Square Feet to Cubic Yards Calculator results turn an area and a depth into the cubic yards you order, plus coverage per yard, delivery rounding and the weight for seven materials.
Cubic yards = square feet × depth in feet ÷ 27.
More Areas and Waste
Cubic Yards by Area and Depth
| Area | 2 in | 3 in | 4 in | 6 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 0.62 | 0.93 | 1.23 | 1.85 |
| 250 sq ft | 1.54 | 2.31 | 3.09 | 4.63 |
| 500 sq ft | 3.09 | 4.63 | 6.17 | 9.26 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 6.17 | 9.26 | 12.35 | 18.52 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 12.35 | 18.52 | 24.69 | 37.04 |
| 5,000 sq ft | 30.86 | 46.30 | 61.73 | 92.59 |
Square Feet to Cubic Yards Calculator for Soil and Gravel
Square feet measure a flat area, while cubic yards measure volume, so the conversion only works once you add a depth. That is why asking how many cubic yards are in 500 square feet has no single answer until you say how thick the layer should be.
Homeowners use the conversion to order topsoil, mulch and gravel, and contractors use it for base rock and concrete flatwork. Bulk yards quote by the cubic yard, so the area you measured has to become a volume before anyone can price a load.
The Square Feet to Cubic Yards Calculator goes past the bare number. It adds up to four areas at one depth, applies a waste margin, rounds the result to an orderable size, and estimates the weight of the load for seven common materials.
Three Ways to Solve the Conversion
Cubic Yards from Area is the usual direction. Enter the area in square feet and the depth in inches, and the hero shows cubic yards along with the same volume in cubic meters and liters.
Area from Cubic Yards runs the math backward, which is the cubic yards to square feet case. Enter the yards you already have and the depth you want, and it returns the square footage that load will cover.
Depth from Both answers a third question, such as how thick 3 yards of mulch will lie over 400 square feet. The Units menu switches every field to square meters, centimeters and cubic meters, and the Square Meter Calculator finds a metric area first if you need it.
Why the Math Divides by 27
A cubic yard is a cube 3 feet on each side, so it holds 3 × 3 × 3 cubic feet. NIST Handbook 44 lists 27 cubic feet to the cubic yard, exactly, so the conversion carries no rounding of its own.
Multiply the area by the depth in feet to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. Depth is usually measured in inches, so the calculator divides it by 12 before anything else happens.
Here A is the area in square feet and d is the depth in inches. Folding the two divisions together gives the shortcut landscape suppliers often quote, since 12 times 27 is 324.
The classic mistake is typing a depth in inches where a formula expects feet. A 100 sq ft bed at 4 inches needs 1.23 cubic yards, but treating that 4 as feet gives 14.81 yards, twelve times too much.
Rearranging the same relationship gives the other two modes. Area comes from yards times 324 divided by depth, and depth comes from yards times 324 divided by area.
The fourth result card shows the working, with cubic feet before the divide-by-27 step, the depth in feet and the area in square yards. Metric mode multiplies square meters by depth in meters instead, and NIST SP 811 gives 0.7645549 cubic meters per cubic yard for comparing the two.
Area, depth and volume must be above zero, while Areas 2 to 4 can stay at zero. Depth tops out at 1,200 inches, and Depth mode warns when the answer falls under 2 inches, since a layer that thin rarely covers evenly.
For a slope or an uneven bed, measure the depth at several points and enter the average. Every area in one run shares a single depth, so a 6-inch base under a 3-inch topping needs two separate runs.
Coverage per Cubic Yard by Depth
The first card flips the question and shows how many square feet one yard covers at your depth, which is 324 divided by the depth in inches. It also lists cubic yards per 1,000 sq ft, plus square feet per ton for material sold by weight.
| Depth | Sq Ft per Cubic Yard | Cubic Yards per 1,000 Sq Ft |
|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 324 | 3.09 |
| 2 in | 162 | 6.17 |
| 3 in | 108 | 9.26 |
| 4 in | 81 | 12.35 |
| 6 in | 54 | 18.52 |
| 12 in | 27 | 37.04 |
The 4-inch row answers a common concrete question, since a yard of concrete placed as a 4-inch slab covers 81 sq ft before any allowance for waste. The 6-inch row covers driveways and thicker base courses.
Many bulk suppliers quote 100 sq ft per yard at 3 inches instead of the exact 108. That rounder figure is a trade convention, not a standard, and it quietly builds in about 8% for settling and ragged edges.
For the area itself, the Square Footage Calculator handles circles, triangles and other shapes. If you measured length, width and depth instead, the Cubic Yard Calculator takes those three dimensions directly.
