Cubic Yard Calculator

How do you calculate cubic yards?

Multiply length × width × depth in feet to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. That works for concrete, soil, mulch, sand, gravel and any other material sold by the yard.

Cubic yards = length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft) ÷ 27

Depth is usually measured in inches. Either divide inches by 12 first (3 in = 0.25 ft), or use the shortcut that does both steps at once:

Cubic yards = length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (in) ÷ 324

Why is a cubic yard 27 cubic feet?

A yard is 3 feet, and a cubic yard is a cube 3 ft on every side: 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 ft³. People often mix it up with a square yard, which is only 3 × 3 = 9 ft² of area with no depth. In metric, one cubic yard is 0.7646 m³, and one cubic meter is 1.308 yd³.

To convert a volume you already have, use the cubic feet to cubic yards converter.

Cubic yards for common sizes

These are worked out with the same formula the calculator uses. Use them as a quick check of your own numbers.

How much area does a cubic yard cover?

One cubic yard spread 1 in deep covers 324 ft². Divide 324 by your depth in inches to get the coverage at any depth.

In metric, 1 m³ covers 10 m² at 10 cm deep, 13.3 m² at 7.5 cm and 20 m² at 5 cm.

How much does a cubic yard weigh?

A cubic yard has a fixed volume, but its weight depends on the material. The figures below are the typical densities this site’s calculators assume. Only two come from a published source: sand (about 100 lb/ft³, from the QUIKRETE Mason Sand data sheet) and placed normal-weight concrete (150 lb/ft³, from WSDOT). The rest are rough loose planning values. Moisture and compaction change them, so use your supplier’s number when they give one.

Bulk materials are often sold by the ton, so the tons to cubic yards converter changes one into the other.

How many bags are in a cubic yard?

Divide 27 by the bag size in cubic feet. Mulch and soil come in 1.5, 2 and 3 ft³ bags, which work out to 18, 13.5 and 9 bags per yard. Concrete is sold by weight. Quikrete and Sakrete both list about 0.60 ft³ per 80 lb bag and 0.45 ft³ per 60 lb bag, so 45 bags of 80 lb or 60 bags of 60 lb make one cubic yard (27 ft³), before any waste allowance. Check the yield printed on your bag.

How to calculate cubic yards from feet and inches

Convert every measurement to decimal feet before multiplying. Divide the inches by 12 and add them to the feet: 6 in is 0.5 ft, 3 in is 0.25 ft and 9 in is 0.75 ft.

Rounding 12 ft 6 in down to 12 ft and 9 ft 3 in down to 9 ft would give 1.33 yd³, about 7% short. Keep the inches until the last step.

Calculating cubic yards from inches only

If every dimension is in inches, multiply them and divide by 46,656, the number of cubic inches in a cubic yard (36 × 36 × 36). A planter 36 × 18 × 24 in holds 15,552 in³, which is one third of a cubic yard, or 9 ft³. For anything bigger than a box, feet are easier to work with.

Cubic yards for circles, triangles and rings

The cubic yard formula needs an area, then a depth. Only the area step changes with the shape.

• Circle: 3.1416 × radius². An 8 ft round bed 3 in deep is 12.57 ft³, or 0.47 yd³.
• Triangle: ½ × base × height. A corner bed with a 12 ft base and 10 ft height is 60 ft². At 3 in deep it holds 15 ft³, or 0.56 yd³.
• Ring around a tree: outer circle minus inner circle. A mulch ring 10 ft in diameter around a bare circle 8 ft in diameter (a 1 ft wide band), 3 in deep, is 3.1416 × (5² − 4²) × 0.25 = 7.07 ft³, or 0.26 yd³.

For L-shaped or irregular areas, split them into rectangles and the shapes above, work out each in cubic feet, add them and divide once by 27.

Cubic yards on sloped ground

When the depth changes across the area, use the average depth, not the deepest point. Measure at even spacing, add the readings and divide by how many you took.

A 30 × 10 ft area that needs 2 in of fill at one end and 6 in at the other averages 4 in. That is 3.70 yd³. Using the 6 in maximum everywhere would give 5.56 yd³, so you would order nearly 2 yd³ too much. For a slope that is not even, take more readings across the low spots, and use a string line pulled tight between stakes as the finished level to measure down from.

Cubic yards of dirt for digging and backfill

Measure the hole, not the pile. A hole 20 × 10 ft and 3 ft deep is 600 ft³, or 22.22 yd³ of soil in place. Two things change that number on site:

• Excavated soil expands. Dug soil loosens and takes up more room in a truck or a pile than it did in the ground. How much depends on the soil type and moisture, so ask the hauler how they measure a load before you book trucks.
• Fill compacts. Soil you bring in and tamp settles below its loose volume. Order extra and fill in lifts, compacting each one.

Weight adds up fast at this scale. Those 22.22 yd³ of soil, at a typical loose 1.1 tons per yard, are about 24.4 tons before any expansion. That is several truckloads, so ask the hauler what one of their loads holds and divide the job into trips before you set a schedule.

