Topsoil Calculator
Cubic yards and tons of topsoil, fill dirt, loam or sand for a bed, lawn or raised bed — with sourced dry-to-soaked weights and a settling allowance.
Topsoil Calculator: with the default inputs, soil to order is 0.87 yd³.
Sets a sensible depth. Pick “Something else” to use the depth field on its own.
Circle mode only.
Square-footage mode only.
Used when the job is set to “Something else”; otherwise the job above sets it.
Only changes the weight, never the volume. Water is why the scale ticket beats the estimate.
Includes the settling allowance.
- Volume of the space itself
- 0.79 yd³The bare geometry, before settling.
- Cubic feet
- 21.3
- Weight as delivered
- 0.8 tonAt the moisture you chose. Suppliers with a scale bill this number.
- Weight if it is dry
- 0.7 ton
- Weight if it is soaked
- 0.9 tonThe same cubic yards, after rain. This spread is why yards and tons are not interchangeable.
- Of that, base material
- 0.87 yd³
- Of that, compost
- 0 yd³
- Bags, if you buy it bagged
- 24Rounded up at the bag size under More options.
- Area covered
- 32 ft²
- Depth used
- 8 in
- Cost in bulk
- $0.00
- Cost in bags
- $0.00
Assumptions
- Weights are loose bulk weights in pounds per cubic yard from the Caterpillar Performance Handbook's Weight of Materials table, except mulch, which comes from the EPA's 2016 volume-to-weight factors.
- Where the source publishes only a dry figure, damp and soaked are derived from FHWA NHI-06-088 eq. 5-1, γt = γd(1 + w), at 15% and 30% moisture content. Caterpillar's own sand row moves +19% dry to damp and +29% dry to soaked, which is what those multipliers are calibrated against. Sand, clay and fill dirt use the measured figures instead.
- Caterpillar's loose topsoil figure, 1,600 lb/yd³, is well below the 2,000–2,200 lb/yd³ landscape suppliers commonly quote. No DOT, federal, university or manufacturer source for the trade figure could be found, so the dry-to-soaked span here brackets it rather than adopting it — expect a scale ticket near the top of the range.
- Finished compost, garden-soil blends and decomposed granite are not offered, because no citable density for them could be found. The compost share splits the volume only.
- Volume is area × depth: an even layer, with no allowance for an uneven subgrade or a sloping site.
- The settling allowance is yours to set; there is no published figure for how far a given soil drops when watered in.
- Bags round up, and bulk is normally sold in half- or quarter-yard increments, so round the order up to your supplier's.
| Material | Dry (tons/yd³) | Damp | Soaked | Damp, in lb/yd³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsoil | 0.8 | 0.92 | 1.04 | 1,840 |
| Loam | 1.05 | 1.21 | 1.37 | 2,415 |
| Fill dirt (earth) | 1.28 | 1.31 | 1.35 | 2,625 |
| Clay | 1.25 | 1.33 | 1.4 | 2,650 |
| Sand | 1.2 | 1.43 | 1.55 | 2,850 |
| Wood chips or bark mulch | 0.12 | 0.18 | 0.24 | 358 |
Caterpillar, “Earth — Top Soil”, 1,600 lb/yd³ loose (2,300 lb/yd³ in the ground). Damp and soaked derived at 15% and 30% moisture.
| Job | Depth | Cubic yards for 32 ft² |
|---|---|---|
| New planting bed | 8 in | 0.79 |
| Raised bed or planter | 12 in | 1.19 |
| New lawn from seed or sod | 4 in | 0.4 |
| Top-dressing an existing lawn | 0.5 in | 0.05 |
| Filling a hole or regrading | 12 in | 1.19 |
Depths are for the growing layer. Under a raised bed you can fill the bottom third with logs, branches or fill dirt and save the good soil for the top.
