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Find cubic yards and tons of stone for your area and depth. Compare material costs with published spreading prices. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
HomeGuide's pea gravel guide lists $30 to $55 per ton for stone and $0.35 to $1.30 per sq ft for spreading labor. HomeGuide's gravel guide lists crushed stone and gravel at $10 to $50 per ton, plus $10 to $25 per cubic yard for spreading.
HomeGuide's landscape rock guide lists river rock at $45 to $130 per ton and decorative lava rock at $80 to $240 per ton. Installing landscape rock adds $25 to $100 per ton in labor.
The installed estimate uses per-square-foot labor for pea gravel, per-yard spreading for crushed stone, and per-ton labor for river rock and lava rock. Delivery and a driveway's base layer are not included.
Landscaper quoting this job? Price a gravel job →
| Stone | Tons per cubic yard | Published by | Cubic yards per ton |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pea gravel | 1.40 | Idaho Rock Supply | 0.71 |
| Crushed stone (#57) | 1.20–1.40 | Stone Plus, Idaho Rock Supply | 0.71–0.83 |
| River rock | 1.33–1.35 | Stone Plus, Idaho Rock Supply | 0.74–0.75 |
| Lava rock | 0.50–0.63 | Stone Plus, West Seattle Stone | 1.60–2.00 |
| Depth | One cubic yard covers | Cubic yards per 100 sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| 2 in | 162 sq ft | 0.62 |
| 3 in | 108 sq ft | 0.93 |
| 4 in | 81 sq ft | 1.23 |
| 6 in | 54 sq ft | 1.85 |
The area and depth determine the volume. Multiply cubic yards by the stone's tons per cubic yard to find its weight. Enter your supplier's weight to replace the published range.
cubic yards = area in sq ft × depth in inches ÷ 324
tons = cubic yards × tons per cubic yard
Stone Plus, Idaho Rock Supply and West Seattle Stone publish different weights. The calculator retains the published low and high figures for each stone: pea gravel at 1.4 tons per cubic yard, crushed stone at 1.2 to 1.4, river rock at 1.325 to 1.35, and lava rock at 0.5 to 0.625.
Idaho Rock Supply lists pea gravel at 2 to 3 inches, #57 crushed stone at 2 to 4 inches, and driveway or walkway gravel at 2 to 4 inches, with 6 inches for a new drive.
HomeGuide describes a basic pea gravel pathway as 2 to 4 inches deep. Its pea gravel driveway example uses a 4 inch top layer over an 8 inch base of bigger rock. This calculator does not include that base layer. Run it again for the base, using its area, depth and supplier weight.
For a depth outside the preset choices, use the formula above to calculate that layer's cubic yards.
All checked November 3, 2026.
At 1.4 tons per cubic yard, a ton covers about 58 sq ft at 4 inches or 77 sq ft at 3 inches. Coverage changes with depth and the supplier's weight per cubic yard.
No. A cubic yard measures volume; a ton measures weight. Multiply the cubic yards by the tons per cubic yard for your stone.
No. Calculate the top layer and base separately. The cubic-yard formula also works for a base depth that is not one of the form's presets.
Yes. Enter its tons per cubic yard in the optional supplier weight field. The calculator uses that figure for both the tonnage and the cost estimate.
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