Weight-first · Bidirectional · 11 material densities

Tons to Cubic Yards Dirt Converter

You know the weight — the scale ticket says 10 tons, or the quote reads 20 — and you need the volume: how many cubic yards will land in the driveway, how many truckloads, what it costs. This converter starts from tons (or yards, feet, or tonnes) and works both directions, material by material.

⚖ Tons ↔ yards, both ways🟤 Black dirt & 11 densities🚛 Truckload estimate💲 Per-ton cost input

Input Parameters

I know the amount in…

Amount (ton)

✓ 10.00 US tons = 6.45 cubic yards

Material density

Densities match the site calculation engine — loose delivered state, dry basis. Wet dirt runs 5–15% heavier; compost is the lightest common material at 1.0.

Truck & Price (optional)

Delivery truck

Price per US ton ($, optional)

Quarries and long-haul suppliers often quote by weight instead of volume. Leave the price blank to skip cost. Not sure what to pay? See the homepage cost guide.

Conversion Result

Volume

6.45 yd³

of mixed / unscreened fill

Cubic yards: 6.45 yd³
Cubic feet: 174 ft³
US short tons: 10.00 t
Metric tonnes: 9.07 t
Truckloads (Standard single-axle, 10 yd³): 1 load(rounded up)

Estimate for planning. Loose delivered dirt; add your compaction buffer before ordering — the main dirt calculator sizes the order from dimensions.

TIP — which direction do you need?

Buying by the ton (quarries, long hauls)? Start from tons. Selling leftover dirt or reading a scale ticket? Start from yards. The converter answers both — the math is just multiplication or division by one density number.

How many yards is a ton of dirt? A ton of dirt equals roughly 0.6 to 1.0 cubic yards — about 0.65 yd³ for mixed fill dirt, 0.74 yd³ for black dirt or topsoil, and 0.58 yd³ for heavy clay. Run the reverse direction and one cubic yard of dirt weighs about 1.0 to 1.72 tons, which is why the two units are never interchangeable and every quote should say which one it uses. This page is the weight-first half of the site: where the dirt calculator homepage starts from tape-measure dimensions and works forward to tons, this converter starts from the weight on the scale ticket and works backward to the pile — and the calculator collection covers the rest of the chain, from topsoil depths to excavation haul-off.

Lookup table 1

N Tons of Dirt → Cubic Yards, at a Glance

Yards = tons ÷ (tons per cubic yard). Every row is the same division with a different density. Tap a material to move it into the comparison column below.

US tons	Mixed fill · 1.55	Black dirt · 1.35	Clay fill · 1.72	Compost · 1.0
1 t	0.6 yd³	0.7 yd³	0.6 yd³	1.0 yd³
2 t	1.3 yd³	1.5 yd³	1.2 yd³	2.0 yd³
3 t	1.9 yd³	2.2 yd³	1.7 yd³	3.0 yd³
5 t	3.2 yd³	3.7 yd³	2.9 yd³	5.0 yd³
8 t	5.2 yd³	5.9 yd³	4.7 yd³	8.0 yd³
10 t	6.5 yd³	7.4 yd³	5.8 yd³	10.0 yd³
12 t	7.7 yd³	8.9 yd³	7.0 yd³	12.0 yd³
15 t	9.7 yd³	11.1 yd³	8.7 yd³	15.0 yd³
20 t	12.9 yd³	14.8 yd³	11.6 yd³	20.0 yd³
25 t	16.1 yd³	18.5 yd³	14.5 yd³	25.0 yd³
30 t	19.4 yd³	22.2 yd³	17.4 yd³	30.0 yd³
50 t	32.3 yd³	37.0 yd³	29.1 yd³	50.0 yd³
100 t	64.5 yd³	74.1 yd³	58.1 yd³	100.0 yd³

Reading example — the highlighted column shows your selected material: 20 tons of mixed / unscreened fill ≈ 12.9 cubic yards. Rows assume loose delivered dirt on a dry day; wet loads weigh 5–15% more, which matters most when you are paying by weight.

Lookup table 2

How Much Area Does a Ton of Dirt Cover?

One ton converts to a fixed volume (1 ÷ density yards), and that volume spreads thinner or thicker depending on depth. The table divides the same 27 cu ft per yard used across the site by each depth and material.

