How Much Stone Do I Need for a Driveway, Patio or Path?

Published 2026-10-24

Order too little stone and the delivery truck has to come back, often with a second delivery fee. Order too much and you’re left with a pile in the yard. The good news is that working out the right amount takes three measurements and one formula. Below are real examples for the most common projects, so you can see the numbers before you call a supplier.

The formula

Depth is the part people get wrong. It has to be in feet before you multiply, so 4 inches is 0.333 ft, 3 inches is 0.25 ft and 2 inches is 0.167 ft. Dividing by 27 turns cubic feet into cubic yards, because a cubic yard is 3 × 3 × 3 feet.

Most gravel and crushed stone weighs around 1.4 tons per cubic yard, though it ranges from roughly 1.3 to 1.7 depending on the stone size and how wet it is. Ask your supplier for the figure for the product you’re buying. Then add about 10% for compaction and uneven ground.

Our gravel calculator does all of this for you, including the extra and the cost. The examples below show how it works.

Example 1: a gravel driveway

A single-car driveway 50 feet long and 10 feet wide, 4 inches deep:

• 50 × 10 × 0.333 = 166.7 cubic feet
• 166.7 ÷ 27 = 6.17 cubic yards
• 6.17 × 1.4 = 8.6 tons
• With 10% extra: about 9.5 tons

Four inches works for topping up an existing driveway. A brand-new driveway on bare soil usually needs more, built in layers: a coarse base stone first, then a finer top layer that packs down. On clay or soft ground, or where heavy vehicles park, a deeper base and landscape fabric underneath help prevent ruts.

Example 2: a base for a paver patio

A 12 × 12 ft patio with a 4-inch compacted base:

• 12 × 12 × 0.333 = 48 cubic feet
• 48 ÷ 27 = 1.78 cubic yards
• 1.78 × 1.4 = 2.5 tons
• With 10% extra: about 2.75 tons

Paver bases often go to 4 to 6 inches in colder climates, plus a thin layer of sand on top for setting the pavers. If you plan to pour a slab instead, use the concrete calculator for the concrete and this method for the stone underneath.

Example 3: a garden path

A path 30 feet long and 3 feet wide, 2 inches deep:

• 30 × 3 × 0.167 = 15 cubic feet
• 15 ÷ 27 = 0.56 cubic yards
• 0.56 × 1.4 = 0.78 tons
• With 10% extra: just under 1 ton

Small jobs like this are often cheaper in bags from a garden center, or as a half-yard scoop from a landscape yard if you have a truck or trailer.

Example 4: a French drain

A trench 40 feet long, 1 foot wide and 18 inches deep:

• 40 × 1 × 1.5 = 60 cubic feet
• 60 ÷ 27 = 2.2 cubic yards
• 2.2 × 1.4 = 3.1 tons

A 4-inch perforated pipe in that trench takes up only about 3.5 cubic feet, so it barely changes the order. Drains need clean, washed stone with no fine dust, so water can flow through the gaps.

How far does a ton go?

At 1.4 tons per cubic yard, one ton of gravel is about 19 cubic feet. Spread out, that covers:

Which stone for which job

• Crusher run (also sold as road base or dense grade aggregate) mixes stone with fine dust. It packs down hard, which makes it a good base for driveways and patios. It drains slowly, so don’t use it for drainage.
• Clean crushed stone, such as #57 stone at roughly ¾ to 1 inch, has no fines. Water runs through it, so it suits French drains, behind retaining walls and the top layer of many driveways.
• Pea gravel is small and rounded. It’s comfortable underfoot for paths and play areas, but it rolls and shifts, so it’s a poor choice for driveways and slopes unless it’s held in by edging or grid panels.
• River rock is larger and smooth, mostly used for decoration and around downspouts.

Names vary between regions, so describe the job to the supplier and ask what they recommend.

How gravel is priced

Landscape yards and quarries sell stone by the ton, by the cubic yard, or both. Prices depend heavily on the type of stone and where you live, so there’s no single national price worth quoting. What to ask when you call:

• The price per ton or per yard for the exact product.
• The weight per cubic yard, so you can convert between the two.
• The delivery fee and any minimum order. Delivery often costs as much as the stone on small orders.
• How many tons the truck carries, so a large order doesn’t need two trips.

Once you have a price, the math is simple. If a supplier charges, say, $45 a ton, the 9.5-ton driveway above comes to about $430 for the stone, plus delivery. Enter your own price in the gravel calculator to get the total.

Common questions

• Is it better to buy by the ton or by the yard? Neither is cheaper by itself. Convert one to the other using the weight per yard, then compare suppliers on the same basis.
• Should I order extra? Yes, about 10%. Stone compacts as it’s spread and rolled, and few yards are perfectly level. Running short costs more than a small leftover pile.
• How do I measure an irregular area? Break it into rectangles, work out each one, and add them together. For a round area, multiply the radius by itself and by 3.14 to get the square feet.
• What about dirt, mulch or topsoil? Those are usually sold by the cubic yard. Use the cubic yard calculator and skip the tons step.