Rounding Up to an Orderable Amount
The second card adds the waste margin from the accordion, 5% by default, then rounds up to the next quarter yard. The margin is a judgment call rather than a fixed rule, and suppliers don't deliver 2.41 yards, so the rounded figure is the one to phone in.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's guide to compost, soil and mulch gives the same advice, rounding up to the nearest yard or half yard depending on how the material is sold. Check your supplier's step size and minimum load, since some sell only whole yards.
In Area from Cubic Yards mode there is nothing left to order, so the same card works in reverse. It shows the area the load really covers once the waste allowance is lost to spills, uneven ground and settling.
Three cubic yards spread 3 inches deep covers 324 sq ft on paper. With the default 5% allowance, about 0.14 cubic yards never reaches the bed, so plan on roughly 308.6 sq ft, or 15.4 sq ft less than the bare math says.
Weight of the Load by Material
Bulk material is often sold or hauled by the ton, so the third card converts the ordered volume into weight. In Area from Cubic Yards mode it weighs the volume you already have instead. Each material carries a per-yard range, and the card shows the midpoint along with a high estimate for planning a truck or trailer.
Those ranges are typical supplier figures rather than values from a standard, and moisture moves them a lot. Wet topsoil and sand weigh noticeably more than dry material, which is why the card points you to the high end for hauling.
At the tool's topsoil range of 2,000 to 2,400 lb per yard, a single yard can approach or exceed the payload of a light-duty pickup. Check the payload on the door-jamb placard before loading, and switch to metric mode if you need the weight in tonnes.
Worked Example: Mulch for Two Beds and a Path
Say two planting beds of 120 and 80 sq ft and a 60 sq ft path all get mulch at 3 inches. Entered as three areas, they total 260 sq ft and need 2.41 cubic yards before any margin.
With the default 5% extra that becomes 2.53 yards, which rounds up to 2.75 yards to order. At 108 sq ft per yard, the rounding leaves roughly 24 sq ft of spare coverage for touch-ups or a deeper ring around trees.
Mulch runs 400 to 800 lb per yard in the tool's range, so the order weighs about 0.83 tons at the midpoint and 1.10 tons at the high end. The same 2.75 yards of gravel would weigh several times more, so the material choice changes the haul far more than the volume does.
Square Feet, Cubic Feet and Cubic Yard Questions
How do you convert square feet to cubic feet?
Multiply the square footage by the depth in feet. A 200 sq ft patio base at 6 inches, which is 0.5 ft, holds 100 cubic feet of gravel, and dividing that by 27 gives 3.70 cubic yards.
The cubic feet row in the second card helps when you buy bagged material, since bag sizes are printed in cubic feet. Divide that row by the bag size and round up, so one yard in 2-cubic-foot bags is 13.5 bags, or 14 to buy.
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard, and how big is it?
A cubic yard holds 27 cubic feet, the volume of a cube 3 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall. In metric terms that is about 0.76 cubic meters, or roughly 765 liters.
Spread on the ground, the same yard covers 81 sq ft at 4 inches deep or 324 sq ft at 1 inch, which is why a delivered pile tends to look smaller than the job it finishes.
Is 3 cubic feet equal to 1 cubic yard?
No, and it is one of the most common mix-ups. A yard is 3 feet long, but a cubic yard is 3 feet in all three directions, so it holds 3 × 3 × 3, or 27 cubic feet.
Dividing cubic feet by 3 instead of 27 inflates the order ninefold. For 54 cubic feet of fill, the right answer is 2 cubic yards, not the 18 that the wrong divisor gives.
How many square feet is 1 cubic foot?
It depends entirely on depth. One cubic foot covers 12 sq ft at 1 inch deep, 4 sq ft at 3 inches and 3 sq ft at 4 inches, because coverage equals 12 divided by the depth in inches.
How do I convert square feet to cubic yards of soil?
Run the Square Feet to Cubic Yards Calculator with a depth that suits the job, from a few inches for lawn prep to close to a foot for a raised bed. Pick Topsoil or Fill Dirt in the Material menu so the weight card matches what is being delivered.
Loose soil settles after it is spread and watered in, so order a little extra when the final grade matters. A 10% margin in the accordion is a reasonable start for new beds, though that figure is a convention rather than a measured value.
How do I convert square feet to square yards instead?
Divide by 9, because a square yard is 3 feet by 3 feet. Square yards are a flat area measure used for carpet and sod, so no depth is involved, and the Square Yard Calculator handles that conversion directly.