Depth	1 t mixed fill	1 t black dirt	1 t clay fill	1 t compost
1"	209 sq ft	240 sq ft	188 sq ft	324 sq ft
2"	105 sq ft	120 sq ft	94 sq ft	162 sq ft
3"	70 sq ft	80 sq ft	63 sq ft	108 sq ft
4"	52 sq ft	60 sq ft	47 sq ft	81 sq ft
6"	35 sq ft	40 sq ft	31 sq ft	54 sq ft
8"	26 sq ft	30 sq ft	24 sq ft	41 sq ft
12"	17 sq ft	20 sq ft	16 sq ft	27 sq ft

Formula: sq ft per ton = 27 ÷ (depth in feet × tons-per-yard). A ton of mixed fill at 3 inches covers about 70 sq ft — roughly a one-car driveway skim-coated.

Lookup table 3

Tons per 1,000 Sq Ft, by Depth

Working backwards from a lawn area: how many tons does each 1,000 sq ft eat at a given depth? Multiply the row by your actual square footage ÷ 1,000.

Depth	Mixed fill	Black dirt	Clay fill	Compost
1"	4.8 t	4.2 t	5.3 t	3.1 t
2"	9.6 t	8.3 t	10.6 t	6.2 t
3"	14.4 t	12.5 t	15.9 t	9.3 t
4"	19.1 t	16.7 t	21.2 t	12.3 t
6"	28.7 t	25.0 t	31.9 t	18.5 t
8"	38.3 t	33.3 t	42.5 t	24.7 t
12"	57.4 t	50.0 t	63.7 t	37.0 t

Example — a 5,000 sq ft lawn topdressed with 2 inches of black dirt: 5 × 8.3 = 41.7 tons ≈ 30.9 cubic yards before compaction buffer.

The arithmetic

How to Calculate Tons of Dirt by Hand

Every conversion on this page is one of four moves. Keep the density in tons per cubic yard — that single number carries the whole calculation.

Cubic yards → tons

tons = cubic yards × tons-per-yard

Worked example: 6.5 yd³ of mixed fill × 1.55 = 10.1 tons

Tons → cubic yards

yards = tons ÷ tons-per-yard

Worked example: 20 t of black dirt ÷ 1.35 = 14.8 yd³

Square footage → tons (the lawn route)

tons = sq ft × depth-in ÷ 12 ÷ 27 × tons-per-yard

Worked example: 1,000 sq ft at 3 in of clay: 1,000 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 × 1.72 = 15.9 t

Cubic feet → tons (the bag-and-barrow route)

tons = cu ft × (tons-per-yard ÷ 27)

Worked example: 44 cu ft of mixed fill × (1.55 ÷ 27) = 2.5 t

TIP — sanity-check with the 1.5 rule of thumbIf you remember one number, remember that a yard of most fill dirt is about a ton and a half. It gets you within ~5% for mixed fill and within ~25% at the extremes (compost on the light side, clay on the heavy side). Good enough to sanity-check a quote; not good enough to order from — always finish with the real density.

Yard vs. Ton — and the Myth of the “Cubic Ton”

A yard measures how much space the dirt fills; a ton measures what it weighs. The gap between them is density, and density is exactly what varies — by material, by moisture, by how loosely the loader dropped it. That is why a supplier can honestly sell “a yard” at one price and “a ton” at another, and why converting between them without naming the material is guesswork.

Three weight units appear on dirt quotes in the US, and mixing them up moves the number by 10%:

Short ton (US) — 2,000 lb. The default in landscaping and aggregate pricing; the unit this converter uses unless told otherwise.
Metric tonne — 1,000 kg = 2,204.6 lb, about 10% heavier than a short ton. Common on imported material or cross-border hauls; the toggle above converts it directly.
Long ton — 2,240 lb, a UK shipping unit that occasionally survives in coastal bulk quotes. Rare, but it exists — ask.

DON’T — “cubic ton” is not a unitA “cubic ton of dirt” has no definition — it glues a volume word onto a weight word. When a quote or forum answer uses it, ask which is meant: tons (2,000 lb) or cubic yards (27 cu ft). The two differ by the material’s density, and for fill dirt that difference is roughly half a truck.

From weight to picture

What Your Tonnage Looks Like on the Ground

Numbers get abstract fast, so here is the same conversion with a shape attached: each tier below is modeled as a conical pile dumped at a loose dirt angle of repose of about 33 degrees (loose earth piles commonly rest between 30° and 45°; 33° is a mid-range planning value for damp mixed fill).

