Driveways, paths, patio bases, and drainage beds. Get cubic yards and tons for the material you're actually buying — density varies enough between stone types to change the order.
A single-car driveway is typically 10–12 ft wide, a two-car 20–24 ft.
2–3" for walkways, 4–6" for driveways and paver bases.
Material
Densities vary by quarry. If your supplier publishes a figure, use theirs.
Gravel settles as it's driven or walked on — a loose 4" compacts closer to 3.5".
US crushed stone typically runs $25–$60 per ton at the yard, before delivery.
6.52 yd³ with 10% for compaction
This is a delivery job
A standard dump truck carries 10–14 tons. Confirm your driveway can take the weight and the turning radius.
Volume
By weight
Material cost
$352.00
Material only — delivery, spreading, fabric, and compaction are separate.
Volume is area × depth, with depth converted from inches to feet by dividing by 12. That gives cubic feet, which divided by 27 gives cubic yards.
Converting to tons requires the material's density, expressed as tons per cubic yard. This is where gravel differs from mulch or concrete: rounded pea gravel packs loosely at about 1.30 tons per yard, while decomposed granite with its fine particles filling every void runs closer to 1.45. Ordering by weight without accounting for density is how loads come up short.
A compaction allowance is added because gravel settles under traffic. Unlike a waste factor on cut material, this is not offcuts — it is the same stone occupying less space once it is driven on.
A 40 ft × 12 ft driveway at 4 inches of crushed stone, 10% for compaction, at $40 per ton:
Switching to pea gravel at 1.30 tons per yard drops the same volume to 8.48 tons — a real difference on the invoice for identical coverage.
A driveway that lasts is layered, not a single dump of stone. The standard build is a coarse base course of larger angular stone, compacted, then a finer top course. Angular crushed stone locks together under load; rounded river rock and pea gravel do not, which is why they migrate and rut on a driveway but work well on a decorative path.
Compaction matters more than depth. Four inches of properly compacted base outperforms six inches dumped loose. If you are hiring the delivery anyway, renting a plate compactor for the day is the cheapest durability you can buy.
Roughly 1.3 to 1.45 tons, depending on the material. Crushed stone runs about 1.35 tons per cubic yard, pea gravel about 1.30 because the rounded stones pack less tightly, and decomposed granite up to 1.45 since the fines fill every gap. Suppliers usually sell by the ton, while you measure by volume, which is why the conversion matters — order in the unit your supplier quotes.
Four to six inches of surface material over a compacted base is standard for a residential driveway. A properly built driveway is layered: a coarse base course of larger stone, then a finer top course. A single 4-inch layer of pea gravel over bare soil will rut under vehicle weight within a season, so the depth here should be treated as the surface layer, not the entire build-up.
Two to three inches is plenty for a foot-traffic path, which is enough to cover the ground and stay put without being loose enough to walk unevenly on. For a paver patio base, the compacted gravel layer is typically 4 to 6 inches under residential paving, topped with about an inch of bedding sand.
Order in whichever unit your supplier quotes, and use this calculator to convert. Most US quarries and landscape suppliers price by the ton because that is how the truck is weighed at the scale. Landscape yards selling smaller quantities more often price by the cubic yard. The two are not interchangeable without knowing the material's density, which is why both figures are shown here.
For walkways, patios, and decorative beds, yes — it keeps the stone from sinking into soil and slows weeds considerably. For a driveway, it is more debatable: fabric helps separate the base course from soft subgrade, but under heavy vehicle loads a proper compacted base matters far more than the fabric. Fabric is not a substitute for compaction.
Add 5 to 10 percent. Gravel settles and compacts as it is driven on or walked over, so the depth you spread is not the depth you end up with — a loose 4 inches compacts closer to 3.5. Uneven subgrade also swallows more material than a flat measurement suggests. Running a little over is far cheaper than a second delivery.
Install Calculatory
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