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The volume of structural steel in cubic yards.
About 6.6 short tons per cubic yard for solid steel at roughly 490 lb per cubic foot.
Approximate weight
66 short tons
About 6.6 short tons per cubic yard for solid steel at roughly 490 lb per cubic foot. A planning figure, not a specification. Confirm the density with your supplier before ordering by weight.
- Conversion factor applied
- 6.6 short tons per yd³
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Structural Steel Cubic Yards to Tons Calculator: 66 short tons — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Typical bulk density used here: approximately 6.6 short tons per cubic yard
- Density varies with moisture, grading and compaction — the supplier's ticket weight governs
Inputs used
- Structural Steel volume (yd³)
- 10
Intermediate steps
- Conversion factor applied
- 6.6 short tons per yd³
Confidence note: About 6.6 short tons per cubic yard for solid steel at roughly 490 lb per cubic foot. A planning figure, not a specification. Confirm the density with your supplier before ordering by weight.
What this calculation does not cover
- This is the density of SOLID metal, not a bulk density. A measured heap of sections is mostly air, so converting the volume of a pile at this figure returns a weight far above what the steel will weigh.
- A skip or grab load of steel is at the lorry's lifting limit long before the body is full, so the number of movements comes off the weight each load can take, not off skip capacity in cubic yards.
- The answer is in short tons of 2,000 lb. Steel is also quoted in metric tonnes and in gross tons of 2,240 lb, both heavier, so check which ton a price, a ticket or a stated tonnage uses.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-08-26 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations2
- Typical bulk density used here: approximately 6.6 short tons per cubic yard
- Density varies with moisture, grading and compaction — the supplier's ticket weight governs
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Steel is ordered and priced by weight, so a volume conversion is mostly a lifting and transport question — what a fabricated assembly weighs, whether a crane can take it, whether a load is within limits. Steel is roughly three times as dense as concrete, so volumes that look modest are extremely heavy: a single cubic yard is over six tons. That density is why steel sections are specified by weight per unit length rather than by dimension alone.