Pea Gravel Calculator
Enter the length, width, and depth of a driveway, patio, path, or fish tank to get pea gravel in cubic yards, cubic feet, pounds, and tons, plus 0.5 cu ft bag counts and an estimated 2026 delivered cost.
Calculate how much pea gravel you need
How the pea gravel estimate works
Every bulk-stone estimate starts with the same three numbers: length, width, and depth. The tool multiplies the first two to get square feet, multiplies by the depth in feet, and divides by 27 to report cubic yards. That makes it a yards of gravel calculator for anyone ordering from a landscape supply, where material is priced and delivered by the scoop.
Quarries and haulers, on the other hand, weigh the truck. What people typing gravel calculator tons into a search box actually want is that second figure: cubic feet multiplied by the density of the stone, then divided by 2,000. Dry pea gravel weighs roughly 100 lb per cubic foot, so one cubic yard comes to about 2,700 lb, or 1.35 short tons. A 50 ft by 12 ft driveway at 4 inches deep is 200 cubic feet, which is 7.41 cubic yards or about 10 tons before waste. Add the default 10% and the order becomes 8.15 yards, or 11 tons, at roughly $495 delivered when pea gravel runs $45 a ton.
Bagged pea gravel is the third option, and it is sold in 0.5 cubic foot bags weighing about 50 lb. The breakdown counts those too, but bags only make sense for a small path or a planter: that same driveway would need 400 of them.
Gravel driveway depth, layers, and tonnage
A driveway is not one layer of pea gravel. The standard build is 4 to 6 inches of angular crushed stone as a compacted base, an optional 2 to 4 inch middle course, and 2 to 4 inches of the finish stone on top. Rounded pea gravel is only suitable as that top course, and even then it migrates under tires, so many contractors cap it at 2 to 3 inches over a firm base and edge it with steel or timber. Run each course through the gravel driveway calculator separately, because base stone weighs more per cubic foot than washed pea gravel and costs less per ton.
| Project | Size | Depth | Cubic yards | Tons (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garden path | 3 × 30 ft | 2 in | 0.56 yd³ | 0.75 t |
| Patio | 12 × 12 ft | 3 in | 1.33 yd³ | 1.8 t |
| Single-car driveway | 12 × 50 ft | 4 in | 7.41 yd³ | 10 t |
| Long driveway | 12 × 100 ft | 4 in | 14.81 yd³ | 20 t |
Tonnage assumes 100 lb per cubic foot and no waste. One ton of pea gravel covers about 120 sq ft at 2 inches, 80 sq ft at 3 inches, and 60 sq ft at 4 inches. A tandem dump truck hauls 10 to 14 tons of stone, so the single-car driveway above is one full load and the long driveway is two.
How to use this calculator
- Measure the footprint in feet or inches. Tape the length and width of the area you are covering. Use feet for a driveway, patio, or path and switch the dropdown to inches for a fish tank bottom. For a curved bed or an L-shaped drive, break the outline into rectangles, run each one separately, and add the results.
- Pick the depth for a path, patio, or driveway. Two inches is enough for a garden path, 3 inches suits a patio or play area, and a driveway needs 4 inches per layer over a compacted crushed-stone base. For a driveway, run the tool once per layer, because the crushed-stone base course and the pea gravel top course have different densities and prices.
- Read the gravel calculator yards and tons lines. The main result is cubic yards, the unit a landscape supplier scoops by. The breakdown converts the same volume to pounds and short tons for a quarry ticket, adds your waste percentage, and rounds the order up to the half yard so you are not caught short mid-spread.
- Switch to inches for a gravel calculator fish tank estimate. Set both length and width to inches, enter the inside dimensions of the tank bottom, and use a depth of 1.5 to 2 inches. With both dimensions in inches the tool reports pounds as the headline number and sets waste to zero, so the answer matches the bag weights sold at the pet store.
Frequently asked questions
How many tons of pea gravel do I need for a driveway?
Multiply length by width in feet, multiply by the depth in feet (inches ÷ 12), and multiply the cubic feet by about 100 lb, then divide by 2,000. A 12 × 50 ft driveway at 4 inches needs about 10 tons, or 11 tons with 10% waste.
How many cubic yards of pea gravel are in a ton?
About 0.74 cubic yards. Dry pea gravel weighs roughly 2,700 lb per cubic yard, so one ton is 2,000 ÷ 2,700 of a yard. Going the other way, one cubic yard is about 1.35 tons.
How much gravel do I need for a 20-gallon fish tank?
A standard 20-gallon high tank has a 24 × 12 inch bottom. Two inches of gravel over that footprint is 0.33 cubic feet, or about 33 lb, which matches the common 1.5 to 2 lb per gallon guideline.
Why does an aquarium gravel calculator give pounds instead of yards?
Because pet-store gravel is sold by weight in 5 to 25 lb bags, not by the cubic yard. When both length and width are set to inches, the tool assumes a tank and reports pounds first, with the cubic feet shown underneath.
How deep should pea gravel be for a walkway or patio?
Two inches is enough for a foot path and 3 inches for a patio or seating area, laid over landscape fabric and a compacted base. Deeper than 3 inches gets hard to walk on because the rounded stones shift underfoot.
What does pea gravel cost per ton in 2026?
Bulk pea gravel runs about $30 to $55 per ton, or $45 to $80 per cubic yard, delivered in 2026, before a flat delivery fee. Bagged 0.5 cubic foot pea gravel costs far more per ton, so bags only pay off for very small jobs.
Using it as an aquarium gravel calculator
A tank bottom is just a very small driveway. Switch both length and width to inches, enter the inside dimensions of the tank, and set a depth of 1.5 to 2 inches for a fish-only tank or 2 to 3 inches if you plan to root live plants. Because both dimensions are in inches, the tool reports the answer in pounds, sets the waste allowance to zero, and skips the cubic-yard rounding, which is meaningless at this scale.
| Tank | Bottom (in) | Depth | Gravel needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 gallon | 20 × 10 | 1.5 in | 17 lb |
| 20 gallon high | 24 × 12 | 2 in | 33 lb |
| 29 gallon | 30 × 12 | 2 in | 42 lb |
| 55 gallon | 48 × 13 | 2 in | 72 lb |
These figures line up with the hobbyist rule of thumb of 1 lb of gravel per gallon for a 1 inch bed and 2 lb per gallon for 2 inches. The volume math is more reliable, though, because two tanks with the same capacity can have very different footprints: a tall tank needs far less substrate than a long, shallow one of the same gallon rating. Aquarium gravel is sold in 5, 10, 20, and 25 lb bags, so round up to the next bag and rinse it before it goes in.