Topsoil Calculator
Work out how many cubic yards, tons, or 40 lb bags of topsoil you need from the area and depth, with a settling allowance.
Estimates are for planning. Confirm quantities against your measured site and product packaging before ordering, and follow local building codes.
How to measure for topsoil
Measure the area in square feet: length times width for rectangles, and split anything irregular into rectangles you add together. A curved bed is close enough to a rectangle drawn through its average width.
Depth depends on what you’re doing, and this is where most orders go wrong. Top-dressing an existing lawn before overseeding takes 2 inches at most; more than that smothers the grass underneath. New planting beds and lawn leveling want about 4 inches. Starting a lawn from seed over poor ground calls for 6 inches of decent soil, since grass roots run deeper than people give them credit for. Raised beds get filled to their full depth, typically 12 inches.
If you’re laying sod afterward, measure the sod separately with the sod calculator and keep the topsoil depth at 4 to 6 inches so the finished grade sits about an inch below sidewalks and driveways. The sod makes up the difference.
The formula and what it assumes
Cubic yards equals area in square feet, times depth in inches divided by 12, divided by 27, then multiplied by 1.10 for settling. A 500 sq ft bed at 4 inches is 500 × (4 ÷ 12) ÷ 27 = 6.17 yards, and 6.79 yards with the settling allowance.
The weight line multiplies yards by 1.1 tons, the working figure for screened topsoil at normal moisture. Suppliers like Ottr Landscape Supply put a moist yard at roughly 2,200 pounds, with dry soil near 2,000 and soaked soil pushing 3,000, so treat the tons figure as an estimate and ask your yard what their material weighs if you’re pricing by the ton.
The bag count divides total cubic feet by 0.75, the volume of a standard 40 lb bag, and rounds up. That 500 sq ft bed needs 245 bags, which should tell you something about how to buy it.
The 10% settling default suits screened topsoil spread and lightly compacted. Heavily amended mixes with lots of compost settle more; pure mineral fill settles less.
Bulk delivery or bags
The break-even lands around half a cubic yard, maybe one yard if delivery fees are steep in your area. Bags run $2 to $4 for 40 lb at big-box stores, so a single yard costs $72 to $144 in bags plus 36 trips from the cart to the bed. Bulk screened topsoil runs roughly $25 to $50 per yard from a landscape yard, with delivery adding $50 to $100. For two yards or more, bulk wins on price and your back wins on everything else.
Buy screened topsoil, not “fill dirt,” for anything plants will grow in. Screened material has been passed through a 1/2 or 3/4 inch mesh, so you’re not raking out rocks and root chunks for an afternoon. If a supplier offers a topsoil-compost blend for beds, it’s usually worth the small premium.
Ordering bulk works the same way as ordering stone from the gravel calculator: round up to the supplier’s increment, have them dump as close to the work as possible, and put a tarp down first. A yard of topsoil ground into a driveway is a bad afternoon.
Spreading tips
Spread in lifts rather than one deep pass: rake out 2 to 3 inches, walk it down or roll it, then add the rest. Water settles soil better than any tool, so a thorough soak between lifts firms the grade and shows you the low spots while you still have material on hand. Keep finished soil an inch below patio and walkway edges, and slope away from the house at roughly a quarter inch per foot so the new bed doesn’t drain toward your foundation.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a yard of topsoil weigh?
About 2,200 pounds, or 1.1 tons, for screened topsoil at typical moisture. Dry soil runs closer to 2,000 pounds and saturated soil can hit 2,700 or more, which matters if you're hauling it yourself: a half-ton pickup is overloaded by half a yard of wet topsoil. The calculator uses 1.1 tons per yard for its weight line.
How many bags of topsoil in a cubic yard?
36 bags. The common 40 lb bag holds 0.75 cubic feet, and a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so 27 ÷ 0.75 = 36. At $2 to $4 a bag that's $72 to $144 per yard equivalent, against $25 to $50 per yard for bulk, which is why bags only win on small jobs.
Why does the calculator add 10% for settling?
Delivered topsoil is fluffed up from loading and screening. Once it's spread, raked, watered, and walked on, it settles, and a 4 inch layer can finish closer to 3.5 inches. The 10% allowance means the depth you measured is the depth you end up with, not the depth you started at.
What's the difference between topsoil and fill dirt?
Fill dirt is subsoil: cheap, dense, low in organic matter, used to raise grades and fill holes. Screened topsoil has been run through a mesh to remove rocks and roots and contains the organic matter plants actually need. Use fill to build up more than 8 inches or so, then cap it with screened topsoil for the growing layer.