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Gravel Calculator
Gravel gets sold by the ton at a quarry and by the cubic yard at a landscape yard, and those are two different numbers. Tell us the area and the depth and you'll get both, for whichever aggregate you're spreading.
- Tons and cubic yards
- Coverage per ton
- Bulk against bagged
Project measurements
What are you covering? Pick the closest shape
A driveway, a path, a bed, a parking pad. Length times width at the depth you want.
Measurements Tape measure or decimals
What are you spreading? This sets the weight
Allowance For spreading loss and settling
How this number is built
Gravel weighs different amounts loose and packed down, so a supplier's per-yard figure and a volume calculation can disagree and both be right.
The same stone weighs different amounts loose and compacted
PennDOT's own conversion table puts trap rock at 2,590 lb/yd³ loose and 3,300 lb/yd³ compacted, the same mass taking up about 27% less room once it is packed down. Rounded stone barely compacts at all; angular crushed stone and decomposed granite compact a lot. So the delivered loose cubic yards are always more than the finished volume, and this page's tonnage is based on the loose figure.
Order a base course by the ton, not the yard
A landscape yard sells by the loose cubic yard, which is a measure of how much space the stone takes up on the truck rather than how much ends up in the hole. For a base course (the structural layer under a driveway or a paver patio), order by weight and let the supplier convert. They know their own stone's density; this page is estimating it.
Depth matters most
Practice varies: a walkway takes 2–3 in, a residential driveway 4–6 in of compacted material and 6–8 in where trucks use it, drainage under a walk or slab 2–4 in, and a paver base of open-graded #57 is capped at about 4 in. Compact it in layers no thicker than 4 inches. One thick layer will not pack all the way down.
A bag of gravel covers very little
A 60 lb bag holds about 0.6 ft³: 45 bags to a cubic yard, so around five times the bulk price for the same volume. Sakrete's own data sheet puts one bag at roughly five 4×4 post holes with a 2–3 in drainage base, and the volume math agrees. Bagged makes sense up to about a cubic yard and stops making sense quickly after that.
Delivery costs more than the stone
USGS puts crushed stone at about $16.78 a short ton sold at the quarry gate, and delivered retail runs two to three times that once haulage is included, with a delivery charge of $50–150 a load and minimums commonly 5 to 15 tons. The producer price is a national average, so the delivered figure is the one to plan from.
How far one ton goes
| Density | 1 in | 2 in | 3 in | 4 in | 6 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.30 t/yd³ · river rock | 249 sq ft | 125 | 83 | 62 | 42 |
| 1.35 t/yd³ · pea gravel | 240 sq ft | 120 | 80 | 60 | 40 |
| 1.40 t/yd³ · #57 stone | 231 sq ft | 116 | 77 | 58 | 39 |
| 1.50 t/yd³ · crusher run | 216 sq ft | 108 | 72 | 54 | 36 |
Coverage is 27 × 12 ÷ (density × depth in inches), computed here, so it is exact for any density and depth you enter. The lighter the stone and the shallower the spread, the further a ton goes, so river rock covers more ground per ton than crusher run. Every figure on this page is an estimate: aggregate weight varies by source rock and gradation, which is why state DOTs publish ranges and advise testing. Your supplier's own weight per yard governs.
Measuring the area first? The square footage calculator works out the area of any shape and carries it straight over here.
Where these numbers come from
- PennDOT Publication 113 Table 2.4 (trap rock 96 lb/ft³ loose and 122 compacted; sand 97 and 105), LA County DPW citing CalRecycle (2,632.5 lb/yd³ generic stone or gravel) and ADOT Construction Manual §1316 (100 lb/ft³): the government anchors for the range.
- The per-material figures for pea gravel, river rock, decomposed granite, and #57 come from supplier and calculator sources, not government publications, and are recorded as ranges and defaults rather than facts. This is the value most likely to differ from a customer's actual supplier.
- Sakrete All-Purpose Gravel data sheet: 0.6 ft³ per 60 lb bag, a 10-inch hole for a 4×4 post, and roughly five post holes per bag at a 2 to 3 inch drainage base.
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: crushed stone $18.50 per metric ton and construction sand and gravel $14.50 (2025 estimates, sold or used by producers) = $16.78 and $13.15 per short ton.
- BLS PPI series WPU1321 (construction sand, gravel, and crushed stone): annual average 492.47 in 2024 to 555.51 for 2026 January to August, a rise of 12.8%. Aggregates are inflating faster than ready-mix concrete, which is +8.4% on WPU1333 over the same span.
- PennDOT and supplier guidance for driveways (4–6 in compacted, 6–8 in heavy use, compacted in layers of 4 in or less) and Sakrete's TDS for drainage depths under walks and slabs (2–4 in). The paver-base cap of about 4 inches on open-graded #57 is from paver installation guidelines.
- 2026 gravel cost guides for delivered retail ranges, haulage charges, and minimum loads. Secondary sources only; used as a cross-check on the USGS producer price rather than as a precise national figure.
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Every material, same layout, its own crew.