How this is worked out
The formula
Cubic feet = area in ft² × (depth in inches ÷ 12) Cubic yards = cubic feet ÷ 27 Order = cubic yards × (1 + settling allowance) Weight in tons = cubic yards × density in tons per cubic yard Bags = cubic feet ÷ bag size in ft³, rounded up Blend: compost = order × compost share; base material = the rest
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Material
- Choose one of 6 options.Topsoil · Loam · Fill dirt (earth) · Clay · Sand · Wood chips or bark mulch
- What it is for
- Sets a sensible depth. Pick “Something else” to use the depth field on its own.New planting bed · Raised bed or planter · New lawn from seed or sod · Top-dressing an existing lawn · Filling a hole or regrading · Something else — set the depth yourself
- Shape
- Choose one of 3 options.Rectangle — length × width · Circle — diameter · I already know the square footage
- Length
- A number.in ft, in, yd, m, cm · 0 or more · defaults to 8
- Width
- A number.in ft, in, yd, m, cm · 0 or more · defaults to 4
- Diameter
- Circle mode only.in ft, in, yd, m, cm · 0 or more · defaults to 10
- Area
- Square-footage mode only.in ft², yd², m², acre · 0 or more · defaults to 500
- Depth
- Used when the job is set to “Something else”; otherwise the job above sets it.in in, ft, cm, mm, m · 0 or more · defaults to 12
- How many this size
- A number.from 1 to 1000 · whole numbers only · defaults to 1
- How wet it will arrive
- Only changes the weight, never the volume. Water is why the scale ticket beats the estimate.Dry — screened and stockpiled under cover · Damp — normal, as delivered · Wet — loaded after rain
- Extra for settling(under More options)
- Loose soil settles when it is watered in — 10–20% for a raised bed you want full next spring. Set 0 for the bare geometry.a percentage · from 0 to 100 · defaults to 10
- Share of the fill that is compost(under More options)
- For a raised-bed blend. The result splits into topsoil and compost so you can order both.a percentage · from 0 to 100 · defaults to 0
- Bag size(under More options)
- Choose one of 4 options.0.75 cu ft (small bagged soil) · 1 cu ft · 1.5 cu ft · 2 cu ft
- Bulk price per cubic yard(under More options)
- Delivered. Leave 0 to skip.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Price per bag(under More options)
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
What you get back
- Soil to ordermain answer
- Includes the settling allowance.
- Volume of the space itself
- The bare geometry, before settling.
- Cubic feet
- Weight as delivered
- At the moisture you chose. Suppliers with a scale bill this number.
- Weight if it is dry
- Weight if it is soaked
- The same cubic yards, after rain. This spread is why yards and tons are not interchangeable.
- Of that, base material
- Of that, compost
- Bags, if you buy it bagged
- Rounded up at the bag size under More options.
- Area covered
- Depth used
- Cost in bulk
- Cost in bags
What this assumes
- Weights are loose bulk weights in pounds per cubic yard from the Caterpillar Performance Handbook's Weight of Materials table, except mulch, which comes from the EPA's 2016 volume-to-weight factors.
- Where the source publishes only a dry figure, damp and soaked are derived from FHWA NHI-06-088 eq. 5-1, γt = γd(1 + w), at 15% and 30% moisture content. Caterpillar's own sand row moves +19% dry to damp and +29% dry to soaked, which is what those multipliers are calibrated against. Sand, clay and fill dirt use the measured figures instead.
- Caterpillar's loose topsoil figure, 1,600 lb/yd³, is well below the 2,000–2,200 lb/yd³ landscape suppliers commonly quote. No DOT, federal, university or manufacturer source for the trade figure could be found, so the dry-to-soaked span here brackets it rather than adopting it — expect a scale ticket near the top of the range.
- Finished compost, garden-soil blends and decomposed granite are not offered, because no citable density for them could be found. The compost share splits the volume only.
- Volume is area × depth: an even layer, with no allowance for an uneven subgrade or a sloping site.
- The settling allowance is yours to set; there is no published figure for how far a given soil drops when watered in.
- Bags round up, and bulk is normally sold in half- or quarter-yard increments, so round the order up to your supplier's.
