Soil Calculator
Find how many cubic yards of topsoil, fill dirt or compost you need.
Measure your project
Your answer
That weighs about 1.09 tons. We added 10% extra.
What it costs
Topsoil: $40 a cubic yard, the middle of 13 US sellers (Oct 2026), before delivery.
Quick answers
- Cubic feet of soil
- Multiply the length and width in feet by the depth in feet. A depth of 6 in is 0.5 ft.
- Weight of a yard
- Topsoil about 0.8 tons, fill dirt about 1, and compost about 0.55. All loose.
- Price
- Topsoil about $40 a cubic yard (13 yards). Fill dirt about $24 (5 yards).
- Liters in a cubic yard
- About 765 liters, or 28.3 for each cubic foot.
How to work it out
- Measure how long and how wide the area is, in feet.
- Turn the depth into feet. For example, 4 in ÷ 12 = 0.33 ft.
- Multiply the three numbers to get cubic feet.
- For cubic yards, divide by 27. Add 10% for settling if you like.
- For tons, multiply the cubic yards by the soil's weight.
10 × 10 × 0.333 = 33.3 cubic feet
33.3 ÷ 27 = 1.23 cubic yards
1.23 × 1.1 = 1.36 with 10% extra
1.36 × 0.8 = 1.09 tons of topsoil
Cubic feet and cubic yards of soil
Bags are sold in cubic feet. Bulk soil is sold in cubic yards. This table gives both for common sizes.
| Size | 4 in deep | 6 in deep |
|---|---|---|
| 4 × 8 ft | 11 cu ft (0.40 cu yd) | 16 cu ft (0.59 cu yd) |
| 3 × 10 ft | 10 cu ft (0.37 cu yd) | 15 cu ft (0.56 cu yd) |
| 10 × 10 ft | 33 cu ft (1.23 cu yd) | 50 cu ft (1.85 cu yd) |
| 10 × 20 ft | 67 cu ft (2.47 cu yd) | 100 cu ft (3.70 cu yd) |
| 20 × 20 ft | 133 cu ft (4.94 cu yd) | 200 cu ft (7.41 cu yd) |
| 20 × 50 ft | 333 cu ft (12.35 cu yd) | 500 cu ft (18.52 cu yd) |
No extra added. One cubic yard is 27 cubic feet.
Topsoil, fill dirt and compost
Each kind of soil has its own weight. That matters if you carry it home, or if a yard sells by the ton.
| Soil | We use (tons) | Sources say | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topsoil | 0.8 | 0.8–1.05 | Caterpillar, Tapco |
| Fill dirt | 1 | 0.95–1.08 | Tapco |
| Compost | 0.55 | 0.41–0.68 | Front Range, Tapco |
| Wet soil with clay | — | 1.35–1.49 | Tapco |
For topsoil we use Caterpillar's 0.8 tons, its figure for loose topsoil. Loam reads heavier: about 1.03 tons in Tapco's table and 1.05 in Caterpillar's.
Dry, loose earth runs 0.95–1.1 tons in the Army's earthmoving manual. That is close to our fill dirt weight.
Wet soil is the heaviest. If your soil is wet or full of clay, expect more tons than the calculator shows.
One South Carolina yard, Palmetto Sand & Gravel, uses 1.35 tons a yard for its topsoil. That is far above Caterpillar's 0.8. So if a yard sells by the ton, ask what weight it uses.
Bags per yard, and prices
Stores sell soil in bags by weight or by size. Here is how many bags make one cubic yard.
| Bag | Bags per cubic yard |
|---|---|
| 40 lb topsoil | 40 |
| 1.5 cu ft | 18 |
| 2 cu ft | 13.5 (buy 14) |
| 2.5 cu ft | 10.8 (buy 11) |
Kellogg sells a planting mix in the cubic foot sizes. The pound count uses loose topsoil.
In bulk, fill dirt ($24 a yard, 5 yards) cost well under topsoil ($40, 13 yards). Our 40 lb bag price, $4.73, came from only 2 stores, so it is rough. We found no US price for compost.
To weigh bags against bulk for topsoil, use our topsoil calculator.
Settling, packing and digging out
Settling
We start at 10% extra. Palmetto Sand & Gravel says to add that much to topsoil and fill for settling. It says nothing about compost, and we found no figure from a government or trade group.
The US Army's manual (FM 5-434) says each packed cubic yard of loam takes 1.39 loose cubic yards. That is for heavy machine packing, not for a garden bed.
Digging out
Dug soil takes more room than it did in the ground. The same manual says dry loam grows 15–35% and clay about 40%.
So 1 cubic yard dug from dry loam becomes about 1.15–1.35 cubic yards of loose dirt.
Questions people ask
How much soil do I need?
Measure the area, then decide how deep. Square feet × inches ÷ 324 gives cubic yards. At 4 in deep, 100 sq ft takes about 1.23 cubic yards.
How much dirt do I need?
Work it out the same way: length × width × depth in feet, divided by 27. Loose fill dirt weighs about 1 ton a cubic yard.
How do I calculate cubic feet of soil?
Use feet for all three: length × width × depth. A 3 × 10 ft border filled 6 in deep holds 15 cubic feet.
How many yards of soil do I need?
Divide your cubic feet by 27. Or use square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324. So 500 sq ft at 2 in is 3.09 cubic yards.
How many bags of soil do I need?
Take the cubic feet and divide by the bag size. Round up to whole bags. That 3 × 10 ft border takes 8 bags of 2 cubic feet.
How much fill dirt do I need?
Measure the low spot and how deep it is. A 10 × 10 ft spot, 6 in deep, needs 1.85 cubic yards. That is about 1.85 tons. Fill under a slab or path? Check your local building rules or ask a builder or engineer.
How much does a yard of soil weigh?
Loose topsoil weighs about 1,600 lb. Fill dirt is about 2,000 lb, and compost about 1,100 lb. Wet soil weighs more.
How many liters of soil are in a cubic yard?
About 765 liters. A 2 cubic foot bag holds about 57 liters.
Where our numbers come from
- Material weights: Caterpillar earthwork tables
- Weights of sand, gravel, soil and stone: Tapco weight chart for bulk materials
- Coverage and weights: Front Range Material conversion sheet
- Packing down: US Army earthmoving manual (FM 5-434)
- Topsoil extra: Palmetto Sand & Gravel (add 10% for settling)
- Fill dirt extra: Palmetto Sand & Gravel (add 10%)
- Planting mix bags: Kellogg Gromulch (1.5, 2 and 2.5 cubic feet)
- Topsoil prices: the middle price of 13 yards (bulk) and 2 stores (bags), Oct 2026
- Fill dirt price: the middle price of 5 US yards (Oct 2026)
- Unit sizes: NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C (1 ft = 0.3048 m; 1 US gallon = 231 cubic inches)
Made by BuildersCount. Last checked 3 Oct 2026.
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