How many tons are in a cubic yard?

It depends entirely on the material. A cubic yard of one material can weigh far more or less than a cubic yard of another, and the same material weighs different amounts wet and dry, loose and compacted. There is no single figure, and any page that gives one has assumed a material, a moisture content and a compaction state on your behalf. Get the density from your supplier’s ticket or spec sheet, enter it above, and the calculator does the rest.

How do I convert cubic yards to tons?

Multiply the cubic yards by the material’s density in pounds per cubic yard, then divide by 2,000 for US short tons. For example, 18 cubic yards at a density of 2,700 lb per cubic yard is 48,600 lb, or 24.3 tons. The 2,700 is illustrative only; use the figure for your own material.

How do I convert tons to cubic yards?

Multiply the tons by 2,000 to get pounds, then divide by the material’s density in pounds per cubic yard. Switch the calculator to “Tons to cubic yards”, enter the weight and the density, and it returns the volume with the working shown.

Can I pick a material instead of typing a density?

One reference only, and it is an agency pay-quantity factor, not a material density. You can choose Wisconsin DOT’s pay-quantity factor for in-place (compacted) Base Aggregate Dense, 1.85 tons per cubic yard, from its 2025 Standard Specifications, section 305.4(2). Use it only for that dense-graded base, measured in place: it is not a figure for loose or delivered material, and not a universal gravel or road-base density. A preset for “gravel” or “sand” in general would be presented as a fact when it is only one table’s guess for one condition of that material. We have read a university table of such figures, but it does not define the moisture or compaction behind each row, so none of its rows is offered. For anything else, enter the density from your supplier’s ticket or spec sheet.

Why does the calculator open on my own density and not on a material?

Because a density for “gravel” or “dirt” is not a property of the conversion, it is a property of a specific material in a specific state, and the published figures disagree with each other by wide margins. Choosing one for you would make the answer look measured when it is a guess.

What if my supplier gives a range of densities?

Enter the lower figure in the density field and the upper one in the range field under the advanced inputs. You will get a lower and an upper estimate. They are not averaged, because moisture, gradation and compaction decide where in the range your load falls.

Is the ton a US ton or a metric tonne?

The result is in US short tons of 2,000 lb, which is what a US scale ticket means by “ton”. Metric tonnes are shown beside it. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg, about 10% heavier than a short ton, so check which one a foreign specification or invoice means.

Do bank and loose cubic yards weigh the same?

The material weighs the same; it occupies a different volume. A bank yard is measured in the ground and a loose yard after excavation, so the same tonnage is more loose yards than bank yards. Use a density measured the same way as your volume, or convert the volume first with a swell factor.

Which unit should I enter the density in?

Whichever your source uses. The field accepts pounds per cubic yard or cubic foot, short tons per cubic yard, and kilograms or metric tonnes per cubic metre. If the result looks wrong by a factor of about 27, the unit is probably wrong: pounds per cubic yard is 27 times pounds per cubic foot.

Materials · Weight from volume, and back

Cubic Yards to Tons Calculator

Convert cubic yards to tons, or tons to cubic yards, from the density of your own material — with the working shown and no density assumed for you.

Use the calculator How it works

Yards to tons

The working

Weight = Volume × Density
Density is the one number this conversion cannot do without.

Weight

US short tons

Waiting on you

Enter the density of your material. There is no single conversion between cubic yards and tons: it depends on what the material is, how wet it is and how compacted. Your supplier’s spec sheet or your scale tickets have the figure.

The conversion is one multiplication, and one number in it belongs to your material: its density. Enter the density from your supplier’s ticket or spec sheet and choose a direction; a range in gives a range out, not an average. Until a density is entered the tool gives you no tonnage, because any figure it produced would be somebody else’s guess. One agency reference can be chosen instead: Wisconsin DOT’s pay-quantity factor for in-place (compacted) Base Aggregate Dense, its dense-graded base. It is not a density, and it does not apply to loose or delivered material.

How this calculator works

Only your inputs and exact unit conversions. Where a figure comes from anywhere else, it is recorded below with its source.

Specification

Formula version: 1.1.0
Last reviewed: 2026-09-29
External data: 1 source
Category: Materials

Agency planning factorWisDOT in-place Base Aggregate Dense pay-quantity factor, 1.85 tons per cubic yard — Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Tons per cubic yard of acceptably completed in-place material, printed as “1.85 tons per cubic yard”, in a specification written in US customary units. The sections read do not define the ton; the calculator treats it as the US short ton of 2,000 lb, like every ton on this site. Verified 2026-09-29. Source

What this calculates

The weight of a volume of material, or the volume a weight of it occupies. The two are the same relationship read in opposite directions, so the calculator does both from one input that only you can supply: the material’s density.

