Cubic Yards Calculator
Convert an area and depth into cubic yards for ordering mulch, soil, gravel, or concrete. Enter length and width in feet and depth in inches or feet, and get cubic yards, cubic feet, and cubic meters.
Example: with Length (ft) 12 · Width (ft) 10 · Depth 4 · Depth unit inches → Volume: 1.48 cu yd.
- Cubic feet40 cu ft
- Cubic meters1.13 m³
Computed by the calculator below using its default values. Change any input to see your own numbers.
A cubic yard is a 3 × 3 × 3 ft cube — 27 cubic feet. Divide cubic feet by 27, not by 9 (that converts area, not volume).
The 27, not 9, rule
Bulk landscape and construction materials — mulch, topsoil, gravel, concrete — are sold by the cubic yard, a 3 × 3 × 3 foot cube holding 27 cubic feet. The calculation is length × width × depth in feet, divided by 27. The classic error is dividing by 9, which converts square feet to square yards; volume needs the third factor of 3. A 12 × 10 foot bed dressed with 4 inches of soil is 40 cubic feet, which is 1.48 cubic yards — order a yard and a half.
Depth almost always arrives in inches, so this tool divides it by 12 for you. Keep an eye on that unit toggle: it is the single largest source of wildly wrong orders.
What a yard looks like in real life
One cubic yard fills about 14 standard 2-cubic-foot mulch bags, covers 108 square feet at 3 inches deep, and makes a knee-high pile roughly 5 feet across. A full-size pickup bed hauls about 2 yards of mulch level-full but only around 1 yard of soil or gravel by weight — a yard of topsoil runs near 2,000 lb and gravel closer to 2,700. Many suppliers have 1-yard delivery minimums and price breaks at 5 or 10 yards, so it pays to compute the whole job at once.
How it’s calculated
Cubic yards = length(ft) × width(ft) × depth(ft) ÷ 27, with inches converted at 12 in = 1 ft. Cubic meters = cubic feet × 0.028316846592 (exact). No waste factor is applied — add 5–10% when ordering loose material.
Assumes a uniform rectangular prism — mounded beds, slopes, and settling (mulch compresses about 20% in the first weeks) need extra.
Coverage of one cubic yard
| Spread depth | Coverage |
|---|---|
| 2 in | 162 sq ft |
| 3 in | 108 sq ft |
| 4 in | 81 sq ft |
| 6 in | 54 sq ft |
| 12 in | 27 sq ft |
Computed as 27 cu ft ÷ depth in feet; exact.
Common mistakes
- Dividing cubic feet by 9 instead of 27 — 9 converts area, 27 converts volume.
- Leaving depth in inches while the unit is set to feet (or vice versa), a 12× error.
- Ordering the exact computed volume with no allowance for settling, uneven grade, or spillage.
- Assuming a pickup can haul any 2-yard load: 2 yards of gravel is over 2.5 tons, far past a half-ton truck's rating.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cubic yards formula?
Cubic yards = length(ft) × width(ft) × depth(ft) ÷ 27. With depth in inches, divide the inches by 12 first: a 12 × 10 ft area at 4 inches is 12 × 10 × 0.333 ÷ 27 = 1.48 yards.
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
27 — a yard is 3 feet, and 3 × 3 × 3 = 27. That is also why a yard of 2-cubic-foot mulch bags is about 14 bags.
How much area does a cubic yard cover?
108 square feet at 3 inches deep, 81 at 4 inches, 54 at 6 inches. Divide 324 by the depth in inches for any other spread.
How much does a cubic yard weigh?
Depends entirely on the material: mulch around 500–800 lb, topsoil roughly 2,000 lb, sand about 2,700, gravel 2,700–3,000. That weight, not volume, is what limits pickup hauling.