Free · Converts both ways
Pea Gravel Weight Converter
One cubic yard of pea gravel weighs about 2,700 lb, which is 1.35 US tons. Enter any volume below to convert it, or work backwards from tons. Waste is set to zero so you get a straight conversion rather than an order quantity.
The short answer
How much does a cubic yard of pea gravel weigh?
About 2,700 lb, or 1.35 US tons, or 1.22 metric tonnes, for dry washed pea gravel. That comes from a density of 100 lb per cubic foot, multiplied by the 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard.
Everything else on this page is arithmetic from that one number. If what you want to know is how heavy a bag of pea gravel is, that is about 50 lb for a half cubic foot bag, and the bag calculator works out counts for any bag size. If your supplier quotes a different density, use theirs, because they know what came out of their pit.
| One unit of | Equals |
|---|---|
| 1 cubic yard | 27 ft³ · 2,700 lb · 1.35 US tons · 1.22 tonnes |
| 1 US ton | 20 ft³ · 0.74 cubic yards · 2,000 lb |
| 1 cubic foot | 100 lb · 0.05 US tons |
| 1 cubic meter | 3,531 lb · 1.60 tonnes · 1.31 cubic yards |
| 1 bag, 0.5 ft³ | 50 lb |
Conversions
How many tons in a yard of gravel?
A cubic yard of pea gravel is about 1.35 US tons, or 2,700 lb, at 100 lb per cubic foot. Going the other way, one US ton is about 0.74 cubic yards. Multiply yards by 1.35 for tons, or tons by 0.74 for yards. Other materials differ, and the landscape rock calculator carries the weight of all nine.
| Cubic yards | US tons |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.35 |
| 2 | 2.70 |
| 3 | 4.05 |
| 5 | 6.75 |
| 7 | 9.45 |
| 10 | 13.50 |
| US tons | Cubic yards |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.74 |
| 2 | 1.48 |
| 3 | 2.22 |
| 5 | 3.70 |
| 7 | 5.19 |
| 10 | 7.41 |
The rule of thumb worth memorising is that a cubic yard is roughly a ton and a third, and a ton is roughly three quarters of a yard. That holds for pea gravel, river rock and most crushed stone, because they cluster near 100 lb per cubic foot. It does not hold for lava rock, which is about half the weight.
The honest bit
Why calculators disagree on what gravel weighs
Volume is arithmetic and every calculator agrees on it. Weight is an assumption. Each tool picks a density and almost none of them say which, and the published figures differ by about 17 percent end to end.
| Stated density | Per cubic yard | US tons per yard |
|---|---|---|
| 2,410 lb/yd³ | 2,410 lb | 1.21 |
| 1.50 t/m³ | 2,528 lb | 1.26 |
| 96 lb/ft³ | 2,592 lb | 1.30 |
| 100 lb/ft³ (used here) | 2,700 lb | 1.35 |
| 105 lb/ft³ | 2,835 lb | 1.42 |
Three things drive the spread.
- Stone type. Pea gravel is whatever rounded stone the local pit produces. Granite, limestone and basalt have genuinely different specific gravities.
- Moisture. Quarries quote dry weight. Gravel that has sat through rain carries roughly 8 percent more, and saturated material carries more still.
- Settlement. A freshly tipped load holds more air than one that has sat in a bay for a month.
If you are buying by the ton rather than the yard, ask your supplier for their pounds-per-yard figure and use it. Any calculator, including this one, is working from an average.
Moisture
Does wet pea gravel weigh more?
Yes, by roughly 8 percent. A cubic yard that weighs 2,700 lb dry comes in around 2,916 lb after rain, and saturated material can exceed that.
This matters in two places. It matters at the weighbridge, because you are paying for water. And it matters in your vehicle, because 8 percent on a load that was already near the limit is what takes it over.
The calculator above has a dry and wet toggle for exactly this. Quarry tickets quote dry weight unless they say otherwise.
Before you drive to the yard
Can your pickup carry a cubic yard?
