A cubic yard of gravel or crushed stone weighs about 2,600 to 3,000 pounds, or 1.3 to 1.5 tons. Clean crushed stone like #57 is around 2,700 to 2,800 lb per yard. Crusher run, which includes stone dust, can reach about 3,000 lb. Wet material weighs more than dry.
Weight by material
| Material | Lb per cubic yard | Tons per yard | Yards per ton | Lb per cubic foot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crushed stone (#57, clean) | 2,700 | 1.35 | 0.74 | 100 |
| Crusher run / road base | 3,000 | 1.5 | 0.67 | 111 |
| Pea gravel | 2,600 | 1.3 | 0.77 | 96 |
| River rock | 2,600 | 1.3 | 0.77 | 96 |
| Sand (dry) | 2,700 | 1.35 | 0.74 | 100 |
| Topsoil | 2,200 | 1.1 | 0.91 | 81 |
Why the same yard can weigh different amounts
- Fines fill the gaps. Clean stone has air between the pieces. Crusher run and road base contain stone dust that fills those voids, so a yard of it weighs more and packs harder.
- Rock type. Limestone, granite and trap rock have different densities.
- Moisture. Sand in particular can hold a lot of water. A yard of wet sand from an uncovered pile can weigh noticeably more than the same sand dry, and you pay for the water if it’s sold by weight.
- Stone size. A yard of large stone like #3 or #4 has bigger voids and may weigh a little less than a yard of #57.
Converting yards to tons, and back
Quarries and landscape yards sell by the ton, by the cubic yard, or both. To convert:
- Tons = cubic yards × lb per yard ÷ 2,000
- Cubic yards = tons × 2,000 ÷ lb per yard
Six cubic yards of crushed stone at 2,700 lb per yard is 6 × 2,700 ÷ 2,000 = 8.1 tons. Going the other way, a 10-ton load is about 7.41 cubic yards.
Worked example: topping a driveway
A gravel driveway 60 ft long and 10 ft wide gets a 4 in top layer of crushed stone.
- Volume: 60 × 10 × 4 ÷ 12 = 200 cu ft.
- Cubic yards: 200 ÷ 27 = 7.41 yd³.
- Tons: 7.41 × 2,700 ÷ 2,000 = 10 tons.
- Order: round up to 7.5 yards, or about 10 tons if the yard sells by weight.
The gravel calculator runs this for any size and depth, with the weight preset for each material and editable for your supplier’s number.
What can your vehicle carry?
Weight is the reason most people get gravel delivered. A cubic yard of stone is roughly the weight of a small car. Many half-ton pickups have a payload rating well under one ton, which means half a yard of stone can be a full load. Check the payload sticker on the driver’s door jamb before you have a yard drop stone in your truck bed, and don’t count on the bed’s volume: a full bed of gravel would far exceed the payload.
Bags
A 0.5 cu ft bag of pea gravel weighs about 48 lb at the weight we use, and it takes 54 such bags to make one cubic yard. Bags make sense for a few square feet of decorative stone; for anything past about a yard, bulk delivery is cheaper and much less work.