Tons vs. Cubic Yards of Gravel: How to Convert and Compare Prices

One supplier quotes $38 a ton. Another quotes $52 a yard. Which is cheaper? You cannot tell until you convert, because a ton is a weight and a cubic yard is a volume. The bridge between them is density, how much a cubic yard of that particular stone weighs.

The short answer

For most gravel and crushed stone, one cubic yard weighs about 1.3 to 1.5 short tons (2,600–3,000 lb). Put another way, one ton of gravel is roughly 0.67 to 0.77 cubic yards. A widely used planning figure is 2,835 lb per cubic yard, or about 1.42 tons.

Conversion formulas

tons = cubic yards × density (lb/yd³) ÷ 2,000
cubic yards = tons × 2,000 ÷ density (lb/yd³)

US suppliers almost always mean the short ton of 2,000 lb. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg, about 2,205 lb, so if you are working in metric, convert carefully.

Conversion chart for common stone

Material	lb per yd³	Tons per yd³	Yd³ per ton
Lava rock	1,300	0.65	1.54
River rock	2,600	1.30	0.77
Decomposed granite	2,600	1.30	0.77
Pea gravel	2,700	1.35	0.74
#57 crushed stone	2,700	1.35	0.74
Standard gravel	2,835	1.42	0.71
Crusher run	3,000	1.50	0.67

Densities vary between quarries and with moisture. When a supplier quotes by the ton, ask how much a yard of that product weighs; they usually know, because they weigh every truck.

Comparing two quotes

You need 10 cubic yards of #57 stone.

Supplier A: $38 per ton. 10 yards × 1.35 tons = 13.5 tons × $38 = $513.
Supplier B: $52 per yard. 10 × $52 = $520.

They are nearly identical. Delivery fees, minimum orders and the distance to your site will decide it. If Supplier B's stone were lighter, say 2,500 lb per yard, the ton-priced equivalent would change, which is why the density figure matters. The gravel calculator shows both cost-by-ton and cost-by-yard side by side if you enter both prices.

Why quarries sell by weight

Quarries load trucks with a front-end loader and then drive them over a certified truck scale. Weight is easy to measure precisely and is what road limits are based on, so it is the natural unit for them. Garden centers and smaller landscape yards often measure by the bucket instead, which is closer to a volume, so they price by the yard.

How many tons fit in a truck?

Payload limits, not bed size, decide how much gravel a vehicle can carry:

Half-ton pickup: often under 1 ton of payload, i.e. less than a yard of gravel.
Single-axle dump truck: roughly 5–7 tons.
Tandem-axle dump truck: roughly 10–15 tons.
Tri-axle dump truck: roughly 15–20 tons.

These ranges depend on the truck and on state weight limits. Ask your supplier what their truck can legally carry so you know how many loads your order needs.

Common mistakes

Using the density of the wrong material. Lava rock and crusher run differ by more than double.
Forgetting compaction. Order 5–10% more than the calculated volume for paths and driveways.
Mixing short tons and metric tonnes. 10 tonnes is about 11 short tons.

Need the volume first?

Measure length, width and depth and use the gravel calculator, or for other loose materials the cubic yard calculator. Then apply the density for your stone to get tons. For the depth to use, see the gravel depth guide.