Pea gravel calculator
Work out how much pea gravel you need in tons and cubic yards, at the 2 to 4 inch depth suppliers recommend.
Pea gravel calculator
Use your supplier's density
You need
- Volume
- Weight
- Area
| Order by | Exact | Order, rounded up for anything sold in whole bags |
|---|
Fewer than three independent suppliers publish a density for this material, so treat this range as provisional and use your supplier's figure where you have one.
Enter your measurements to see what to order.
One cubic yard of pea gravel weighs about 1.35 US tons and covers about 130 square feet at 2.5 in.
How to work out how much pea gravel you need
- Measure the area in feet and multiply length by width.
- Pick a depth in inches and multiply it by the area to get a volume.
- Multiply the volume by the bulk density, 1606 kg per cubic metre for pea gravel, to get a weight.
- Divide the weight by your supplier's ton or cubic yard to get what to order, and round up. Suppliers do not sell part bags.
- Add 10 percent. Covers settlement, uneven ground and the material lost around the edges. A second delivery for half a yard costs more than the extra you did not use.
How many tons in a cubic yard of pea gravel?
About 1.35 US tons, at 1606 kg per cubic metre. Because published densities run from 1543 to 1670, the honest answer is a range: between 1.3 and 1.41 tons per cubic yard depending on grading and how wet the load is.
How many cubic yards in a ton of pea gravel?
About 0.74 cubic yards. One tonne is about 0.62 cubic metres.
How deep should pea gravel be laid?
| Use | Depth | What the supplier says |
|---|---|---|
| Path | 2 in to 3 in | Mr. Mulch: spread at a depth between 2 and 4 inches. |
| Border | 2 in to 3 in | Mr. Mulch: one ton covers 120 square feet at 2 inches, 60 square feet at 4 inches. |
| Patio | 2 in to 4 in | Mr. Mulch: pea gravel does not compact, so it needs edging to stay put. |
How much does pea gravel weigh?
Between 1543 and 1670 kg per cubic metre, a spread of 8 percent. Two suppliers survived the independence check. Three were dropped: one prints the same weight on eight unrelated products, one shares its figure with a crushed granite page, and one had been superseded by its own calculator. The calculator above uses 1606, and you can replace it with your own supplier's figure.
2 published figures from 2 suppliers, read 2026-09-20.
Fewer than three independent suppliers publish a figure for this material. Treat the range as provisional and use your supplier's own density where you have one.
| Supplier | Published figure | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. MulchUS | approximately 19.18 cubic feet per 2000 pounds; a ton of pea gravel is .71 of a cubic yard | Bulk, sold by the ton, loose as delivered |
| Harbor SoilsUS | 2600 lbs per cubic yard for Pea Gravel (per-product density carried in the page's own calculator) | Loose as delivered, moisture unstated |
What you can order pea gravel in
| Pack | Where | Size |
|---|---|---|
| cubic yard | US, CA | 0.765 m3 |
| US ton | US, CA | 907 kg |
| 0.5 cu ft bag | US, CA | 0.014 m3 |