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The volume of topsoil required, in cubic yards.
About 1.2 short tons per cubic yard for screened topsoil at typical moisture; wet soil is appreciably heavier.
Approximate weight
12 short tons
About 1.2 short tons per cubic yard for screened topsoil at typical moisture; wet soil is appreciably heavier. This is a planning figure, not a specification. Confirm the density with your supplier before ordering by weight.
- Conversion factor applied
- 1.2 short tons per yd³
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Topsoil Cubic Yards to Tons Calculator: 12 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 1.2 short tons per cubic yard
- Bulk density varies with moisture, compaction and grading — the supplier's weighbridge ticket governs
Inputs used
- Topsoil volume (yd³)
- 10
Intermediate steps
- Conversion factor applied
- 1.2 short tons per yd³
Confidence note: About 1.2 short tons per cubic yard for screened topsoil at typical moisture; wet soil is appreciably heavier. This is a planning figure, not a specification. Confirm the density with your supplier before ordering by weight.
What this calculation does not cover
- A cubic yard of bulk soil is usually a bucket count, not a measured volume. Damp soil both heaps above the bucket rating and sticks in the bucket rather than discharging, so the count runs either side of the true figure. The weighbridge ticket you pay against was not derived from it.
- This density is for loose soil in a heap. A volume measured in the ground — a strip depth over an area — is packed tighter than anything a loader can tip, so the same cubic yard weighs more in situ than loose. Spoil tonnages worked from excavation dimensions come out light.
- Topsoil is dense enough that weight ends the load, not space. A van or a car trailer reaches its rated payload with the body nowhere near full — the reverse of the mulch and compost that go on the same garden job, where space runs out first.
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 1.2 short tons per cubic yard
- Bulk density varies with moisture, compaction and grading — the supplier's weighbridge ticket governs
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Topsoil is ordered by volume for a depth of cover and charged by weight at yards with a weighbridge, so the two units have to be reconciled before the order goes in. The density used here suits screened soil at ordinary moisture, and the caveat is unusually important for this material: soil holds water, and a load delivered after heavy rain can weigh substantially more per yard than the same soil dry. Where you are paying by the ton, that water is being purchased. Ordering after a dry spell, or agreeing the density with the supplier, is worth more on topsoil than on almost any other bulk material.