A trench 50 ft long, 18 in wide and 24 in deep is 50 × 1.5 × 2 = 150 ft³, or 5.56 yd³ (4.25 m³). Use that figure for backfill gravel or for the soil a trencher will throw out. For concrete in a trench, the concrete footing calculator adds waste and ready-mix rounding.

How many bags make a cubic yard?

Divide 27 by the bag size in cubic feet, then round up to a whole bag.

Bagged soil, mulch and sand are labelled by volume, but some bags are labelled by weight only. For those, ask the store for the cubic feet per bag or convert the weight with the tons to cubic yards converter. Concrete is different again: bag counts per yard depend on the mix yield, covered on bags of concrete per yard.

Raised beds: several beds at once

Three raised beds, each 4 × 8 ft and filled 18 in deep, hold 48 ft³ each, or 144 ft³ in total. That is 5.33 yd³. If your supplier sells in ½ yard steps, 5½ yd³ covers it (ask what increments they deliver), against 72 bags of 2 ft³. The raised bed soil calculator splits the fill into soil and compost.

Cubic yard estimator for several areas

Landscaping orders usually cover more than one bed. Work out each area in square feet, add them, apply one depth, then convert. Adding the cubic yards of each bed gives the same total, but summing square feet first means fewer rounding steps.

If the beds need different depths, convert each one separately and add the cubic yards at the end.

Rounding cubic yards to what the supplier sells

Calculate the exact volume first, add the allowance, then round up once to your supplier’s order step. Suppliers set their own minimum order and step, such as ½ or ¼ cubic yard, and some sell by the ton instead, so ask yours before you order.

• 1.43 yd³ of base gravel with 10% is 1.57 yd³. If your supplier sells in ½ yard steps that is 2 yd³; in ¼ yard steps, 1¾ yd³.
• 5.56 yd³ of trench backfill with 10% is 6.11 yd³, which is 6½ yd³ if your supplier sells in ½ yard steps.
• Sold by the ton: multiply cubic yards by the supplier’s tons per yard. 1.57 yd³ of gravel at an assumed 1.4 t/yd³ (a planning value; use your supplier’s figure) is about 2.2 tons.

Rounding each bed or trench up separately before adding them inflates the order, so round the total only.

How big is a cubic yard?

A cubic yard is a cube 3 ft long, 3 ft wide and 3 ft tall. It holds 27 one-foot cubes, or 46,656 cubic inches, or 0.7646 m³. Spread out, it is far bigger than the cube suggests: at 3 in deep one yard covers 108 ft², an area about 10 × 11 ft, and at 1 in deep it covers 324 ft², about 18 × 18 ft.

Use that picture to sanity-check a delivery. If you ordered 2 yd³ of mulch for 200 ft² and the pile looks small, measure it: a heap roughly 6 × 6 ft at the base and 3 ft high is not a box, so a quick L × W × H overstates it. Spread a test strip at the planned depth and measure how far it goes instead.

Cubic yards to cubic meters

Multiply cubic yards by 0.7646 to get cubic meters, or divide cubic meters by 0.7646 (multiply by 1.308) to get cubic yards.

In metric, the formula is simpler: length × width × depth in metres gives m³ directly, with no 27 or 324. A 4 × 3 m bed 7.5 cm deep is 4 × 3 × 0.075 = 0.9 m³.

Common mistakes when calculating cubic yards

Nearly every wrong order traces back to units. Run through these before you ring the supplier.

• Leaving the depth in inches. 10 × 10 × 3 ÷ 27 gives 11.1 yd³, twelve times the real 0.93 yd³. Divide inches by 12 first, or use the ÷ 324 shortcut.
• Dividing by 9. Nine converts square feet to square yards. 100 ft³ ÷ 9 = 11.1, but 100 ft³ is only 3.70 yd³.
• Measuring the edging, not the layer. A bed with 6 in edging may need only 3 in of new mulch. At 200 ft² that is 1.85 yd³ instead of 3.70 yd³.
• Using one depth on sloped ground. Measure the depth in four or five spots and use the average. Split L-shaped areas into rectangles and add the yards.
• Forgetting settling. Soil and mulch compact after spreading and gravel compacts under a plate tamper, so many people order 5–10% extra and round up to the supplier’s ½ or ¼ yard step.
• Treating weight as volume. A ton of gravel is about 0.71 yd³ at 1.4 t/yd³, not one yard. Convert with the supplier’s density.

Cubic yard calculator vs related calculators: which one to use

• This calculator for any box-shaped volume when you have length, width and depth.
• Square feet to cubic yards when you already know the area, such as from a plan or a lawn measurement.
• Cubic feet to cubic yards when you already have a volume in cubic feet, for example from bag labels.
• Tons to cubic yards when the quote is by weight.
• Concrete yards calculator for concrete, because it adds the waste allowance, the ¼ yard ready-mix rounding and bag counts.