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How Many Cubic Yards in a Ton of Topsoil?

Why a ton is not a yard, the 1.35 factor this calculator uses, and how wet loads throw the weight off.

Updated August 25, 2026

Yards measure space. Tons measure weight.

Suppliers sell topsoil both ways. Landscape yards usually quote cubic yards because that is how a bucket and a truck body are measured. Some quarries and agricultural sellers quote tons. If you convert them as if they were the same unit, you will be short or you will over-order.

This site treats one cubic yard of moist screened topsoil as 1.35 tons, or about 2,700 pounds. USDA NRCS bulk density is oven-dry and changes with texture (they give silt loam ≈ 1.33 g/cm³ as an ideal example). 1.35 t/yd is an as-delivered planning factor in the moist range, not that lab number. Flip the factor: one ton is about 0.74 cubic yards (1 ÷ 1.35).

TonsCubic yards at 1.35 t/ydWhat it covers at 4 in
10.74About 60 sq ft
53.7About 300 sq ft
8.46.2500 sq ft (homepage example)
16.612.31,000 sq ft at 4 in

Why your ticket might disagree

Dry, sandy soil can land closer to 1.1 to 1.2 tons per yard. Wet clay-heavy soil can pass 1.5 tons per yard. After a week of rain, the same pile is heavier and the truck hits its legal weight sooner, which means you may receive fewer yards than the truck body could hold on a dry day.

Organic mixes and composted blends are lighter. A yard of fluffy garden mix might be 900 to 1,800 pounds. If you use this site’s 1.35 factor on a bark-heavy blend, the displayed tons will read high. The yards are still the number you should order, because plants care about volume.

How to talk to the yard

If they sell by the yard, order yards and ignore tons except as a sanity check on the truck. If they sell by the ton, tell them the yards you need and let them convert with their own density. Ask what density they assume. If they assume 1.2 and we assume 1.35, a 10-yard job is 12 tons on their ticket and 13.5 on this screen.

Never convert a “10-ton” quote into “10 yards.” Ten tons at 1.35 is 7.4 yards. On a 1,000 sq ft lawn at 4 inches you needed 12.3 yards. That is the difference between a finished grade and a visible old lawn.

Pickup trucks are a weight problem

A half-ton pickup is not rated for a half-ton of soil plus the bed and the passengers in the sense people think. One cubic yard of screened topsoil at 1.35 tons is 2,700 pounds — over the payload of many half-ton trucks once you add a driver and a wet bed. Federal labeling (49 CFR 571.110) puts the real payload on the driver’s door-jamb sticker. This site uses 2.5 cubic yards as a “pickup load” only as a planning sketch for a heavy-duty truck or a trailer, not as a recommendation to overload a daily driver.

If you are hauling yourself, take half-yard or 3/4-yard bites and stay under the door sticker. The calculator’s load count is there so you can see that a 6.2-yard lawn is not “two trips in the SUV.”

Sand uses the same starting factor

Dry sand is often near the same 1.35 tons per yard; damp sand is heavier. The sand calculator on this site uses the same density starting point and prices sand by the ton by default, because that is how many pits sell it. If your ticket is in yards, switch the cost mode to per-yard.

A conversion you can do on the hood of the truck

Yards = tons ÷ 1.35. Tons = yards × 1.35. Coverage at 4 inches in square feet ≈ yards × 81. If a scale ticket says 9.2 tons and you needed 8 yards for a bed, 9.2 ÷ 1.35 = 6.8 yards — you are short. That conversation is easier before the driver leaves.

If the yard insists their soil is “a ton and a half to the yard,” believe them for that pile and re-run the dollars. 12.3 yards at 1.5 tons is 18.5 tons. At $28 per ton that is $518, not the $466 you sketched at 1.35.

Why this site still shows both units

Homeowners think in area and depth. Trucks think in yards. Scales think in tons. Showing all three on one card is how you catch a quote that switched units mid-sentence. The animated soil bed is only there so depth stays visible while you change the number; it is not a weigh scale.

Sources

Numbers on this page are planning figures. Follow the link for the original table or standard. Full list: Sources.

  1. NIST. Handbook 44, Appendix C — General Tables of Units of Measurement. 1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet. Coverage identity: 27 × 12 = 324 sq ft at 1 inch.
  2. USDA NRCS. Soil Bulk Density / Moisture / Aeration (Soil Quality Kit). Oven-dry bulk density varies by texture; silt loam example ≈ 1.33 g/cm³. Not the same as a wet truckload.
  3. South Dakota State University Extension. Bulk Density is an Indicator of Soil Health. Ideal bulk-density bands by texture (NRCS table). 1 g/cm³ ≈ 62.3 lb/ft³.
  4. Penn State Extension. Lawn Establishment. Minimum 4–6 inches (firmed) of quality topsoil to establish turf; blend into subsoil.
  5. University of Illinois Extension. Preparing Lawn Soil and Site. Aim for six inches or more of well-prepared soil before seed or sod.
  6. University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension. Establishing Lawns From Sod. Replace topsoil to a minimum of about 4 inches after rough grade; sod often cut 0.25–0.5 in thick.
  7. University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Establishing a Lawn From Sod (FSA-2042). About 19 cubic yards of topsoil make a 6-inch layer over 1,000 sq ft; sample the upper 4–6 inches.
  8. Angi. What Is the Cost of Topsoil? [2026 Data]. National homeowner bands: about $10–$55/yd³ by type; screened loam $18–$26; delivery often $50–$150/trip.
  9. Lawn Love. How Much Does Topsoil Cost in 2026?. Bulk topsoil commonly cited at about $10–$50 per cubic yard, plus delivery.
  10. University of Minnesota Extension. Raised bed gardens. Mounded beds often 6–8 in high. Mix about ½–⅔ topsoil with ⅓–½ plant-based compost. Deeper (1–2 ft) if the bed sits on pavement.
  11. Penn State Extension (York County Master Gardeners). Raised Bed Gardening. A common framed bed is 4 × 8 ft by 1 ft deep — enough for most annual vegetable roots.
  12. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. 49 CFR 571.110 — Tire selection and rims; motor vehicle. Payload / vehicle capacity weight is the number on the driver’s door-jamb label — not a generic “half-ton.”

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