The formula

Weight = Volume × Density. Volume = Weight ÷ Density.

For US short tons from cubic yards: tons = (cubic yards × pounds per cubic yard) ÷ 2,000. To go back: cubic yards = (tons × 2,000) ÷ pounds per cubic yard.

Internally everything is converted to pounds and cubic feet, so the density can be entered in pounds per cubic yard or cubic foot, short tons per cubic yard, or kilograms or metric tonnes per cubic metre, and the result is the same.

The one agency reference, and why there is no list of materials

Density is a property of a specific material in a specific state, and three things move it independently: what the material is, how wet it is, and how compacted or loose it sits. Published tables disagree with one another by wide margins. One university educational table, the University of Minnesota Onsite Sewage Treatment Program’s “Volume to weight (cubic yard to tons) for common media used in onsite wastewater treatment systems” (Sara Heger, Onsite Installer, 1 August 2022), lists the same clay at 0.87 ton per cubic yard dry and excavated and 1.46 wet and excavated, a difference of almost a factor of two. So the calculator opens on your own density, and it does not fill one in for you.

One reference can be chosen instead of your own density, because its source names both the material and its condition. Wisconsin DOT’s 2025 Standard Specifications (November 2024 letting), section 305.4(2), convert a measured volume of acceptably completed in-place Base Aggregate Dense (the 3/4-inch, 1 1/4-inch and 3-inch dense-graded base bid items) to weight at 1.85 tons per cubic yard when WisDOT converts volume to weight for payment. It is an agency pay-quantity factor, not a density. It is for compacted base in place, not loose or delivered material, and it is not a universal gravel or road-base density. The aggregate may be crushed stone, crushed gravel, crushed concrete, reclaimed asphalt, reprocessed or blended material at the contractor’s option, and WisDOT’s section 109.1.4.1(2) has the engineer and the contractor agree on the factor before a pay quantity is converted. Choose it only for that base in that condition, with an in-place volume.

The University of Minnesota table stays a candidate reference, and none of its rows is offered. It is an educational reference for onsite wastewater media, not a material specification. It does not say where its figures come from, and its labels (excavated, packed, rammed, wet, lump, dense) do not define moisture, compaction or gradation. Another reference will be added only when its source states the material and its condition: an official specification, a manufacturer or supplier technical sheet for a defined material, a government source that defines both, or two independent technical sources that agree.

How to get a density you can defend

In order of how far an owner or an auditor will accept it. First, the supplier’s own figure: quarries and yards publish a weight per cubic yard for each product, specific to that product from that pit, and it is the number they bill against, so ask for it in writing. Second, your own scale tickets: divide the ticketed weight by the cubic yards loaded on the truck, and you have the density of your material, your moisture and your loading. Third, a published reference, used only when nothing better exists, with the table you used recorded and the understanding that another table would have given another answer.

Which cubic yard you mean

A bank cubic yard is measured in place, in the ground; a loose cubic yard is measured after the material has been excavated and swelled, as it sits in a truck or a stockpile. The material’s weight has not changed, so the same tonnage occupies more loose yards than bank yards. A density in pounds per cubic yard is therefore only meaningful together with the state it was measured in. Use a density measured the way your volume is measured — a scale-ticket density from loaded trucks is a loose or as-delivered figure — and this calculator will not correct for the difference, because it cannot know which one you entered. Wisconsin DOT’s factor is for in-place (compacted) yards, so use it only with an in-place volume.

The three tons

The result is in US short tons (2,000 lb), which is what a US scale ticket means by “ton”. A long ton is 2,240 lb and is rare in US construction. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg, or 2,204.6 lb — about 10% heavier than a short ton, enough to matter on a disposal invoice. The calculator shows metric tonnes beside the short-ton result so the two are not confused. Each is exact by definition and needs no source beyond the definition.

Ranges

Suppliers often quote a range because the material varies. Enter the lower density in the main field and the upper in the range field under the advanced inputs. The answer is two numbers, one at each end, because that is what the inputs justify. Averaging them would report a precision your source never claimed. Note that converting tons to cubic yards inverts the order: the denser end of the range takes up less room.

One load, a made-up density

The density below is not a Calcumetryx figure and is not a recommendation. It stands in for the number that arrives on your ticket; substitute yours and the arithmetic is identical.

Given

Volume: 18 cu yd
Density (illustrative): 2,700 lb / cu yd

Step by step

01Weight in pounds= 18 × 2,700= 48,600 lb
02Short tons= 48,600 ÷ 2,000= 24.3 tons
03Same 18 cu yd at 2,200 lb / cu yd= (18 × 2,200) ÷ 2,000= 19.8 tons

What the density does

A 4.5-ton swing on one small load, from one input

What it assumes

01The density you enter is for the material in the state you are measuring — bank, loose or compacted, dry or wet.
02The volume and the density refer to the same state of the material.
03Weight is reported in US short tons (2,000 lb); metric tonnes are shown alongside.

