Calculators · Sand Calculator

Landscaping

Sand Calculator

Enter the area and depth to get cubic yards, tons and bags of sand. Quick depths for paver bedding and play areas.

Area 1

Shape

Length

Width

Depth

Quick depth

Optional. Fills in the depth of every area, in inches.

Sand type

Sets the weight of one cubic yard. Choose “Custom density” to use your own.

Density

Type the density of your material.

Extra to add (%)

Optional. For waste or settling. Empty means 0.

Bag weight (lb)

Quikrete sells sand in 50, 60 and 70 lb bags. Match your bag. Empty hides the bag count.

How to calculate how much sand you need

Sand is sold by volume (cubic yards), by weight (tons) and in bags. Work out the volume first, then turn it into weight with the density of your sand, then divide by the bag weight if you buy bags.

Step	Formula
1. Cubic feet	length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft). Depth in inches ÷ 12
2. Cubic yards	cubic feet ÷ 27
3. Pounds	cubic yards × pounds per cubic yard
4. Short tons	pounds ÷ 2,000
5. Bags	pounds ÷ weight of one bag, rounded up

A shortcut for the volume is square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324. The calculator accepts feet, inches, yards and meters, reads 10'6" and 10 ft 6 in, and takes a diameter for a round area. Add one area for each separate piece.

Example: bedding sand for a patio

A patio measures 10 ft by 12 ft and the pavers sit on 1 inch of concrete sand. The weight used is 2,800 pounds per cubic yard, the midpoint of the 2,700 to 2,900 dry range below, and the sand comes in 50 lb bags.

Step	Operation	Result
Cubic feet	10 × 12 × (1 ÷ 12)	10.00 ft³
Cubic yards	10 ÷ 27	0.37 yd³
Pounds	0.3704 × 2,800	1,037 lb
Short tons	1,037 ÷ 2,000	0.52 tons
Bags of 50 lb	1,037 ÷ 50 = 20.74, rounded up	21 bags

Across the whole 2,700 to 2,900 range the same job weighs 1,000 to 1,074 pounds, or 0.50 to 0.54 tons.

Example: a home play area

A play area is 6 ft by 6 ft and you fill it to the 12 inch initial depth that NDSU Extension gives for home playgrounds. For play sand dry, the midpoint of 2,500 to 2,700 is 2,600 pounds per cubic yard.

Step	Operation	Result
Cubic feet	6 × 6 × (12 ÷ 12)	36.00 ft³
Cubic yards	36 ÷ 27	1.33 yd³
Pounds	1.3333 × 2,600	3,467 lb
Short tons	3,467 ÷ 2,000	1.73 tons
Bags of 50 lb	3,467 ÷ 50 = 69.33, rounded up	70 bags

If the sand arrives damp, the wet play sand midpoint of 2,875 pounds makes it 3,833 pounds, or 1.92 tons.

How much does a cubic yard of sand weigh?

The table is from Hello Gravel, an online aggregate retailer, checked in October 2026. In this table wet sand is 10 to 12 percent heavier than dry sand of the same type, while the article text says 10 to 20 percent.

Sand type	Dry (lb per yd³)	Wet (lb per yd³)	Common uses
Play sand	2,500 to 2,700	2,750 to 3,000	Sandboxes, recreation
Concrete sand	2,700 to 2,900	3,000 to 3,200	Construction, mixing
Masonry sand	2,600 to 2,800	2,900 to 3,100	Mortar, bricklaying
Silica sand	2,800 to 3,000	3,100 to 3,300	Industrial, filtration

These sources do not agree. Stone Centers, a stone supplier in Ohio, lists sand at 2,200 to 2,500 pounds per cubic yard, which is at or below every dry figure above. The Gravelshop calculators use 2,410 pounds for concrete, mason and play sand alike, so that is a default of its system and not a measured value. If you know the weight of the load you are buying, choose “Custom density” and type it.

How many bags of sand are in a cubic yard?

Quikrete’s data sheet lists All-Purpose Sand in 50, 60 and 70 lb bags and Premium Play Sand in 50 lb bags. The number of bags in a cubic yard is the weight of a yard divided by the weight of the bag.

Weight of a cubic yard	50 lb bags	60 lb bags	70 lb bags
2,200 lb (Stone Centers)	44.0	36.7	31.4
2,500 lb (lowest dry figure above)	50.0	41.7	35.7
2,700 lb (Hello Gravel product pages)	54.0	45.0	38.6
3,000 lb (highest dry figure above)	60.0	50.0	42.9

How much sand does a ton or a bag cover?

