What a topsoil order is really made of
Topsoil is ordered by volume — area times depth — but delivered by weight, and soil is the least consistent material on any of these pages. The NRCS figures for bulk density run from about 1.1 g/cm³ for clay up to 1.6 for sandy soil, and that is for soil in good condition; screened topsoil arrives looser, and wet soil weighs substantially more than the same soil dry.
That spread is why this calculator shows a weight range rather than a single tonnage, and why the soil texture selector exists. A cubic yard of sandy soil and a cubic yard of clay occupy identical space and can differ by well over a third of a ton. If you are checking a delivery against a quote, the range is the number to compare.
Using this topsoil calculator
Enter the area and how deep the soil needs to be. You get the volume in cubic yards or cubic metres, a middle weight with its low and high estimates, the area covered, and the raw volume in the alternate unit.
Depth depends entirely on what you are doing, and the field's help text carries the usual figures: 4–6 inches to establish a new lawn, 8–12 for planting beds, and only a quarter to half an inch to topdress a lawn that already exists. Shape and unit system live in the customize panel, so a curved border or a circular bed can be entered as it really is.
Extra for settling defaults to 10% and is already included in the results. Fresh soil is full of air; the first proper watering closes much of it, and a bed filled exactly level will be visibly below its edges a week later.
The formula, worked through
Square feet times depth in feet gives cubic feet, and 27 of those make a cubic yard.
A 4 ft × 8 ft raised bed filled 10 inches deep is 32 sq ft × (10 ÷ 12) = 26.7 cubic feet, which is 0.99 cubic yards. Add 10% for settling and it is 1.09 — call it a cubic yard, weighing somewhere between 1.1 and 1.6 tons depending on texture and how wet it arrives.
For a lawn, the arithmetic bites in the other direction. Topdressing 1,000 square feet at half an inch is 1,000 × (0.5 ÷ 12) = 41.7 cubic feet, only about 1.5 cubic yards. People routinely order five times that because half an inch sounds like nothing spread over a lawn — it is not.
Getting the depth and the soil right
Deeper is not automatically better. Grass roots mostly live in the top few inches, so 4 to 6 is ample for a new lawn and more is money spent below where anything is growing. Beds are the opposite case: shallow soil over compacted subsoil gives roots nowhere to go, and 8 to 12 inches is what most plantings actually want.
Two things worth knowing before ordering. “Topsoil” is not a graded term — screened topsoil, garden mix and fill soil are different products at different prices, and fill is not planting medium. And a delivered cubic yard is roughly a ton and a half; a yard of soil dropped on a driveway is a considerably larger pile, and a considerably longer afternoon, than it sounds.
Once the bed is filled, the mulch calculator sizes the layer that goes over the top, and the sand calculator covers amending a heavy soil or bedding a path alongside it.
FAQ
How much does a cubic yard of topsoil weigh?
Between roughly 1,850 and 2,700 lb — a spread of nearly 50%, which is why this calculator shows a range rather than one confident number. The weight follows the soil's bulk density, and that depends on texture, moisture, and how much the loader compacted it.
| Soil texture | Bulk density (g/cm³) | Pounds per cubic yard |
|---|---|---|
| Clay / silty clay | 1.10 | ≈ 1,850 |
| Loam or silt loam | 1.33 | ≈ 2,240 |
| Sandy / loamy sand | 1.60 | ≈ 2,700 |
Those densities are for soil still loose enough for roots to grow through. Soil delivered denser than the sandy figure isn't a bargain — it's compacted, and it will need breaking up before anything will root in it.
Wet soil is heavier still. If you're buying by the ton after a week of rain, expect to pay for water.
How deep should topsoil be?
Depth follows what has to grow in it, and roots need more room than people expect:
Spreading four inches of good topsoil over compacted subsoil creates a shallow pan that roots won't cross and water won't drain through. If the ground underneath is hard, loosen it before the new soil goes down.
How much topsoil do I need for a raised bed?
Set the shape to rectangle, enter the bed's inside dimensions, and set the depth to the bed's height — not the depth of a plant's roots. A 4 ft × 8 ft bed 12 in deep takes 32 cubic feet, which is about 1.19 cubic yards.
Most raised beds aren't filled with straight topsoil. A common mix is roughly a third topsoil, a third compost, and a third something that keeps it open — coarse sand or bark fines. Run the total volume here, then split it by whatever ratio you're using.
Fill to the brim. The surface will drop an inch or two the first time you water it, which is what the settling allowance above is for.
Should I order extra topsoil?
About 10%, and for two reasons. Freshly delivered soil is fluffed up from being loaded and dumped, so it loses volume the moment it's watered and walked on. And an uneven subgrade quietly swallows soil into every low spot.
Toward 15% if the ground is rutted or you're filling over a rough excavation; 5% is enough for a flat, prepared bed. A short delivery costs a second trip fee that dwarfs the price of the extra soil.
What's the difference between topsoil, fill dirt, and garden soil?
Topsoil is the biologically active upper layer, screened to remove rocks and roots. It grows things.
Fill dirt is subsoil with the organic matter absent. It's for raising grade and backfilling — it compacts well and drains poorly, and almost nothing will thrive in it. It's also considerably cheaper, so check which one you're being quoted.
Garden soil or bed mix is topsoil already blended with compost. Convenient in small volumes, expensive by the yard.
Buying by the ton rather than the yard? Ask the supplier for the moisture content on the day. The weight range this calculator shows is the same range they're pricing against.
What else uses this same area-and-depth math?
Once the soil is down, the bed usually wants covering: the Mulch Calculator takes the same shapes and depth and converts to retail bag counts.
If you're building a path or a base course under a slab instead, the Gravel Calculator works in tons, and the Concrete Calculator adds bag counts and a waste allowance.