Tons of mixed fill	Volume	Pile diameter	Pile height
1 t	0.6 yd³	≈ 6 ft	≈ 2 ft
5 t	3.2 yd³	≈ 10 ft	≈ 3 ft
10 t	6.5 yd³	≈ 13 ft	≈ 4 ft
20 t	12.9 yd³	≈ 16 ft	≈ 5 ft
50 t	32.3 yd³	≈ 22 ft	≈ 7 ft

Estimate only — real piles spread wider on soft ground and steepen with damp clay. For photos, load counts, and shovel-time equivalents, see the companion guide What Does a Ton of Dirt Look Like?.

Buying Dirt by the Ton: What to Watch

Weight pricing dominates at quarries, aggregate pits, and long-haul deliveries, while most landscape yards stick to per-yard pricing. If your supplier quotes by the ton, these are the four checks worth making before the truck rolls.

Moisture rides the scale

Rain adds 5–15% weight with zero added volume. Ask when the pile was last watered or rained on; buying after a dry week is literally buying more dirt per ton.

Ask for the scale ticket

Reputable pits issue a certified-weight ticket per load. Match it against your ordered tonnage — a 20-ton order should show tickets summing to about 20, not 17.5.

Convert before comparing

A $22/ton quote and a $15/yd quote are only comparable through density: $22 × 1.55 = $34/yd for mixed fill, or $15 ÷ 1.55 = $9.7/ton. Convert both, then compare.

Minimums and part-loads

Weight-priced suppliers often set a multi-ton minimum and bill part-loads at the full rate. Ten tons is the most common single-truck order for residential fill.

Regional price levels vary widely by market and hauling distance — we do not publish city-by-city numbers because they go stale fast. Instead, enter the per-ton rate your supplier quoted into the converter above for your project total, and use the homepage cost guide for national material bands.

Metric Tons, Tonnes, and the 1-Yard Bulk Bag

Not every quote is in US short tons. Import suppliers, Canadian pits, and any vendor pricing in kilograms quote the metric tonne — 1,000 kg, or 2,204.6 lb, about 10% heavier than a 2,000 lb US ton. The difference is small on a single yard but compounds on a truckload: a “20 tonne” order of mixed fill is 22 US tons and about 12.9 cubic yards, not 11.7. Multiply any US-ton figure by 0.907 to get tonnes, or divide tonnes by the same factor to get US tons before using the converter above.

Material	US tons / yd³	Metric tonnes / yd³	yd³ per tonne
Mixed fill dirt	1.55	1.41	0.71
Black dirt / topsoil	1.35	1.22	0.82
Clay-heavy fill	1.72	1.56	0.64
Compost mix	1.00	0.91	1.10

The same logic deflates the “1-yard ton bag.” Bulk bags — the woven totes stacked at garden centers and listed as one-ton bags — are built to carry about a cubic yard of loose material, and the name describes the bag class, not a guaranteed weight. Filled with mixed fill, one tote is roughly 1.55 US tons (1.41 tonnes); filled with screened topsoil it is about 1.3–1.35 tons; filled with light compost it barely reaches 1.0 ton. That is why three “one-ton bags” of compost can weigh less than two of fill dirt even though they occupy the same footprint on the pallet — the volume is fixed, the mass follows the material.

Ordering tip: when a quote arrives in tonnes, convert it to US tons (or set the unit switch above to “tonnes”) before comparing prices — a $24/tonne quote is about $26.5/ton, which can flip which supplier is actually cheaper.

Quick answers

Tons ↔ Yards FAQ

How many cubic yards are in a ton of dirt?+

A US ton of dirt is roughly 0.58–1.0 cubic yards depending on the material: about 0.65 yd³ of mixed fill (1.55 t/yd³), 0.74 yd³ of topsoil or black dirt (1.35 t/yd³), 0.58 yd³ of clay-heavy fill (1.72 t/yd³), or a full 1.0 yd³ of light compost mix (1.0 t/yd³). Pick the material in the converter above for the exact figure.

How many tons is a cubic yard of dirt?+

One cubic yard of loose delivered dirt weighs about 1.0–1.72 US tons. Mixed unscreened fill averages 1.55 tons per yard, screened topsoil about 1.3–1.35, clay-heavy fill 1.72, and compost mixes close to 1.0. Multiply your yards by the material's tons-per-yard figure to get tons.

