How Many Bags of Concrete in a Yard?
By Marko VisicBSc Physics, University of Ljubljana
If a ready-mix truck is overkill, you buy concrete by the bag, and the first question is how many bags equal the cubic yard your pour needs. It depends only on the bag’s yield.
One cubic yard takes 45 bags of 80-lb mix, 60 of 60-lb, or 90 of 40-lb. Buy 50, 66 and 99 with the 10% allowance. Every size adds up to the same 3,600 lb of dry mix per yard.
45bags
eighty-pound bags of mix make one cubic yard
Bags per cubic yard by bag size
Bags per yard is 27 cubic feet divided by the bag’s yield. The water column is the QUIKRETE mixing range scaled to a full yard.
How many 80-lb bags of concrete in a yard?
An 80-lb bag of QUIKRETE yields 0.60 cubic feet, so a cubic yard takes 45 of them: one 42-bag pallet plus three loose bags. Add the 10% ordering margin and buy 50 bags.
How many 60-lb bags of concrete in a yard?
A 60-lb bag yields 0.45 cubic feet, so a yard takes 60 of them: a full 56-bag pallet plus four. With the 10% margin, order 66 bags.
The math behind bags per yard
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, and each bag states how many cubic feet of mixed concrete it makes. Divide one by the other. An 80-lb bag yields 0.60 cubic feet, so a yard takes 45 of them. Add the 10% allowance and round up carefully, because ninety times 1.1 lands just over 99 on a computer, which a naive round would push to 100.
3,600 lb
Dry mix per yard
Same for every bag size
How many cubic feet are in an 80-lb bag of concrete?
An 80-lb bag of QUIKRETE No. 1101 makes 0.60 cubic feet of mixed concrete, the yield printed on the bag. That is why a yard needs 45 of them: the yard’s 27 cubic feet divided by each bag’s 0.60-cubic-foot yield.
How many bags are in a pallet of concrete?
A full pallet holds just under a cubic yard, so a yard is one pallet plus a few loose bags. QUIKRETE publishes pallet counts for three sizes; 50 and 90-lb bags have none, so they are left blank rather than guessed.
Water for a yard
QUIKRETE’s Table 2 gives a starting and a maximum mixing water per bag; scaled to a full yard, an 80-lb mix needs about 34 to 51 gallons. Start at the low end: too much water weakens the cure. The gallons-per-yard column in the table above runs the same math for every size.
What a yard of bags weighs
Dry, a yard of mix is 3,600 lb, the same whatever bag size you buy, because yield scales with weight. That is well past a half-ton pickup’s 2,440 lb payload, so a yard of bags is a two-trip load or a trailer, before you add the mixing water.
Bags or ready-mix for a yard
For a full yard, the small-load fee decides it. The national producer value is about $132.96 per cubic yard as of Oct 2026, but a yard ordered on its own also pays one producer’s $175 small-load fee, so its 45 eighty-pound bags win on price below about $6.84 a bag, before the work of mixing them. Once an order passes 4 cubic yards that producer charges no fee, and the breakeven drops to about $2.95. The concrete-bags calculator finds the exact breakeven for your pour.
Bags for common pours
Eighty- and sixty-pound bags for the pours people ask about most, before any waste allowance.
| Pour | 80-lb bags | 60-lb bags |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft slab, 4 in | 56 | 75 |
| 12 × 12 ft slab, 4 in | 80 | 107 |
| One 10-ft footing, 16 × 8 in | 15 | 20 |
| 3 post holes, 12 in × 3 ft | 12 | 16 |
Concrete bags per yard FAQ
How many 80-lb bags of concrete are in a yard?
45 eighty-pound bags, since each yields 0.60 cubic feet. With the 10% order allowance, buy 50.
How many 60-lb bags of concrete are in a yard?
60 sixty-pound bags at 0.45 cubic feet each, or 66 with the allowance.
How many bags are on a pallet of concrete?
QUIKRETE pallets hold 42 eighty-pound bags, 56 sixty-pound, or 80 forty-pound, just under a cubic yard each.
How many cubic feet are in an 80-lb bag of concrete?
About 0.60 cubic feet of mixed concrete, per the QUIKRETE data sheet. That is why 45 of them fill a cubic yard.
Is it cheaper to use bags or ready-mix for a yard?
It turns on your bag price. A yard ordered on its own pays a small-load fee, one producer’s $175, so its 45 bags win on price below about $6.84 each. In an order past 4 cubic yards, where that producer charges no fee, a bag has to beat about $2.95. Bags also mean a lot of mixing.
Sources & method
- The QUIKRETE Companies. QUIKRETE Concrete Mix No. 1101 Data Sheet (Revised October 2022). Revised Oct 2022
- The QUIKRETE Companies. QUIKRETE Concrete Mix (No. 1101) product page — Lowe's SKUs and pallet counts. page as retrieved Nov 2026
- National Ready Mixed Concrete Association. CIP 8 – Discrepancies in Yield. 2016 (1979, 1991, 2000, 2016)
- Ford Motor Company. 2026 Ford F-150 Pickup Technical Specifications (03/31/26, V1.1), Available Maximum Payload. 2026 model year (spec sheet dated 03/31/26)
- Duininck Concrete LLC. 2026 Customer Handbook — Small Loads & Call Backs; Split Loads; Unloading Time. file uploaded May 2026; no year printed in the document
- U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 Economic Census, Selected Sectors: Industry by Products for the U.S. and States (table EC2200NAPCSINDPRD), NAICS 327320 × NAPCS 2040575000, United States, all establishments. 2022 (Economic Census; product tables released May 2025)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). FRED series PCU327320327320, text data file. Sep 2026 value (updated Oct 15, 2026)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C. General Tables of Units of Measurement. 2026 edition
Bag counts are 27 cubic feet divided by each QUIKRETE No. 1101 yield; water scales Table 2; pallet counts are from the product page. The ready-mix value is a national producer figure escalated to the current month. Full method is on the methodology page.
- Concrete Bags CalculatorBags for your exact pour, with a bags-vs-ready-mix breakeven.
- How to Estimate a Concrete ProjectVolume, waste and ordering, end to end.
- Concrete Mix RatioWhat goes into a bag, and mixing it right.
Marko Visic
I'm Marko Visic, a physics graduate who builds data-driven calculators. I run ConstructionCalc through my company, Moving Data Systems d.o.o.
The calculators help you plan a DIY job or check a contractor's quote before you sign. Each one cites its sources and shows its method, and cost figures are computed from public primary data. If a number looks wrong, email info@constructioncalc.org and I'll trace it to its source or fix it.