What it does not do

It does not know your material’s density. It applies the figure you give it, or the one agency reference you can choose: WisDOT’s pay-quantity factor for in-place Base Aggregate Dense, which is not a density and does not apply to any other material or condition. That is why there is no list of materials to pick from.
It does not convert between bank, loose and compacted volume. Use the swell factor for that, and enter a density that matches your volume.
It does not account for moisture changing between the pit and the truck.
A warning appears when a density is outside what construction materials plausibly weigh, which usually means the unit beside it is wrong. It does not check the figure against any material.
It is an arithmetic tool. For legal payload limits or billing, use the weight on the scale ticket.

Common questions.

How many tons are in a cubic yard?: It depends entirely on the material. A cubic yard of one material can weigh far more or less than a cubic yard of another, and the same material weighs different amounts wet and dry, loose and compacted. There is no single figure, and any page that gives one has assumed a material, a moisture content and a compaction state on your behalf. Get the density from your supplier’s ticket or spec sheet, enter it above, and the calculator does the rest.
How do I convert cubic yards to tons?: Multiply the cubic yards by the material’s density in pounds per cubic yard, then divide by 2,000 for US short tons. For example, 18 cubic yards at a density of 2,700 lb per cubic yard is 48,600 lb, or 24.3 tons. The 2,700 is illustrative only; use the figure for your own material.
How do I convert tons to cubic yards?: Multiply the tons by 2,000 to get pounds, then divide by the material’s density in pounds per cubic yard. Switch the calculator to “Tons to cubic yards”, enter the weight and the density, and it returns the volume with the working shown.
Can I pick a material instead of typing a density?: One reference only, and it is an agency pay-quantity factor, not a material density. You can choose Wisconsin DOT’s pay-quantity factor for in-place (compacted) Base Aggregate Dense, 1.85 tons per cubic yard, from its 2025 Standard Specifications, section 305.4(2). Use it only for that dense-graded base, measured in place: it is not a figure for loose or delivered material, and not a universal gravel or road-base density. A preset for “gravel” or “sand” in general would be presented as a fact when it is only one table’s guess for one condition of that material. We have read a university table of such figures, but it does not define the moisture or compaction behind each row, so none of its rows is offered. For anything else, enter the density from your supplier’s ticket or spec sheet.
Why does the calculator open on my own density and not on a material?: Because a density for “gravel” or “dirt” is not a property of the conversion, it is a property of a specific material in a specific state, and the published figures disagree with each other by wide margins. Choosing one for you would make the answer look measured when it is a guess.
What if my supplier gives a range of densities?: Enter the lower figure in the density field and the upper one in the range field under the advanced inputs. You will get a lower and an upper estimate. They are not averaged, because moisture, gradation and compaction decide where in the range your load falls.
Is the ton a US ton or a metric tonne?: The result is in US short tons of 2,000 lb, which is what a US scale ticket means by “ton”. Metric tonnes are shown beside it. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg, about 10% heavier than a short ton, so check which one a foreign specification or invoice means.
Do bank and loose cubic yards weigh the same?: The material weighs the same; it occupies a different volume. A bank yard is measured in the ground and a loose yard after excavation, so the same tonnage is more loose yards than bank yards. Use a density measured the same way as your volume, or convert the volume first with a swell factor.
Which unit should I enter the density in?: Whichever your source uses. The field accepts pounds per cubic yard or cubic foot, short tons per cubic yard, and kilograms or metric tonnes per cubic metre. If the result looks wrong by a factor of about 27, the unit is probably wrong: pounds per cubic yard is 27 times pounds per cubic foot.

Behind the numbers

The methods and definitions this calculator applies, explained in full and with their sources.

GuideDump truck capacity in cubic yardsTwo limits decide how many yards a truck carries — the body volume on its plate and the payload its weight rating allows. The material decides which one binds. Includes dump-body specifications as two manufacturers print them.GuideTri-axle dump truck capacityLegal weight comes from a published federal formula on the axles, and the load is what is left after the truck’s own weight. The bridge formula, worked.

Where people go next

All materials tools

Ordered by what usually comes next in the same job, not by keyword.

01GravelCubic yards, and tonsHow much gravel a driveway, path or pad takes — in cubic yards, cubic feet or cubic metres.02Fill DirtLoose yards to orderFill volume in place, and how much loose material to order once compaction is allowed for.03Cubic YardCubic yards from any shapeCubic yards from length, width and depth, from a square-foot area and a depth, or from a volume you already have in cubic feet or metres.04Dirt HaulingTruck loads and round tripsTruck loads, haul time and cost — including whether your trucks fill up by volume or by weight first.