How many cubic feet are in a ton of dirt?+

Divide 54,000 by the material's pounds per cubic foot. Mixed fill runs about 115 lb/ft³, so a ton is roughly 17.4 cubic feet — two-thirds of a cubic yard. Light compost at 74 lb/ft³ gives about 27 cubic feet per ton, a full yard.

How many yards is 10 tons of dirt?+

About 6.5 cubic yards of mixed fill (10 ÷ 1.55), 7.4 yards of black dirt or topsoil (10 ÷ 1.35), or 5.8 yards of clay-heavy fill (10 ÷ 1.72). Ten tons is a common single-axle dump order — one full truck of mixed fill.

How much does a ton of dirt cover?+

One ton of mixed fill spreads about 209 sq ft at 1 inch deep, 104 sq ft at 2 inches, 70 sq ft at 3 inches, and 17 sq ft at a full 12 inches. Lighter topsoil covers about 242 sq ft per ton at 1 inch. See the per-ton coverage table above for the full depth range.

Is 1 cubic yard of dirt 1.5 tons?+

Close. A cubic yard of mixed or silty fill at 1.5–1.55 tons per yard is the most quoted average, but the honest range is wider: light compost weighs about 1.0 ton per yard while clay-heavy fill reaches 1.72. Always convert with the specific material, not a single all-purpose factor.

What is a cubic ton of dirt?+

There is no such unit — 'cubic ton' mixes a weight (ton) with a volume (cubic yard). Suppliers mean either a short ton (2,000 lb), a long ton (2,240 lb, rare in dirt pricing), or a metric tonne (1,000 kg = 2,204.6 lb). Ask which one is on your quote; this converter handles both the US ton and the metric tonne.

Why does my delivered weight differ from my calculated tons?+

Moisture. Rain-soaked dirt weighs 5–15% more than the dry-basis densities used here, and suppliers selling by weight pass that water across the scale. If you pay by the ton, ask when the pile was last watered and whether the scale ticket is available after the drop.

How much is a yard of dirt in metric tons?+

Multiply the US-ton figure by 0.907: a cubic yard of mixed fill is 1.55 US tons, which is about 1.41 metric tonnes; a yard of black dirt or topsoil is 1.35 US tons or roughly 1.22 tonnes; clay-heavy fill is 1.56 tonnes; compost is about 0.91 tonnes. Going the other way, one metric tonne of mixed fill is about 0.71 cubic yards.

What is a 1-yard ton bag of dirt?+

A bulk bag (also called a one-ton bag or tote) holds roughly one cubic yard of loose material. Despite the name, what it weighs depends entirely on what is inside: filled with mixed fill it carries about 1.55 US tons, with screened topsoil about 1.3–1.35 tons, and with compost about 1.0 ton. Treat 'ton bag' as a size label, not a weight promise.

How many tons is a pickup truck bed of dirt?+

Volume first: a heaped half-ton bed is about 2.5 cubic yards, which is 2.5 × 1.55 ≈ 3.9 tons of mixed fill if you could legally carry it. Weight is the real limit — a typical 2,200 lb payload allows only about 0.7 cubic yards, roughly 1.1 tons of fill per trip. The truck-capacity guide breaks the payload math down by class.

Do bank yards and loose yards convert to different tonnages?+

Yes — this is the classic conversion error. A bank cubic yard is dirt measured in the ground; a loose (delivered) yard is the same dirt after excavation fluffs it up 15–25% in volume. If your project is quoted in bank yards, the delivered loose yards will be 1.15–1.25× the bank figure, but the tonnage stays the same — the weight never changes, only the volume it occupies. Convert with loose densities for delivered loads; convert from bank measurements only after applying the swell factor.

Data & sources: densities mirror the site calculation engine at 1.55 t/yd³ (mixed fill), 1.35 (black dirt / unscreened topsoil), 1.72 (clay-heavy fill), and 1.00 (compost mix). Conversions use exact constants: 27 cu ft per cubic yard, 2,000 lb per US short ton, and 0.90718474 tonnes per short ton. Pile-dimension estimates use a 33° angle of repose, a mid-range planning value for loose damp earth (typical published range 30–45°).

Planning estimates to verify locally: per-ton pricing, moisture content, scale certification, and truck capacity — all vary by supplier and are labeled as typical figures, not quotes.

Author: Dirt Calculator editorial team · Last updated: November 2, 2026. This page is a planning aid; it does not replace a supplier’s measured quote or a certified scale ticket.