How Many Cubic Yards in a Ton, and What Getting It Wrong Costs

One ton has no fixed number of cubic yards, because a ton is a fixed weight and a cubic yard is a fixed volume, so the answer depends entirely on what the material weighs per cubic yard. Divide 2,000 pounds by that weight. Loose AASHTO #57 stone at 2,322 pounds per cubic yard gives 0.86 cubic yards per ton. Loose 3/4-inch dense-graded base as delivered, around 2,700 pounds per cubic yard, gives 0.74. Topsoil at the USDA-NRCS reference density of 1.33 g/cm³, which is 2,242 pounds per cubic yard, gives 0.89. Ready-mixed concrete at 150 pounds per cubic foot, or 4,050 pounds per cubic yard, gives 0.49. The formula behind all four: cubic yards per ton = 2,000 ÷ (pounds per cubic foot × 27).

Three different tons are in circulation, and one is 10% heavier

Before the density argument even starts, the unit itself has to be pinned down. NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C, lists the short ton at 2,000 avoirdupois pounds (907.18474 kg), the long ton at 2,240 pounds, and the metric ton at 1,000 kilograms, which is 2,204.623 pounds, or 1.102311 short tons. Handbook 44 also notes that since January 1, 2014, "tn" is the required abbreviation for short ton on commercial weighing devices.

That 10.2% gap is not academic. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 reports the 2025 average unit value for crushed stone as $18.50 — per metric ton. A US buyer reading that as a short ton price is overstating what the material sells for by 10.2%; the short-ton equivalent is $16.78 f.o.b. plant.

I spend my working life checking whether a confident ranking rests on enough evidence to mean anything, and unit mismatch is the failure that ruins a tier list: two numbers compared that were never measured the same way. Check which ton a table quotes.

How many cubic yards is a ton of gravel, and why one quarry gives two answers

Rohrer's Quarry publishes a technical data sheet for its AASHTO #57 stone with three numbers on it: specific gravity 2.78, density loose 86.0 lb/ft³, density rodded 98.7 lb/ft³. Multiply by 27 and you get 2,322 and 2,665 pounds per cubic yard. That is 0.86 cubic yards per ton loose and 0.75 rodded — a 14.8% swing, from one sheet, one product, one quarry. Nothing about the rock changed. Only how tightly it was packed when it was weighed.

The Wisconsin DOT report 0092-22-05, prepared by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and published in December 2023, measured this in the field on 29 aggregates. Its 3/4-inch dense-graded base samples came in at loose dry unit weights of 92, 94, and 101 lb/ft³, with in-place moisture between 2.5% and 6.3%. Carrying that water, the delivered material runs roughly 2,620 to 2,800 pounds per cubic yard, so a ton fills 0.72 to 0.76 cubic yards in the truck.

ASTM C29/C29M, the test standard behind every published unit weight, states the limitation plainly: the relationship between the degree of compaction in a hauling unit or stockpile and that achieved in the test is unknown, and the test determines bulk density on a dry basis while stockpiled aggregates carry absorbed and surface moisture. The number on the sheet is honest about being a lab number.

How many cubic yards is a ton of dirt, and what the density tells you about the soil

The USDA-NRCS Soil Quality Indicators guidance gives the anchor: most rock has a particle density of 2.65 g/cm³, so a silt loam at 50% pore space has a bulk density of 1.33 g/cm³. That converts to 83.0 lb/ft³, or 2,242 pounds per cubic yard, which is 0.89 cubic yards per ton.

The interesting part is what happens at the ends of the NRCS range. Table 1 of that guidance sets ideal bulk density for sandy loams and loams below 1.40 g/cm³, and lists densities above 1.80 g/cm³ as restricting root growth. Run the conversion on that upper threshold: 1.80 g/cm³ is 112.4 lb/ft³, or 3,034 pounds per cubic yard, which is 0.66 cubic yards per ton. Compare that to loose gravel at 0.72 to 0.86. If the topsoil you were sold converts like gravel or heavier, its density is at or past the point where NRCS says roots stop, and you have bought fill rather than growing medium. Weight per yard is a soil quality reading, not only a shipping figure.

The Wisconsin DOT report measured 14 natural soils across the state and found loose dry unit weights spanning 66 to 106 lb/ft³, which is 1.12 down to 0.70 cubic yards per ton on dry mass alone. One caution on using NRCS figures directly against a scale ticket: bulk density is defined as oven-dry mass over field volume. The scale at the yard weighs the water too.

