Gravel Calculator
Not sure which gravel you need or how much to buy? This calculator covers the common landscaping gravels — clean #57 stone, rounded pea gravel, and compactable crusher run — and turns your area and depth into cubic yards, tons, and bags. It builds in compaction so dense bases don't come up short, and tells you whether bagged or bulk delivery makes more sense for your project size.
Total weight ≈ 1,629.63 lb (0.81 tons). Bulk material is heavy — check your vehicle's payload/GVWR; over ~1 ton, delivery is usually safer than hauling it yourself.
Bag or bulk?
You need only about 0.68 cubic yards (0.81 tons). Under ~2 cubic yards, bagged is usually the better call — you can carry the bags yourself and skip arranging a bulk drop, with no leftover pile to deal with.
- 33 × 50 lb bag
Quantities are planning estimates — confirm with your supplier.
How it works
We start from the area you enter and your depth to get the geometric volume (area × depth). Lengths are converted to feet first, so you can mix feet, inches, yards, or metric.
Two adjustments follow. Compaction matters for dense, angular gravels you tamp down — crusher run and road base settle roughly 20–25%, so we order the loose volume needed to reach full depth after compaction (order = geometric ÷ (1 − settlement)). Clean rounded gravels like pea gravel and #57 stone don't compact, so we leave them at zero. Waste (default 10%) covers spillage and uneven ground.
What's included: cubic yards, tons (loose density), and bag counts, rounded up so you don't come up short. What's not: we don't estimate delivery trips — bulk material is heavy, so we show total weight and let you match it to your vehicle's payload.
Worked example
20 ft × 30 ft driveway, 3 in of #57, 10% waste
Topping a 20 ft × 30 ft driveway with 3 inches of clean #57 gravel — a drainage stone, so no compaction — at the default 10% waste. Enter those numbers and the calculator works it through:
That is comfortably past the ~2 cubic-yard mark where bagging stops making sense, so order it loose and have it delivered rather than hauling dozens of bags.
- Area
- 600 sq ft
- Volume (in place)
- 5.56 cu yd
- Order (compaction + waste)
- 6.11 cu yd
- Weight
- 7.33 tons
- 50 lb bag
- 294
Coverage at a glance
| Depth | 1 ton covers | 1 cu yd covers |
|---|---|---|
| 2" | 135 sq ft | 162 sq ft |
| 3" | 90 sq ft | 108 sq ft |
| 4" | 68 sq ft | 81 sq ft |
| 6" | 45 sq ft | 54 sq ft |
FAQ
How much gravel do I need for my project?
Enter your shape, dimensions, and depth above and the calculator returns cubic yards, tons, and bags instantly. As a rule of thumb, one cubic yard covers about 108 sq ft at 3 inches deep. Add compaction if you are building a base that gets tamped.
Which type of gravel should I choose?
For a compacted driveway or base, use crusher run — it locks together and settles. For drainage or a clean decorative look, use #57 crushed stone. For paths and play areas, rounded pea gravel is comfortable underfoot. Each type has its own calculator page with the right density and compaction.
Should I add for compaction?
Only for dense, angular gravel you tamp down. Crusher run and road base settle about 20–25%, so order the loose volume needed to reach full depth. Rounded gravels like pea gravel and #57 do not compact — leave settlement at zero.
Is it better to buy gravel in bags or in bulk?
Under about 2 cubic yards, bags are usually easier — no delivery minimum and no leftover pile. Above that, loose bulk delivered in one drop is the practical choice. The calculator makes the call for you based on project size.
How many tons are in a cubic yard of gravel?
Most landscaping gravels run about 1.2–1.5 tons per cubic yard loose (roughly 2,400–3,000 lb/yd³). #57 stone is near the low end; dense crusher run is near the high end. The calculator uses each type’s specific density.