubic feet: mulch mostly in 2 and 3 cubic foot bags, topsoil often in 0.75 or 1 cubic foot bags, and gravel and sand by weight. One yard is 13.5 bags of 2 cubic feet or 9 bags of 3. Pick the bag size in the calculator and it rounds the count up.

Put the bag price and the bulk price in turn and compare. Bulk delivery usually adds a fee, so bags can win on a small job and lose on a big one; the point where they cross is worth knowing before you quote.

Concrete by the yard

Ready-mix is ordered in cubic yards too. A 10 × 10 ft slab 4 in thick is 100 × 4 ÷ 12 = 33.33 cubic feet, or 1.23 cubic yards. The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association suggests ordering 4 to 10% more than the calculated volume, for an uneven base, form movement and spillage; put that in the waste field.

In bags, QUIKRETE lists about 0.6 cubic feet per 80 lb bag of Concrete Mix, so the same slab is 56 bags. For footings, columns and steps with their own shapes, use the Concrete Calculator.

Measuring on the site visit

Measure every area on its own, sketch it, and write the depth beside each one. Check where the truck can tip, whether the material has to be barrowed, and what is underneath: a soft base takes more stone.

Most of these numbers get said out loud while you walk the job with the customer: the lengths, the depth they want, the extra bed they mention at the end. If they are only in your head, the quote ends up with a guess in it.

Sources, checked October 2026. All figures are estimates:

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

The yards go on the quote. The details are in what was said.

Lengths, depths and the extra bed the customer adds at the end all get said out loud on the site visit. Record the walk-through in ParrotNotes and get a transcript and a summary with the action items, so you quote from what you heard, not from memory.

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Cubic yard calculator FAQ