About this calculator
Soil is bought by the cubic yard and billed by the ton, and the conversion between the two moves more than anything else in the yard — because soil carries water. The same cubic yard of screened topsoil can come off the pile light and crumbly or heavy and slumping depending on whether it rained last night. That is why this page gives you a range, not one number.
Volume first, then weight
The volume is fixed geometry: square feet × depth in inches ÷ 12 ÷ 27. Nothing about moisture changes it — a cubic yard of wet soil is still a cubic yard, it just weighs more. So order the volume, and use the weight only to sanity-check a scale ticket or to work out whether your trailer can carry it.
Depth, by job
- Top-dressing a lawn: ¼–½ in. That is it. A yard covers 650–1,300 ft² at that depth, and going deeper smothers the grass.
- New lawn: 4–6 in of topsoil over graded subsoil, so roots have somewhere to go.
- Planting bed: 6–12 in.
- Raised bed: fill to the rim, 10–12 in for vegetables and 18 in if you want carrots and parsnips. You can fill the bottom third with logs, branches or fill dirt and keep the good soil for the top.
- Filling a hole or regrading: fill dirt for the bulk of it, in compacted lifts, capped with 6–12 in of topsoil wherever things have to grow.
Topsoil, fill dirt and garden soil are not the same product
Topsoil is the screened upper layer — it has structure and organic matter and things grow in it. Loam is the texture class in between sand and clay, and it is what most bagged "garden soil" is sold as. Fill dirt is subsoil: cheap, heavy, stable, and close to useless for planting. It is what you want under a patio or behind a retaining wall, and what you do not want in a vegetable bed — cap it with 6–12 in of the good stuff wherever anything has to root.
You will notice compost is not on the material list. That is deliberate: there is no density for finished compost, or for a topsoil-and-compost garden blend, that we could source from a DOT, a federal agency, a university or a manufacturer, and this site does not ship numbers it cannot cite. You can still split the order with the compost share under More options — that is a volume split, which is pure arithmetic — but the weight shown will be the whole order at the base material's weight, and so a little high.
Settling
Loose soil drops when you water it in — a raised bed filled to the rim in April is an inch or two down by June, and compost-heavy blends drop more than mineral soil. The settling allowance under More options adds that back; 10–20% is the usual range for a bed you want full next season. It is the opposite of the compaction allowance you make for crushed stone, where you are adding material you intend to squash.
Reading the results
Soil to order already includes settling and is the number to give the supplier. Weight as delivered is what a scale would read at the moisture you picked; the dry and soaked figures bracket it. One caveat worth knowing: the only citable loose weight for topsoil — Caterpillar's 1,600 lb a cubic yard — sits below the 2,000–2,200 lb landscape yards habitually quote, and nobody publishes a source for the trade number. So if your quote is per ton, expect the real ticket near the top of the range shown rather than the middle.
Frequently asked questions
▸How much topsoil do I need?
Square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324 gives cubic yards directly. A 4 × 8 ft raised bed 12 in deep is 32 ft² × 12 ÷ 324 = 1.19 cubic yards, or about 32 cubic feet.
▸How many tons is a cubic yard of topsoil?
It depends on how wet it is, which is exactly why suppliers and estimates disagree. Dry screened topsoil is lighter than the same yard soaked after rain — this calculator gives both ends of the range, and the delivered figure in between.
▸What is the difference between topsoil and fill dirt?
Topsoil is the screened upper layer with organic matter in it — things grow in it. Fill dirt is subsoil: cheaper, heavier, more stable, and not for planting. Use fill for volume and cap it with topsoil where anything has to root.
▸How deep should soil be in a raised bed?
10–12 in suits most vegetables; 18 in if you want long root crops. Fill to the rim because it settles, and you can fill the bottom third with logs, branches or fill dirt rather than buying good soil for the whole depth.
▸How much does a yard of topsoil cover?
324 square feet one inch deep, so divide 324 by your depth: 81 ft² at 4 in, 54 ft² at 6 in, 27 ft² at 12 in. For lawn top-dressing at ¼ in a single yard covers about 1,300 ft².
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