Landscape Rock Calculator
Find how many tons, cubic yards or bags of landscape rock you need.
Measure your project
Your answer
That is 0.51 cubic yards. We added 10% extra.
If you buy bags
What it costs
Landscape rock: $77 a ton, the middle of 17 prices from only 3 US yards (Oct 2026), for pickup. Treat it as rough.
Quick answers
- Tons in a yard
- About 1.25 tons, by one rock supplier's rule of thumb. The rule leaves out lava rock.
- Bags in a yard
- 54 bags of 0.5 cubic feet.
- What one bag covers
- A 0.5 cubic foot bag covers 6 sq ft at 1 in deep, or 3 sq ft at 2 in.
- Price
- About $77 a ton for pickup. That is from only 3 yards, so treat it as rough.
How to work it out
- Measure the length and width of each bed in feet.
- Multiply them to get square feet. Add the beds together.
- Multiply by the depth in inches. Divide by 324 for cubic yards. Add 10% if you want some to spare.
- For tons, multiply the cubic yards by 1.25. For 0.5 cubic foot bags, multiply by 54 and round up.
10 × 5 × 3 ÷ 324 = 0.46 cubic yards
0.46 × 1.1 = 0.51 with 10% extra
0.51 × 1.25 = 0.64 tons
0.51 × 54 = 28 bags
How to measure for landscape rock
- Use a tape to find each bed's length and width, in feet.
- Split an odd shape into rectangles, and measure each one.
- Round bed? Measure across the middle, then add it as a "Round" area.
- Decide on the depth of rock, in inches.
Then use this table to check how far each yard, ton or bag will go.
| Depth | 1 cubic yard | 1 ton | 1 bag (0.5 cu ft) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 324 sq ft | 259 sq ft | 6 sq ft |
| 2 in | 162 sq ft | 130 sq ft | 3 sq ft |
| 3 in | 108 sq ft | 86 sq ft | 2 sq ft |
| 4 in | 81 sq ft | 65 sq ft | 1.5 sq ft |
Tons use the supplier rule of 1.25 tons a cubic yard.
Where our rock weight comes from
Southwest Boulder & Stone, a rock supplier, uses a simple rule. One cubic yard of rock weighs about 1.25 tons. The rule leaves out lava rock and mulch.
Front Range Material, a Colorado yard, uses the same 1.25 tons for "rock". These are rules of thumb from sellers, so treat the tons as a guide.
The cubic yards and bag counts don't depend on weight. So they hold for any rock, light or heavy.
Lava rock
We found no weight for lava rock. Use the cubic yards and bags for it, and skip the tons.
Bags or bulk?
One cubic yard fills 54 bags of 0.5 cubic feet. That is a lot of lifting. Lowe's river rock bags of that size weigh 44–47 lb. A Vigoro bag of creek rock 2–4 in weighs 40 lb.
So a yard in bags is about 2,160–2,538 lb to carry.
Bulk landscape rock is about $77 a ton for pickup. That is the middle of 17 prices, from $49.50 to $115.70. They came from only 3 yards, in Minnesota and Colorado, so treat it as rough.
Each rock type has its own price. For river rock, 9 sellers had a middle price of $115 a cubic yard.
Replacing mulch with rock
Don't just copy your old mulch order. The yards you need depend on the new depth.
At the same depth, a bed takes the same cubic yards of rock as it took of mulch. A shallower layer takes less.
Say a bed took 3 cubic yards of mulch, 3 in deep. Rock 2 in deep needs only 2 cubic yards for the same bed.
Each yard of rock weighs about 1.25 tons. So a small trailer may need more trips than it did for mulch.
Questions people ask
How much landscape rock do I need?
Measure your beds and pick a depth. A cubic yard of rock covers 162 sq ft at 2 in deep. The calculator above gives cubic yards, tons and bags.
How do I calculate landscape rock?
Take the square feet of your beds times the depth in inches. Divide that by 324 for cubic yards, then multiply by 1.25 for tons.
How many bags of rocks are in a yard?
54 bags of 0.5 cubic feet. A cubic yard holds 27 cubic feet, and each bag holds 0.5.
How much does a ton of landscape rock cover?
About 130 sq ft at 2 in deep. Double the depth to 4 in, and it covers half: about 65 sq ft.
How many tons of landscape rock are in a yard?
About 1.25 tons, by one supplier's rule of thumb. That rule does not cover lava rock.
How do I measure for landscape rock?
Measure the length and width of each bed in feet. For a round bed, measure straight across the middle. Then choose how deep the rock will be.
How much landscape rock do I need for 100 square feet?
About 0.62 cubic yards at 2 in deep, or 0.93 at 3 in. That weighs about 0.77 or 1.16 tons.
How much does landscape rock cost?
About $77 a ton for pickup, the middle of 17 prices from 3 yards in Minnesota and Colorado. That is only 3 yards, so check yours.
Where our numbers come from
- Rock weight: Southwest Boulder & Stone rule of thumb (1.25 tons a cubic yard, not lava rock)
- Coverage and weights: Front Range Material conversion sheet
- River rock bags: Lowe's 0.5 cubic foot bag (44 lb; archived page)
- Creek rock bags: Vigoro 0.5 cubic foot bag (40 lb; archived page)
- #57 stone extra: Palmetto Sand & Gravel (add 10%)
- Landscape rock price: 17 prices from 3 US yards (Oct 2026)
- River rock price: 9 US sellers per cubic yard, 7 per ton (Oct 2026)
Made by BuildersCount. Last checked 3 Oct 2026.
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