How Many Cubic Feet in a Cubic Yard?
By Marko VisicBSc Physics, University of Ljubljana
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard? It matters because “a yard” of mulch, gravel or concrete is sold as a cubic yard: a fixed volume, not a weight or an area, which is exactly what trips people up.
There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, a cube 3 feet on each side, or 0.765 cubic meters. Spread 3 inches deep it covers 108 square feet. What a yard weighs depends entirely on the material, from 243 lb of dry wood chips to 2,700 lb of dry sand.
27ft³
cubic feet in one cubic yard
How big is a cubic yard?
A cubic yard is the volume of a cube one yard (3 feet) on every side. Three feet cubed is twenty-seven, so a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. In other units that is 0.765 cubic meters and 46,656 cubic inches. Suppliers abbreviate it “yd³,” “cu yd” or “CY.”
How many square feet a yard covers
Coverage is pure geometry: one cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so it covers 324 divided by the depth in inches square feet. Thinner layers reach further.
| Depth (in) | Covers (sq ft) | Covers (m²) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 324.0 | 30.1 |
| 2 | 162.0 | 15.1 |
| 3 | 108.0 | 10.0 |
| 4 | 81.0 | 7.5 |
| 6 | 54.0 | 5.0 |
| 8 | 40.5 | 3.8 |
| 12 | 27.0 | 2.5 |
How much a cubic yard weighs
This is where “a yard” stops being one number. A yard of dry wood chips and a yard of dry sand are the same 27 cubic feet, but the sand weighs more than ten times as much. That ratio is what decides how many trips and what size truck a job needs.
| Material | lb / yd³ | short tons / yd³ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry wood chips | 243 | 0.12 | EPA |
| Dry earth (loam/silt) | 1,900–2,200 | 0.95–1.10 | Army TM |
| Dry sand | 2,600–2,900 | 1.30–1.45 | Army TM |
| Dry gravel | 2,700–3,000 | 1.35–1.50 | Army TM |
| Fresh concrete | 3,888–4,050 | 1.94–2.03 | NYC code |
How much is in a yard of dirt?
A yard of dirt is the same 27 cubic feet as any other yard, so it covers the same ground: spread 3 inches deep a cubic yard of topsoil covers 108 square feet, and at a thinner 2 inches it reaches 162 square feet. Weight is the part that surprises people. By the Army earthmoving tables, loose dry earth (loam or silt) runs 1,900 to 2,200 lb per cubic yard, and once it is wet that climbs to 2,800 to 3,200 lb. So a single yard of wet topsoil outweighs the top payload Ford lists for a 2026 F-150, 2,440 lb. To size a bed from its area and depth, use the topsoil calculator.
Cubic yards vs cubic feet vs square feet
Two of these are volumes and one is an area. Cubic feet and cubic yards both measure how much material fills a space, 27 cubic feet to the yard. Square feet measures a surface; it only becomes a volume once you multiply by a depth. Mixing them up is the single most common ordering mistake, which is why a bulk order always needs an area and a depth.
How to measure for cubic yards
Measure length and width in feet, multiply for square feet, multiply by the depth in feet (depth in inches ÷ 12), then divide by 27. For odd shapes, break the area into rectangles, circles and triangles and add them. The cubic yard calculator does every shape and adds an order allowance for you.
What a cubic yard costs
A cubic yard’s price depends entirely on the material, and the only honest national numbers are producer and public-contract values, not delivered quotes. Ready-mix concrete has a national producer value of about $132.96 per cubic yard as of Oct 2026. Crushed stone’s quarry value works out to about $17.91 per short ton and construction sand to $14.04 per short ton at Oct 2026. A loose yard is roughly 1.4 short tons, so multiply to reach a per-yard quarry figure. Furnished-and-placed topsoil on public contracts ran $49.12 per cubic yard in Vermont and $105.33 per cubic yard in Montana, public-contract prices that carry prevailing wages and run above residential. Your delivered price sits above the producer value; get a local quote.
The ready-mix and quarry figures are the latest monthly producer values and are not final until revised; see the cost of concrete per yard and the concrete calculator for the delivered picture.
How many bags make a yard
For bagged material, divide 27 by the bag’s cubic feet: a yard is 13.5 two-cubic-foot bags of mulch, or 45 eighty-pound bags of concrete mix. Which costs less turns on your bag price and what a supplier charges to deliver a small load. The concrete-bags calculator works the pour both ways.
Cubic yard FAQ
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
Exactly 27 cubic feet. A cubic yard is a cube 3 feet on each side, and three feet cubed is twenty-seven.
How big is a cubic yard?
A cube 3 feet on every side: 27 cubic feet, 0.765 cubic meters, or 46,656 cubic inches.
How much does a yard of dirt weigh?
Loose dry earth is about 1,900 to 2,200 lb a cubic yard; wet it is heavier. That is roughly one short ton of soil per cubic yard.
How many cubic feet of soil are in a yard?
The same 27 cubic feet as any other material. A yard is a volume, not a weight. A 1.5-cubic-foot bag of soil is 18 to a yard.
How many cubic yards are in a 5-gallon bucket?
A 5-gallon bucket is about 0.025 cubic yards, so it takes roughly 40 full buckets to equal one cubic yard. Bulk is the only practical way to move a yard.
Sources & method
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C. General Tables of Units of Measurement. 2026 edition
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery. Volume-to-Weight Conversion Factors (April 2016). Apr 2016
- Headquarters, Department of the Army. TM 3-34.62/MCRP 3-40D.9 Earthmoving Operations, Table 1-2 (Material weight, swell percentages, and load factors), pp. 3–4. 30 May 2025, incl. Change 1 (29 July 2026)
- City of New York. NYC Administrative Code Title 27, Ch. 1, Subch. 9, Reference Standard RS 9-1, Minimum Unit Design Dead Loads for Structural Design Purposes. 1968 Building Code reference standard, kept in the current Administrative Code
- 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)
- U.S. Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — Stone (Crushed), Salient Statistics—United States (columns 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025e). 2025 estimate; MCS 2026 ver. 1.0 published Feb 6, 2026 (ver. 1.1 March 2026)
- U.S. Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — Sand and Gravel (Construction), Salient Statistics—United States. 2025 estimate; MCS 2026 (Feb 6, 2026)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED. FRED series WPU1321, Producer Price Index by Commodity: Nonmetallic Mineral Products: Construction Sand, Gravel and Crushed Stone. Sep 2026 value (updated Oct 15, 2026)
- Vermont Agency of Transportation. 2 Year Averaged Price List, October 2024 - October 2026. Oct 2024-Oct 2026
- Montana Department of Transportation. Weighted Average Prices Catalog, CY2025. CY2025
- 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)
- The QUIKRETE Companies. QUIKRETE Concrete Mix No. 1101 Data Sheet, Yield. Revised October 2022
The 27, the 0.765 m³ metric equal and the 1,728 cubic inches per cubic foot are NIST definitions. Weights are loose dry densities from the US Army and EPA; prices are producer and public-contract values escalated to the current month. Full method is on the methodology page.
- Cubic Yard CalculatorArea and depth to cubic yards, with weight by material.
- Cubic Yards to TonsConvert a volume to a weight for any material, both ways.
- Topsoil vs Fill vs Sand vs GravelWhich bulk material the job needs, and how to layer them.
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.