At 2,700 pounds per cubic yard, a ton of sand is 20 cubic feet and a 50 lb bag is 0.5 cubic feet. The coverage depends only on the depth.

Coverage	1 in	2 in	4 in	9 in	12 in
One ton	240 ft²	120 ft²	60 ft²	27 ft²	20 ft²
One 50 lb bag	6.0 ft²	3.0 ft²	1.5 ft²	0.67 ft²	0.5 ft²

Cubic yards for common areas

Area	1 in	2 in	4 in	9 in	12 in
4 ft × 4 ft	0.05	0.10	0.20	0.44	0.59
8 ft × 8 ft	0.20	0.40	0.79	1.78	2.37
10 ft × 10 ft	0.31	0.62	1.23	2.78	3.70
12 ft × 12 ft	0.44	0.89	1.78	4.00	5.33

How deep should sand be?

Use	Depth	Source
Bedding under pavers	1 in uncompacted, up to 1½ in. Concrete sand to ASTM C33. Not mason sand	ICPI Tech Specs 2 and 10
Public playground, minimum compressed	9 in	CPSC handbook, Table 2
Home playground, initial fill	12 in, kept at 9 in or more	NDSU Extension FN1374

The CPSC handbook says loose fill compresses at least 25 percent over time, so a fill that must stay at 9 inches starts at 12. CPSC Table 2 pairs each depth with the fall height it protects to, so check the table for the height of your equipment. For bedding sand, do not use it to fill dips in the base, because ICPI says those show through the finished surface. For other uses, such as mortar, concrete mixes and leveling, ask your contractor or the product maker for the depth. Pavers and the sand layer under them are also covered by the paver calculator.

Tips for ordering

Ask the supplier how the sand is sold. Many sell by the ton, so the tons in the result are the number to compare.
Pick the wet option if your sand will arrive damp or the pile has been rained on.
Match the bag weight to the bag you buy. Bags are counted by weight, not by the volume on the label.
For gravel or crushed stone, see the gravel calculator. For concrete, see the concrete calculator.
To convert a weight into volume and back, use the tons to cubic yards converter.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate how much sand you need?

Multiply length by width by depth, all in feet, then divide by 27 to get cubic yards. Turn inches of depth into feet by dividing by 12. A 10 ft by 12 ft area at 1 inch is 10 × 12 × 0.0833 = 10 cubic feet, and 10 ÷ 27 = 0.37 cubic yards. Multiply the cubic yards by the weight of one cubic yard of your sand to get pounds or tons.

How many 50 lb bags of sand equal 1 cubic yard?

Divide the weight of a cubic yard by 50. At 2,700 pounds per cubic yard it is 54 bags. Across the dry sand figures we found, 2,500 to 3,000 pounds, it runs from 50 to 60 bags, and the lower Stone Centers figure of 2,200 pounds gives 44. Wet sand is heavier and needs more weight per yard, so the count goes up.

How much area will 50 lbs of sand cover?

At 2,700 pounds per cubic yard, 50 pounds of sand is 0.5 cubic feet. That covers 6 square feet at 1 inch deep, 3 square feet at 2 inches and 1.5 square feet at 4 inches. The rule is 12 × cubic feet ÷ depth in inches. A lighter or heavier sand changes the volume a little.

How far does 1 ton of sand cover?

At 2,700 pounds per cubic yard a ton is 20 cubic feet. It covers 240 square feet at 1 inch, 120 square feet at 2 inches, 80 square feet at 3 inches and 60 square feet at 4 inches. The result box shows the figure for your own sand and depth.

What kind of sand goes under pavers and how thick?

The Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute says bedding sand should meet ASTM C33 or CSA A23.1 FA1, which is washed concrete sand, and it advises against mason sand because it can drain slowly and be unstable. It should be screeded to a nominal 1 inch uncompacted, and Tech Spec 10 gives 1 to 1½ inches. For the pavers themselves, see the paver calculator.

How deep should sand be in a play area?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission lists 9 inches as the minimum compressed depth of sand for public playgrounds and says loose fill compresses at least 25 percent, so the initial fill should be deeper. CPSC Table 2 pairs each depth with the fall height it protects to, so check the table for the height of your equipment. North Dakota State University Extension says home playgrounds should start at 12 inches and be kept at 9 inches or more.

Is wet sand heavier than dry sand?

Yes. Hello Gravel says wet sand weighs 10 to 20 percent more than dry sand. In its table, concrete sand is 2,700 to 2,900 pounds per cubic yard dry and 3,000 to 3,200 wet. Pick the wet option if your sand arrives damp, and ask your supplier for the weight of the load you are buying.