To convert tons to cubic yards, divide the tons by what one cubic yard of that material weighs: cubic yards = tons ÷ tons per cubic yard. Going the other way, tons = cubic yards × tons per cubic yard. Published factors for stone, sand, and gravel run from about 1.1 to 1.75 tons per cubic yard depending on the material and the source, so one ton of gravel works out to roughly two-thirds of a yard, and the exact number for your material comes from the scale at your yard or your quarry.
There is no single magic number, because sand, crushed stone, river rock, and base all pack a different amount of weight into the same 27 cubic feet, and even the same product shifts with moisture and gradation. The published factors below get you close enough to quote. If the question is how much stone to order for a driveway or a pad, our gravel calculator runs the area math from square feet to yards to tons.
Published tons per cubic yard, by source
Aggregate producers, stone yards, and state transportation departments all publish conversion factors, and they do not agree with each other, which is the most useful thing to know before you pick one. Here are the numbers as published, all approximate, in US short tons of 2,000 pounds:
| Material | Source | Tons per cubic yard |
|---|---|---|
| Sands | Kokosing (The Olen Corporation and Area Aggregates) | 1.5 |
| Coarse gravel or limestone (#2, #4, #57, #67, #8, #9) | Kokosing | 1.65 |
| Base materials (304, 411, screenings) | Kokosing | 1.75 |
| One general factor for all materials | Patuxent Companies (Maryland) | 1.5 |
| Sand | Stone Center (Ohio) | 1.10 to 1.25 |
| Landscape gravels | Stone Center | 1.25 to 1.35 |
| Washed gravel | Stone Center | 1.4 to 1.6 |
| Pea gravel | Stone Center | 1.4 to 1.6 |
| River rock | Stone Center | 1.4 to 1.75 |
| Lava rock | Stone Center | 1.2 to 1.4 |
| Crushed stone | Stone Center | 1.35 to 1.7 |
| Chip seal aggregate | Nebraska DOT | 1.4 |
| Armor coat aggregate | Nebraska DOT | 1.3 |
| Stockpiled crushed concrete | Nebraska DOT | 1.35 |
| Soil, compacted in place | Nebraska DOT | 1.485 (110 lb per cubic foot) |
A few notes on those sources. Kokosing's tonnage calculator gives its three factors without mentioning moisture or waste. Patuxent labels its calculator "for estimation purposes only" and tells customers to add 10% to the total for waste during placement. Stone Center publishes its figures in pounds per cubic yard and says they "can vary depending on factors such as moisture content and compaction." The Nebraska figures come from the department's 2024 guide to estimating quantities for road work, so they describe road materials, but they are a useful check from an agency with no stone to sell.
Look at the spread on sand alone: 1.10 to 1.25 tons a yard at Stone Center against 1.5 at Kokosing. On a 10 ton load, that is the difference between 6.67 yards and 8 to 9 yards, so the factor you pick changes what you tell the customer at the counter. Every published number is a starting point, and your own scale ticket wins.
Cubic yards in 1, 5, 10, and 20 tons
Pick the row closest to your material's factor and read across. The cells are cubic yards.
| Tons per cubic yard | 1 ton | 5 tons | 10 tons | 20 tons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.25 | 0.80 | 4.00 | 8.00 | 16.00 |
| 1.4 | 0.71 | 3.57 | 7.14 | 14.29 |
| 1.5 | 0.67 | 3.33 | 6.67 | 13.33 |
| 1.65 | 0.61 | 3.03 | 6.06 | 12.12 |
| 1.75 | 0.57 | 2.86 | 5.71 | 11.43 |
Tons and cubic yards converter
6.67 cubic yards
10 tons at 1.5 tons per cubic yard is 6.67 cubic yards. In metric, that is 9.07 tonnes filling 5.10 cubic meters.
Worked examples
A contractor calls for 10 tons of sand. At 1.5 tons per cubic yard, 10 ÷ 1.5 = 6.67 cubic yards. In metric, that is 9.07 tonnes filling 5.10 cubic meters, which matters when the customer's spec sheet is written in tonnes.
A homeowner wants 8 cubic yards of pea gravel and you sell by the ton. At 1.4 tons per cubic yard, 8 × 1.4 = 11.2 tons, and that is the number the scale should show on the way out.
A crew orders 12 cubic yards of base for a patio. Base runs heavy, so at 1.75 tons per cubic yard, 12 × 1.75 = 21 tons. That is three tons more than 12 yards of sand at 1.5 would weigh, which is why "a scoop" is not a unit of measure anyone should quote on.
Why the same stone weighs differently
Moisture. Wet sand weighs more than dry sand, and a pile that sat through a week of rain is carrying water you cannot sell. A yard that sells by the ton is selling some of that water, and a yard that buys by the ton paid for it.
Fines and gradation. A well-graded base with plenty of fines fills the air gaps between the bigger pieces, so more weight fits in the same yard, which fits Kokosing publishing 1.75 for base against 1.65 for coarse stone. A uniform washed gravel leaves those gaps open and weighs less per yard.
Compaction. Loose in the pile is not the same as compacted in place. Nebraska DOT figures soil compacted in place at 110 pounds per cubic foot, which works out to 1.485 tons per cubic yard, and the same soil fluffed up in a stockpile takes more room per ton. If you are quoting fill for a job, ask which condition the customer measured.
Which ton. In the US, a ton is a short ton of 2,000 pounds. A metric tonne is 1,000 kilograms, and one short ton equals 0.9071847 tonnes, per the conversion table the U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes. If you are quoting a customer who works in metric, say which unit you mean before the truck is loaded.
One more wrinkle: mulch. Its weight swings with the wood and the weather, so the trade sells it by volume, and our mulch and topsoil calculator works in yards and bags rather than tons.
How to find your yard's own number
Published factors get you into the neighborhood, and your own number gets you to the address. There are two ways to get it.
The quick method: weigh a level loader bucket of each material on your truck scale, loaded minus empty, and divide the net tons by the bucket's volume in cubic yards. If a level 1.5 yard bucket of screenings nets 2.6 tons, your factor is 1.73 tons per yard for that pile on that day.
The truck day method: when an inbound load arrives from the quarry, divide the net tons on its scale ticket by the yards it made in your bin. Net weight is gross minus tare, the loaded truck minus the empty one, and the ticket already shows both. Do either one a few times a season, because moisture and the quarry's gradation drift, and record the current factor on the item so everyone at the counter quotes the same number.
Keep the tickets, too. Many states require a delivery ticket on bulk sales, and North Carolina's G.S. 81A-26, for one, requires it to show the seller and buyer, the delivery date, the quantity delivered, and the material when the seller determines the quantity. Our guide to scale tickets for bulk material yards covers what goes on one, and the cubic yard calculator handles the volume side for circles and triangles.
Selling by one unit and quoting in the other
Most bulk yards weigh in one unit and hear requests in the other all day. You load and price by the ton because the scale says tons, while the landscaper on the phone thinks in yards because that is how he estimated the job. The workable setup is to count and price inventory in the unit you weigh, and quote the other unit with your own factor, so the conversion comes out the same no matter who is on the counter.
Rundoo, the AI-first POS for independent supply stores, sells bulk in whatever units of measure you set up, with decimal quantities switched on per product rather than as a company-wide rule, so 11.2 tons rings as 11.2 tons and 1.75 yards as 1.75 yards. Landscaper pricing tiers apply on every line once they are set, and you can schedule the delivery from the sale. Rundoo does not connect to a scale, so the net weight goes on the sale from the scale ticket. Our guide to selling by the flat, yard, and ton covers the setup in more detail.
