How much gravel do you need? Calculate yards, tons & cost in seconds.

Why an Accurate Gravel Calculation Matters

Planning a new driveway, garden path, French drain, or aquarium base? The single fastest way to blow your budget is to guess at the gravel quantity. Order 20% too much and you've paid for material you'll never use — plus disposal. Order 10% too little and your "weekend project" stops dead while you wait for a second delivery, often at a small-load surcharge.

The good news: gravel math is simple once you separate it into three steps — measure the area, choose the depth, account for the material's density. The calculator above handles all three. The rest of this guide explains exactly what's happening behind the scenes so you can trust the number on your screen.

Common Gravel Project Examples

Quick estimates for the projects most homeowners ask about. These use #57 crushed stone (~2,750 lbs/yd³) and include a 10% buffer. For other materials, the calculator above is exact.

Numbers above are rounded for quick budgeting. For exact quantities matched to your dimensions, depth, and material, use the calculator at the top of the page.

How to Use the Gravel Calculator (Step-by-Step)

1. Pick a shape. Most projects are rectangles. For round patios, fire pits, or tree wells, use Circle. For oddly shaped beds, use Multi-area and add one rectangle per section.
2. Enter the dimensions in feet (or meters — toggle the unit switch). For a circle, you only need the diameter; the calculator handles π for you.
3. Set the depth. Use one of the preset chips if you're unsure: 2" for a decorative path, 3" for a garden bed, 4" for a paver base or driveway top course, 6" for a heavy-traffic driveway base.
4. Choose your gravel type. Different materials have different densities — pea gravel weighs less per cubic yard than CA6 road base, even at the same volume. The picker shows you the density range we use.
5. Add a buffer. We default to 10% to cover compaction, spillage, and the inevitable "I measured a bit short." Slide it down if you have a perfectly flat, square area; slide it up if your site is sloped or irregular.
6. (Optional) Estimate cost. Toggle the cost panel, type your local price per ton or per yard, and the calculator gives you a budget figure with the buffer already applied.
7. Read the results. The big numbers — cubic yards and tons — are what your supplier will quote. The smaller row gives you cubic feet, cubic meters, kilograms, and bag estimates if you're buying retail.

How to Measure Your Project Area Accurately

Rectangles and squares

Length × width. Use a long tape measure (50 ft or 100 ft) or a laser distance meter for anything over 30 feet — you'll be more accurate and twice as fast.

Circles

Measure the diameter (the longest distance edge to edge across the center), not the radius. The calculator squares the radius internally. If your circle isn't perfect, take three diameters at different angles and average them.

Triangles

Measure the longest side as the base, then the perpendicular height from that base to the opposite point. Don't measure the slanted side as the height — that's a common error that inflates your estimate by 5–15%.

Irregular shapes

Break the area into the simplest possible shapes. A kidney-shaped bed becomes two rectangles and a half-circle. Use the Multi-area mode in the calculator and add each piece as a row. The calculator sums them and applies your depth and material once.

Slopes and uneven ground

If the ground falls more than a couple of inches across the project, your gravel depth isn't constant — it's deeper at the low end. Take depth measurements at 4–6 spots across the area and use the average. For a driveway, you usually want a slight 1–2% cross slope for drainage; that doesn't change your quantity meaningfully, but make sure your depth is measured to the finished surface, not the rough sub-base.

Choosing the Right Depth

Depth is the input that wastes the most money when guessed. Here's a practical reference:

• Decorative beds & ground cover: 2–3 inches. Anything deeper is wasted material — weed barrier under the gravel does more work than thickness.
• Walking paths: 2–3 inches over a compacted sub-base.
• Patios & under pavers: 4 inches of compacted dense-grade base (CA6, 21AA, Class 5) plus 1 inch of bedding sand.
• Light vehicle driveway: 4 inches of base + 2 inches of top course = 6 inches total.
• Heavy / RV / truck driveway: 6 inches of base + 2–3 inches of top = 8–9 inches.
• French drains: wrap the perforated pipe with 12 inches of #57 stone, or follow your local code.
• Around a pool or as drainage: 4–6 inches of #57 or river rock, on top of fabric.
• Aquariums: 1–2 inches of substrate is plenty for most freshwater tanks; planted tanks may want 2–3 inches.

Gravel Types and How Density Changes Your Order

A cubic yard of pea gravel weighs about 2,450 lbs. A cubic yard of #57 crushed stone weighs about 2,750 lbs. Same volume, 12% more weight — and your supplier sells by the ton, so picking the wrong density in your calculator is a real-money error.

Use this table when you need a quick look-up. (The calculator's material picker uses the same values.)

