This is not a conversion
A cubic yard is a volume and a ton is a weight, and nothing converts one
into the other without a density. So "how many tons is a cubic yard" has
no answer, and every page that gives you a single number has quietly
chosen a material and a density and not said which.
tons = yd³ × lb per yd³ ÷ 2,000
yd³ = tons × 2,000 ÷ lb per yd³
5 cubic yards
screened topsoil 4.75 – 5.75 tons
crushed stone 6.5 – 7.25 tons
traprock, in place 10.25 – 13.25 tons
Same volume. Nearly three times the weight.
The ends swap when you go the other way
Converting yards to tons, the heavy density gives the heavy answer.
Converting tons to yards it gives the small one: five tons of
crushed stone is 3.45 to 3.85 cubic yards,
because a heavier material means fewer yards for the same weight. That is
the direction people get wrong when they check a delivery that was
quoted by the ton and spread by the yard.
Published density and what a cubic yard weighs
Every row is published and cited. A dash in the last column means the source publishes a band with no typical value — so no single answer exists, and this page will not invent one.
Bank and loose are different rows
Half the table is excavated material, and it appears twice: once as it
sits in the ground and once after it has been dug. Digging opens voids,
so a yard of loose material weighs less than a yard of the same material
in place — dry clay is 2,360 to 2,780 pounds a bank yard and 1,700 to
2,000 loose. If your figure came off an excavation, establish which
measure it is before you convert it.
Your supplier's figure beats all of this
These are published bands from state DOT and public-domain sources, and
they are the best available answer for a material in general. They are
not an answer for the specific pile in your supplier's yard, which has
its own grading, its own moisture and its own weight. The density field
on this page overrides the list for exactly that reason: a number the
yard stands behind is worth more than any band.
Moisture is the biggest uncontrolled variable
None of these figures account for the weather. Wet sand is materially
heavier than dry sand, and a pile rained on all week weighs more than the
same pile under cover. If you are working to a trailer rating or an axle
limit, work to the top of the band and treat it as a floor rather than a
target — over-stating a weight costs a bigger truck, under-stating it is
how axles fail.
Where the volume comes from
Most people arrive here with a volume from somewhere else. The
excavation calculator
gives it in both bank and loose measure and explains the difference,
pea gravel and
river rock work an area
and a depth into cubic yards, and the
concrete weight calculator
does the same job for concrete, which is published as a band for exactly
the same reason. For a shape rather than a material, the
pool volume calculator
handles the geometry.
Common questions
How many tons is a cubic yard?
There is no answer to that question without a material, and anyone who gives you one has picked a density and not told you. Five cubic yards of screened topsoil is 4.75 to 5.75 US tons. The same five yards of traprock in the ground is 10.25 to 13.25. That is nearly three to one, from the same volume, and it is why the material selector on this page is the calculator rather than a decoration.
How many tons is a yard of gravel?
Crushed stone is published at 2,600 to 2,900 pounds a cubic yard, so a single yard is 1.3 to 1.45 US tons, and five yards is 6.5 to 7.25. There is a published typical of 2,700 for that one, so 6.75 tons is the middle answer — but the band is real and your supplier's own figure beats all of it.
How do I convert tons back to cubic yards?
Divide rather than multiply, and remember the ends swap over. Five tons of crushed stone is 3.45 to 3.85 cubic yards — the heavy end of the density gives you the smaller volume, not the bigger one. That is the direction most people get wrong when they check a delivery: a heavier material means fewer yards for the same weight, which is exactly what you do not want when the material was quoted by the ton and spread by the yard.
Why is the answer a range?
Because most of these materials are published as ranges. A supplier's gravel is not a laboratory sample: grading, moisture and how it was loaded all move the weight per yard, and the sources that publish figures publish bands to say so. Where a source gives a typical value this page uses it and says which one; where it does not — pea gravel, bedding sand, topsoil — no single answer exists and inventing a midpoint would be putting a number on the page that nobody printed.
What is the difference between bank and loose in this table?
Bank is material sitting undisturbed in the ground; loose is the same material after it has been dug and piled. Digging opens voids, so a cubic yard of loose material weighs less than a cubic yard of the same material in the ground — dry clay is 2,360 to 2,780 pounds a bank yard against 1,700 to 2,000 loose. If your figure came off an excavation, check which measure it is before converting it.