Gravel versus topsoil, side by side

Buyers move a yard-to-ton figure from one pile to the other because both arrive in the same truck and get billed the same way. The materials do not behave alike. Gravel's weight per yard comes from rock particles whose density is fixed, so the only variable is how well they nest; vibration buys you about 15%. Soil's weight per yard comes from pore space, which changes with every rain, every freeze, and every pass of a loader bucket, and that pore space can hold a quarter of the delivered weight in water.

| Material and state | Pounds per cubic yard | Cubic yards per ton | Source of the density | |---|---|---|---| | AASHTO #57 stone, loose | 2,322 | 0.86 | Rohrer's Quarry ASTM C29 data sheet | | AASHTO #57 stone, rodded | 2,665 | 0.75 | Same data sheet | | 3/4-in. dense-graded base, loose as delivered | 2,620–2,800 | 0.72–0.76 | WisDOT 0092-22-05, Table 4.8 | | 3/4-in. dense-graded base, compacted in place | 3,600–3,720 | 0.54–0.56 | WisDOT 0092-22-05, Table E2 | | Topsoil at NRCS reference density, 1.33 g/cm³ | 2,242 | 0.89 | USDA-NRCS Soil Quality Indicators | | Topsoil at root-restricting density, 1.80 g/cm³ | 3,034 | 0.66 | USDA-NRCS, Table 1 | | Ready-mixed concrete at 150 lb/ft³ | 4,050 | 0.49 | ACI 318-19 normalweight range |

Read down the third column. Aggregate lands between 0.72 and 0.86 loose. Soil ranges from 0.66 to 1.12, and where it lands tells you something about the soil itself. Concrete barely moves, because ACI 318-19 pins normalweight concrete to a 135–160 lb/ft³ band.

What the water weighs

The gutter outside my window is still dripping and the rain stopped hours ago. A stockpile does the same thing, only slower, and a good deal of that water never leaves before the loader does.

Water weighs 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, which is 1,686 pounds per cubic yard. ASTM D2216 defines water content as the mass of water divided by the oven-dry mass of solids, and dry density follows as γd = γwet ÷ (1 + w). The Wisconsin DOT report recorded bank-state moisture contents on its 14 natural soils ranging from 4.6% to 34.0%. At 34%, water accounts for 25.4% of everything that crosses the scale. Order ten tons of that soil and 2.5 tons of what you paid to haul is water.

This cuts both ways. Wet material means fewer yards per ton, so you pay for less dirt, and the yard you do spread shrinks as it dries: a bed graded flush in March settles low by June. Neither effect shows up on a chart listing one number for "topsoil."

The loose yard and the placed yard are not the same yard

WisDOT's Table E2 gives 3/4-inch dense-graded base a conversion factor of 1.80 to 1.86 tons per cubic yard in the compacted state, with an expansion factor from compacted to loose of 36% to 47%. A ton of that material occupies about 0.55 cubic yards once it is rolled and about 0.75 in the truck bed. Same ton. Same stone.

Which yard you are counting depends on where you measure. Compaction on dense-graded material is specified against a laboratory maximum from ASTM D1557, the modified Proctor test, with field density typically required to reach 95% of that maximum. Open-graded stone like #57 behaves differently: it produces a nearly flat moisture-density curve because it cannot pack to a dense state, so specifications for it call out roller passes and visual lockup instead of a percentage of Proctor.

Worked example. A 600-square-foot patio base, 4 inches thick after compaction, is 200 cubic feet, or 7.41 cubic yards in place. At WisDOT's 1.80 to 1.86 tons per cubic yard, that is 13.3 to 13.8 tons. Bought by loose volume instead, you need 7.41 × 1.36 to 1.47, which is 10.1 to 10.9 loose yards on the truck to finish at 7.41 compacted.

There is a broader reason to distrust the tidy chart. That same WisDOT report surveyed 26 state DOTs and found only about 23% of them supply conversion factors for aggregates at all, with the rest running on personnel experience. The confident table you found is a launch-week tier list: published early, copied widely, and thinly sampled underneath.

How many cubic yards fit in a one-ton dump truck

The "one ton" in the name is a historical class label, not a payload. Under the GVWR weight classes used by FHWA and the DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center, Class 3 covers gross vehicle weight ratings from 10,001 to 14,000 pounds, which is where the Ford F-350, Ram 3500, and GMC Sierra 3500 sit. None of them carries only 2,000 pounds.

The real number is on the vehicle. 49 CFR 567.4(g) requires the certification label to state the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating and the Gross Axle Weight Rating for each axle, and defines GVWR as not less than the sum of unloaded vehicle weight, rated cargo load, and 150 pounds per designated seating position. Rearrange it: payload equals GVWR minus what the truck actually weighs empty, minus 150 pounds per seat. On a diesel 4x4 chassis cab wearing a steel dump body, that commonly lands between 4,000 and 6,000 pounds, which is 1.5 to 2.2 cubic yards of loose 3/4-inch stone. That range is an estimate rather than a published figure, so weigh yours empty and subtract. The body will hold more. The axles will not.

