Gravel calculator: tons, yards and bags for the job
A 40 by 12 ft driveway topped with 3 inches of 3/4 inch crushed stone takes 4.4 cubic yards in place. With 5% for spillage it is 4.7 yards. At the Ohio DOT's 2,500 pounds per loose yard, that comes to 5.8 tons, well inside one truck.
From square feet to tons
Gravel is dug, loaded and sold by weight, but laid by volume, so the calculator works in both. Area times depth gives cubic feet in place. For a base layer, the compaction allowance adds the loose volume the plate compactor will squeeze out. The waste allowance covers low spots and the stone that ends up in the lawn. The ordered volume in cubic feet is divided by 27 for cubic yards. It is multiplied by the stone's loose weight for pounds, then divided by 2,000 for US tons. Bags are the ordered cubic feet divided by the bag size. A second layer repeats the whole run with its own stone and depth and adds the two.
Cubic yards = area (sq ft) × depth (ft) ÷ 27, then × (1 + compaction) × (1 + waste). Tons = cubic yards × pounds per loose cubic yard ÷ 2,000. Bags = ordered cubic feet ÷ 0.5.
What a yard of gravel weighs, by the state specifications
| Material | Loose weight per cubic yard | Tons per loose yard | One ton covers at 3 in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel, 3/4 in, size No. 57 or No. 4 | 2,500 lb | 1.25 | 86 sq ft |
| Limestone, 3/4 in, size No. 57 or No. 4 | 2,400 lb | 1.20 | 90 sq ft |
| Gravel, bank run or crusher run | 2,700 lb | 1.35 | 80 sq ft |
| Limestone, crusher run | 2,500 lb | 1.25 | 86 sq ft |
| Dense-graded base, compacted in place | 3,600 to 3,720 lb | 1.80 to 1.86 | 58 to 60 sq ft |
The loose figures are the Ohio DOT's for stone measured in the delivery vehicle. The compacted figure is the Wisconsin DOT's for 3/4 inch dense-graded base after rolling. Pea gravel has no published figure from a public source. So the calculator uses the rounded gravel number for it and says so in the list. Wet stone weighs more, and every quarry's product differs a little.
A new 50 by 12 ft gravel driveway in two layers
The drive is 600 square feet. The base layer is 6 inches of crusher run, compacted: 600 × 0.5 = 300 cubic feet in place. That needs 40% more loose stone to roll down to that thickness, plus 5% for waste. That comes to 441 loose cubic feet or 16.3 loose cubic yards. At 2,700 pounds per loose yard that is 22 tons. The top layer is 2 inches of 3/4 inch crushed stone laid loose: 100 cubic feet, 105 with waste, 3.9 cubic yards, 4.9 tons. The whole job is about 20 loose cubic yards and 27 tons. The base is 22 tons, a 15 ton load and a 7 ton load, and the top stone is a 5 ton load. Spread and compact the base in two lifts before the top stone goes down. The 40% allowance is what disappears under the plate.
Depth by job, from the published guides
| Job | Layer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Patio or walk under pavers | 4 to 6 in of compacted base, then 1 in of sand | Oregon State University Extension paver guide |
| Driveway base under asphalt | 4 to 8 in of compacted crushed aggregate | Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association, 2020 and 2005 briefs |
| Gravel road wearing course | 6 to 8 in loose, compacted to 4 1/2 to 6 in | Penn State gravel road handbook |
| Paths and beds | 2 to 3 in of clean stone is what suppliers' charts show; no public standard | the depth box takes any figure |
The common practice has no single published rule behind it. Clean, washed stone goes in drainage work so water moves through it; a graded mix with fines goes under a slab or drive so it locks together under the compactor.
Trucks, prices and what to ask the quarry
The US Geological Survey's 2025 average value for crushed stone at the plant is $18.50 per metric ton. For construction sand and gravel it is $14.50. Both are before any trucking, and delivered prices are set by the haul. Ask for the price per ton of the exact stone, the delivery fee per load, how many tons the truck carries and the minimum order. Also ask whether the driver can tailgate-spread along the drive, which spreads the load as it is dumped and cuts the raking. Give the driver the tons from the list and tell them where to dump each layer. What a yard of gravel costs sets out the published plant and delivered figures.
Questions about buying gravel
How much gravel do I need?
Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in feet to get cubic feet. Divide by 27 for cubic yards, then multiply by the gravel's weight per yard for tons. A 20 by 10 ft pad at 3 inches is 200 × 0.25 = 50 cubic feet, or 1.85 cubic yards. At 2,500 pounds per loose yard that is 2.3 tons before any allowance.