Should I order by the yard or by the ton?
Whichever your supplier quotes in, and then convert to check it against what you measured. Bulk landscaping materials are sold both ways in the same market, which is precisely why this conversion gets searched so often. The one thing to avoid is comparing two quotes in different units without converting — a price per ton and a price per yard are not comparable, and the gap between them is the density you have not established yet.
Does moisture change the weight?
More than grading does, and none of these figures account for the weather on the day. Wet sand is meaningfully heavier than the same sand dry, and a pile that has been rained on for a week weighs more than the same pile under cover. If you are working to a trailer rating or an axle limit, work to the heavy end of the band and treat the result as a minimum rather than a target.
Where do these densities come from?
Two places, both cited at the foot of the page. The landscaping materials carry the figures already used by every bulk calculator on this site, from state DOT and supplier publications. The excavated materials come from US Army FM 5-434 Table 1-2, which is public domain, names eleven materials and publishes both their bank and loose weights. Nothing on this page is a density anybody here made up.
Sources
- Crushed stone / gravel density
- 2600–2900 lb/yd3
- Washington State DOT Design Manual M 22-01.23, Exhibit 620-1, Unit Dry Weight — Gravel Base and Surfacing: crushed surfacing top course 2,850 lb/cy and base course 2,950 lb/cy at truck measure, gravel base 3,400 to 3,800 lb/cy. Weights are dry and require correction for water content
- SOURCE REQUIRED — your supplier's own published density. These are dry road-specification weights; a landscaping product of the same name will differ, and moisture moves the figure more than grading does
Awaiting verification against the published data sheet
- University of Georgia Urban Water Management, Green Stormwater Infrastructure demonstration site — french drain slope and grading: a minimum slope of 1 percent, approximately 1/8 inch per foot, is recommended
Density varies by stone type and moisture content and must be surfaced to the user as a range. Compaction factor applies to loose volume for base course. No waste factor was supplied for this material. The stored band is anchored on WSDOT's Exhibit 620-1, the best published figures available: crushed surfacing runs 2,850 to 2,950 lb per cubic yard dry at truck measure. Two caveats travel with them and are surfaced to the user rather than buried. They are DRY weights — WSDOT says plainly that corrections are required for water content, and wet stone off an open stockpile weighs materially more. And they are road specification gradings; a landscaping supplier selling under the same name is not selling the same material. A supplier figure always beats these, which is why the calculator takes one.
- Pea gravel density
- 2700–2850 lb/yd3
No typical value was supplied for pea gravel, so none is stored. Using a computed midpoint would be an invented constant.
- Bedding sand density
- 2600–2900 lb/yd3
No typical value was supplied, so none is stored.
- Screened topsoil density
- 1900–2300 lb/yd3
Highly moisture-dependent. The range must always be surfaced to the user. No typical value was supplied. Settling is real and is not a published number. The implementation plan gives +15% and this page once carried a warning saying 'roughly a tenth'; neither is sourced, and the extension services that discuss it describe it qualitatively and recommend annual topdressing rather than over-filling at the start. So no settling allowance is applied by default. The calculators offer it as an allowance you enter yourself, in the same way waste is entered, and say plainly that no figure is published. Bag volumes are what the bag says and nothing is derived from them here: how many bags make a cubic yard is 27 divided by the bag, computed where it is needed rather than stored beside its own inputs. Bagged soil is dear per yard and the calculator shows both, because a 4 x 8 ft bed is a bag job and three of them is a delivery.
Two published tables from one public-domain source, kept separate because the manual keeps them separate. Table 1-2 carries swell, load factor and weight for eleven named materials and is what the calculator works from. Table 1-1 carries the full six-way conversion between bank, loose and compacted for five broader material classes, and is published on the page as a reference rather than read by the calculator. Merging them would mean picking a Table 1-2 row to stand for a Table 1-1 class, which is a choice nobody published. Swell is stored as the band the manual prints, not as a midpoint: dry earth is 15 to 35 percent, and the difference between those ends is two extra truck loads in twenty.
Unit conversions are exact by definition and need no source.
How we choose and cite these figures