For larger trucks the ceiling is statutory. 23 U.S.C. 127 caps Interstate travel at 20,000 pounds on a single axle, 34,000 on a tandem, and 80,000 gross, with the Federal Bridge Formula, W = 500[(LN)/(N−1) + 12N + 36], governing axle groups. FHWA notes that no-fine tolerance thresholds are not authorized under that statute, and 49 U.S.C. 521(b) allows federal civil penalties reaching $16,000 per violation. State schedules commonly run $0.01 to $0.20 per pound over.

What the error actually costs

Take that 600-square-foot patio and apply the internet's favorite shorthand, 1.4 tons per cubic yard, to the 7.41 compacted yards. You order 10.4 tons. You needed 13.3 to 13.8. You are 2.9 to 3.4 tons short, between 22% and 25%.

The material value of that gap is small. At the USGS 2025 average of $18.50 per metric ton, or $16.78 per short ton f.o.b. plant, three tons of crushed stone is roughly $50. The expensive part is everything attached to it. A second delivery is a second trip charge. The crew that was booked for one day comes back. And if nobody notices the shortfall, the base gets spread thin: 10.4 tons across the full 600 square feet finishes near 3.1 inches instead of 4, a 22% loss of section on the layer meant to stop the pavers from moving.

The overload side of the ledger bites faster. Ten cubic yards of wet 3/4-inch base at 2,800 pounds per yard is 28,000 pounds of payload. On a per-pound state fine schedule, a few thousand pounds over an axle limit costs more than the load did. This is the honest reading of the arithmetic: the money is rarely in the material, it is in the return trip, the thin base, and the ticket.

How to check the number for your own load

1. Ask the quarry or yard for the ASTM C29 loose and rodded unit weights on the exact product code you are buying, not the category. Rohrer's publishes both on the #57 sheet, and most producers will read theirs to you over the phone.
2. Decide which volume you are quoting. If your dimensions are the finished, compacted section, apply an expansion factor before ordering loose yards. WisDOT's measured range for 3/4-inch dense-graded base is 36% to 47%.
3. Read the delivery ticket. NIST Handbook 130's Uniform Weights and Measures Law, Section 17, Sale from Bulk, requires bulk sales where buyer and seller are not both present to witness the measurement to be accompanied by a delivery ticket stating the quantity delivered, and where net weight comes from gross minus tare, both must appear.
4. Reconcile the ticket against your calculation the same day. A load that weighs 15% more than your density math predicted is usually carrying water, and a certified public scale will settle it for the price of a weigh.

Frequently asked questions

How many cubic yards are in one ton?

It depends on the material's weight per cubic yard, so divide 2,000 pounds by that figure. Loose crushed stone runs 0.72 to 0.86 cubic yards per ton, topsoil 0.66 to 1.12 depending on bulk density and moisture, and ready-mixed concrete about 0.49. There is no single conversion that works across materials.

How many cubic yards are in one ton of gravel?

About 0.72 to 0.86 cubic yards, depending on gradation and how the material was packed when weighed. Rohrer's Quarry lists AASHTO #57 stone at 86.0 lb/ft³ loose and 98.7 lb/ft³ rodded, giving 0.86 and 0.75 cubic yards per ton from a single spec sheet. Wet delivered base sits near 0.74.

How many cubic yards are in one ton of dirt?

Roughly 0.66 to 1.12 cubic yards. At the USDA-NRCS reference bulk density of 1.33 g/cm³, a ton fills 0.89 cubic yards. Soil at the NRCS root-restricting threshold of 1.80 g/cm³ fills only 0.66, while a loose, well-aggregated soil near 1.10 g/cm³ fills about 1.08. Moisture shifts all of these.

How many cubic yards fit in a one-ton dump truck?

Usually 1.5 to 2.2 cubic yards of stone or soil, because payload rather than box volume is the limit. "One ton" names a Class 3 chassis, rated 10,001 to 14,000 pounds gross under the FHWA weight classes. Subtract the empty weight and seat allowance from the GVWR on the door label to get your actual payload.

How many cubic yards are in a ton of concrete?

About 0.49 cubic yards. ACI 318-19 defines normalweight concrete as 135 to 160 pounds per cubic foot, and 150 lb/ft³ is the common design value, giving 4,050 pounds per cubic yard. Across the full ACI band a ton fills 0.46 to 0.55 cubic yards, the narrowest range of any common landscape or construction material.

How many cubic yards are in a ton of three-quarter stone?

About 0.72 to 0.86 cubic yards loose, and roughly 0.55 once compacted in place. Wisconsin DOT field data puts 3/4-inch dense-graded base at 92 to 101 lb/ft³ loose and gives it a compacted conversion factor of 1.80 to 1.86 tons per cubic yard, with 36% to 47% volume expansion from compacted back to loose.