Calculator + chartEnter your measurements below and it works the answer out.
A cubic yard of gravel covers 108 sq ft at 3 in deep. Enter your area and depth for the volume, the weight range, with 10% waste added.
| Depth | Square feet covered | Square feet per cubic foot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 324 sq ft | 12 sq ft |
| 2 in | 162 sq ft | 6 sq ft |
| 3 in | 108 sq ft | 4 sq ft |
| 4 in | 81 sq ft | 3 sq ft |
| 5 in | 64.8 sq ft | 2.4 sq ft |
| 6 in | 54 sq ft | 2 sq ft |
| 8 in | 40.5 sq ft | 1.5 sq ft |
| 12 in | 27 sq ft | 1 sq ft |
Every figure here is 324 ÷ depth in inches, because a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet and one square foot at D inches deep is D/12 of a cubic foot. Nothing on this site uses a coverage number that does not come out of that line.
The rule. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Spread D inches deep it covers 324 ÷ D square feet — so a cubic yard of gravel 2 in deep covers 162 sq ft, 3 in deep covers 108 sq ft, 4 in deep covers 81 sq ft. Multiply your area by the depth in feet, divide by 27, and that is your order in cubic yards. Everything else on this page is that line with the units changed.
Depth is the decision, not the area. Two inches is a topping layer over existing stone. Three inches is a walking path. Four inches or more is a driveway, and a driveway usually wants two layers: a coarse base and a finer top.
How it is sold. Gravel is sold by the cubic yard or by the ton depending on the yard. Both are given below, but order by volume where you can — the weight of the same yard changes with rain.
Weight is a range, and deliberately so. Gravel runs about 1.2 to 1.7 tons per cubic yard. That is a real spread, not sloppiness: bulk material weighs more wet than dry, and more when it is fine than when it is coarse. Order by volume, and use the tonnage only to check that a delivery ticket is in the right country.
Waste. This calculator adds 10%. Ground is never as flat as a tape says it is, edges are never square, and running out halfway through means a second delivery charge for a fraction of a load. 10% is the allowance that stops that without leaving a pile you have to get rid of.
Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in feet, then divide by 27 for cubic yards. A 10 by 12 ft area at 3 in is 1.11 cubic yards before waste. The calculator above does it and adds the 10% allowance.
At 2 in it covers 162 sq ft. At 3 in it covers 108 sq ft. At 4 in it covers 81 sq ft. The figure is always 324 divided by the depth in inches.
About 1.2 to 1.7 tons per cubic yard. The range is real — moisture and grading move it — so treat the middle of it as an estimate and never as a delivery spec.
Between about 1.2 and 1.7 tons, depending on the stone size and how wet it is. Dense graded base sits at the top of that range; washed drainage stone at the bottom. Anyone quoting one exact figure for all gravel is rounding away a 40% spread.
Four inches of compacted stone over a prepared base, and six to eight inches in total if you are building the driveway from scratch in two layers. Under four inches the stone migrates and you will be raking it back every spring.
By the yard wherever the supplier allows it. Volume is what your project consumes; weight is what the truck carries, and the same yard weighs differently in July and in November. Where a yard only sells by weight, use the range above to convert and round up.