Comparison Table

Converting Between Cubic Yards, Tons, Cubic Meters, and Bags

The calculator does this for you, but you'll want to sanity-check at the supplier's office. For a deeper walkthrough with per-material conversion tables, see our cubic yards to tons guide.

The four constants that govern almost every conversion:

• 27 cubic feet = 1 cubic yard
• 2,000 lb = 1 short ton (US)
• 1,000 kg = 1 metric tonne
• 35.31 cubic feet ≈ 1 cubic meter

Cubic yards to tons: multiply yards by the material's lb-per-yard, then divide by 2,000. For #57 stone: 5 yd³ × 2,750 lb/yd³ = 13,750 lb ÷ 2,000 = 6.88 tons.

Square feet to cubic yards: ft² × depth-in-inches ÷ 324 = cubic yards. (324 = 27 × 12.) A 200 sq ft patio at 4 inches deep: 200 × 4 ÷ 324 = 2.47 yd³.

Bags from cubic feet: 0.5 cuft bags are the standard retail size, so divide total cuft by 0.5 and round up. A 50 sq ft path 2 inches deep is 8.33 cuft, which is 17 half-cubic-foot bags.

Compaction, Waste, and the 10% Buffer

Two reasons your finished depth will be less than the depth you ordered for:

1. Compaction. Gravel settles under its own weight, foot traffic, and vehicle traffic. Loose dump from the truck is roughly 15–20% taller than the same gravel after a plate-compactor pass. Dense-grade bases (CA6, 21AA, ABC) compact more than open-grade stones (#57, river rock).
2. Spillage and irregular edges. A 30% slope on the dump pile, gravel rolling into mulch beds you didn't intend, ends of trenches that need filling beyond the planned line — all of it adds up to 3–8% even on a careful job.

Use a 10% buffer for most projects, 15% if your site is sloped or oddly shaped, 5% if it's a perfectly flat square slab. The calculator's buffer slider applies to both volume and weight, so the cost figure already includes it.

Estimating Cost — From Quantity to Budget

For an interactive cost panel, use the gravel cost calculator. For real 2026 pricing on a full driveway project, see our gravel driveway cost guide.

Two pricing models to know:

• Per ton is how most US quarries quote bulk gravel. National range is roughly $15–$75 per ton delivered, with crushed stone and pea gravel at the higher end and recycled concrete or pit run at the lower end. Always confirm whether the price is picked up (you bring a truck) or delivered (truck included).
• Per cubic yard is more common at landscape supply yards and in the UK (per tonne or per m³). National range is roughly $40–$100 per yard delivered.

Things suppliers don't always bake into the headline price:

• Delivery fee ($80–$200 typical, distance-based)
• Minimum tonnage (often 1 ton or 1 yard; smaller orders incur a surcharge)
• Spreading — if you want them to spread it from the truck, add labor
• Geotextile fabric — $0.20–$0.40 per square foot, almost always worth it under a driveway or path
• Edging — bender board, steel edging, or paver border to keep loose gravel where it belongs

Use the calculator's cost panel to plug in your local quote. The buffer applies, so you're budgeting for what you'll actually order, not the theoretical minimum.

Common Gravel Project Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

• Skipping the sub-base. Dumping gravel on bare soil is the #1 reason a path fails in two seasons. Compact the dirt, lay geotextile, then gravel.
• Wrong stone size for the job. River rock looks great in a dry creek but rolls under tires — never use it for a driveway top course.
• Forgetting drainage. A flat patio with no slope traps water under the pavers and heaves them. Build in 1–2% fall away from any structure.
• Ordering by area without depth. "I need 200 sq ft of gravel" is a meaningless order — your supplier needs cubic yards or tons.
• Not checking truck access. A 10-yard dump truck needs about 12 ft of width and 14 ft of overhead clearance. Walk the access path before ordering.
• Mixing gravel types in one delivery. Some yards charge a split-load fee; others won't do it at all.

Ready to Order — Next Steps

You have a number you trust. Before you call the yard:

1. Confirm the unit. Tons or cubic yards? Match what your supplier quotes in.
2. Confirm the spec. "#57 limestone, washed" is a more useful order than "gravel."
3. Walk the access path. Where will the truck dump? Is there 12 ft of clearance?
4. Lay fabric first. Geotextile under any path, patio, or driveway pays for itself.
5. Have a plan B for excess. Excess #57 is great as drainage around a downspout; excess pea gravel is great in a fire pit area. Don't over-order, but if you do, know where it's going.

When you're ready, pop your numbers back into the calculator above, copy the result, and email it to your supplier. Good luck with the project.