Usually not. At 2,700 lb, a single cubic yard exceeds the payload rating of nearly every half-ton pickup on the road. Yards will load what you ask for, and the overload is yours to drive home.
| Vehicle | Typical payload | Safe load |
|---|---|---|
| Half-ton pickup, F-150 or Silverado 1500 | 1,500 to 2,300 lb | 0.55 to 0.85 yd³ |
| 5 × 8 utility trailer | about 2,000 lb | about 0.75 yd³ |
| Three-quarter-ton pickup, F-250 | about 3,000 lb | about 1.1 yd³ |
| One-ton pickup, F-350 | about 4,000 lb | about 1.5 yd³ |
| Tandem-axle trailer | about 7,000 lb | about 2.6 yd³ |
Payload is printed on your door jamb and is lower than the truck's name suggests. Subtract passengers and anything already in the bed. Half a cubic yard is a sensible ceiling for most consumer pickups.
Other aggregates
What other landscaping stone weighs
Same volume, different weight. Lava rock is the outlier worth knowing about.
| Material | lb/ft³ | Per cubic yard | US tons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pea gravel | 100 | 2,700 lb | 1.35 |
| Crushed stone #57 | 104 | 2,808 lb | 1.40 |
| Crushed stone #411 | 100 | 2,700 lb | 1.35 |
| River rock | 100 | 2,700 lb | 1.35 |
| Decomposed granite | 104 | 2,808 lb | 1.40 |
| Marble chips | 96 | 2,592 lb | 1.30 |
| Lava rock | 52 | 1,404 lb | 0.70 |
Lava rock is genuinely half the weight, because it is a vesicular volcanic aggregate full of gas holes. A cubic yard of it is one pickup load rather than two. The material guide shows what each of these looks like, and the main calculator will price and weigh any of them, and the yards to tons converter handles all nine including stone dust and topsoil.
Questions
Pea gravel weight FAQ
About 2,700 pounds, which is 1.35 US tons or 1.22 metric tonnes, for dry washed pea gravel at 100 pounds per cubic foot. Wet material runs roughly 8 percent heavier, around 2,916 pounds.
About 1.35 US tons per cubic yard for pea gravel. Going the other way, one US ton is about 0.74 cubic yards, or 20 cubic feet. The exact figure depends on the density of your material, which varies by quarry.
About 0.74 cubic yards per US ton of pea gravel. So 5 tons is roughly 3.7 cubic yards and 10 tons is roughly 7.4 cubic yards.
About 100 pounds. That is the density figure everything else on this page derives from. Five cubic feet is about 500 pounds, and ten cubic feet is about 1,000 pounds.
Because each one silently picks a density. Published figures range from 1.21 to 1.42 US tons per cubic yard for the same material, a spread of about 17 percent, driven by stone type, moisture and how settled the load is. On a 3 cubic yard order that is the difference between 3.6 and 4.3 tons.
A half cubic foot bag weighs about 50 pounds, because pea gravel runs about 100 pounds per cubic foot. That is why a cubic yard works out to 54 bags whether they are sold by volume or by weight.
Yes, roughly 8 percent more, and saturated material can exceed that. Quarries quote dry weight, so gravel that has sat through rain arrives heavier than the ticket suggests. This matters if you are close to a vehicle payload limit.
Usually not. A cubic yard weighs about 2,700 pounds, and a typical half ton pickup is rated for 1,500 to 2,300 pounds of payload. Half a cubic yard is a sensible ceiling for most consumer pickups. Check the sticker on your door jamb.
About 67 lbs, since a 5 gallon bucket holds roughly 0.67 cubic feet and pea gravel weighs 100 lb per cubic foot. It takes about 40 full buckets to make one cubic yard, which is why bucket hauling only makes sense for very small jobs.
Transparency
Sources and methodology
- Density, 100 lb/ft³, 1.35 US tons per cubic yard. A commonly quoted bulk density for rounded water-worn gravel in the 3/8 inch size class, in the upper middle of published figures. Background on aggregate production and classification, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Sand and Gravel (Construction) (PDF).
- Published range, 1.21 to 1.42 tons per cubic yard. Compiled from densities published by suppliers and quarries. The 1.35 figure sits at about the 67th percentile of that range rather than at its midpoint of 1.32, and errs heavy on purpose. The full set is published as open data.
- Wet uplift, 8 percent. Applied when the material condition is set to wet. Saturated gravel can exceed this.
- Unit conversions. 27 ft³ per cubic yard, 2,000 lb per US ton, 2,204.62 lb per tonne, 35.3147 ft³ per cubic meter.
- Vehicle payloads. Typical manufacturer ranges for comparison. Your actual payload is printed on the door jamb and is the only figure that matters.
Need a quantity, not a conversion?
The main calculator works out volume, weight, bags and cost from an area and a depth.