How many tons are in a cubic yard of gravel?
The Ohio DOT measures loose 3/4 inch stone (size No. 57) at 2,500 pounds per cubic yard for gravel and 2,400 for limestone. That is 1.2 to 1.25 tons. It measures crusher run or bank-run gravel at 2,700 pounds, 1.35 tons. Once a dense-graded base is compacted in place it weighs 1.8 to 1.86 tons per cubic yard by the Wisconsin DOT's measurements. Quarries weigh every truck, so for a big order their ticket is the figure to use.
How much does a yard of gravel cover?
A cubic yard covers 324 square feet at 1 inch deep, 162 at 2 inches, 108 at 3 inches and 81 at 4 inches. That is because 27 cubic feet spread an inch thick is 324 square feet. A ton of 3/4 inch stone at 2,500 pounds per yard covers about 130 square feet at 2 inches. At 3 inches it covers 86 square feet.
How deep should gravel be for a driveway?
The Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association's 2020 driveway brief puts 4 to 6 inches of compacted aggregate under 3 inches of asphalt, and its 2005 brief 6 to 8 inches. The Penn State gravel road handbook places its wearing course 6 to 8 inches loose, which rolls down to 4 1/2 to 6 inches. No standards body publishes a figure for a plain residential gravel drive. A common residential build is a compacted base of 4 inches or more under a 2 to 3 inch top layer of clean stone, and no published standard sets it. Put the base in as the second layer here and the calculator totals both.
How much extra gravel should I order for compaction?
Dense-graded base expands 36 to 47 percent from compacted to loose in the Wisconsin DOT study. The Penn State handbook places 8 inches loose to get 6 inches compacted, a third more. So a base layer needs about 40 percent more loose material than its finished thickness, which is what the base layer option adds. Clean stone laid loose on a bed or path needs only the few percent for uneven ground.
Should I order gravel by the ton or by the yard?
Quarries weigh trucks, so bulk gravel is sold by the ton; landscape yards that load a bucket often sell by the cubic yard. Either way the list shows both numbers for your gravel type. Bags of 0.5 cubic feet make sense for a path or a drain under about half a yard, which is already 27 bags.
What does gravel cost?
At the plant, before trucking, the US Geological Survey puts the 2025 average value of crushed stone at $18.50 per metric ton. It puts construction sand and gravel at $14.50, about $17 and $13 per US ton. Delivered prices run above that because the haul is charged on top: in a 2025 Pennsylvania municipal bid, delivery added $3.10 to $9.05 a ton to No. 57 stone priced at $14.50 to $15.60. So ask the supplier for the per-ton price and the delivery fee separately, and type both into the options.
10 source documents
- Ohio Department of Transportation, Construction and Material Specifications, Item 410 Traffic Compacted Surface, Table 410.06-1 (loose weights of gravel and limestone by size), 2013 specifications. Read 2 November 2026.
- Ohio Department of Transportation, Construction and Material Specifications, Item 304 Aggregate Base, Table 304.07-1 (compacted in-place weight). Read 2 November 2026.
- Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Weight-Volume Relationships and Conversion Factors for Soils and Aggregates of Wisconsin, WHRP G22-05, Tables E2 and 1.2, December 2023. Read 2 November 2026.
- Penn State Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies, Driving Surface Aggregate Handbook, lift thickness (8 in loose compacted to 6 in), April 2025. Read 2 November 2026.
- Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association, hosted by the Asphalt Institute, Best Practices for the Use of Asphalt Driveways, Technical Brief Vol. 5 No. 2 (6 to 8 in crushed aggregate base), November 2005. Read 2 November 2026.
- Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association, Asphalt Driveways technical brief, March 2020: 3 inches of asphalt over 4 to 6 inches of aggregate, or 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches full depth, by subgrade. Read 2 November 2026.
- Hanover Borough, Pennsylvania, Joint municipal bids for crushed stone opened February 5, 2025: No. 57 stone $14.50 and $15.60 per ton; delivery $3.10 to $9.05 per ton by municipality. Read 2 November 2026.
- Oregon State University Extension, 10-Step Guide to Installing Pavers (4 to 6 in base plus 1 in sand bedding). Read 2 November 2026.
- US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Stone (Crushed), average unit value per metric ton, February 2026. Read 2 November 2026.
- US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Sand and Gravel (Construction), average unit value per metric ton, February 2026. Read 2 November 2026.