MEASURE. ESTIMATE. BUILD.

Sand Tons to Yards Calculator

Convert sand tons to cubic yards and back.

01 / PROJECT DIMENSIONS
Length
Width
Waste %%

Change any measurement to update your estimate.

02 / YOUR MATERIAL ESTIMATE
You need approximately
0.62 cubic yards
16.67 ft³ of sand
With 5% waste: 0.65 cubic yards (recommended when ordering)
Cubic feet
16.67 ft³
Weight
0.83 tons
50 lb bags
34 bags

At 100 lb/ft³, one ton of sand is about 0.74 cubic yards, and one cubic yard is about 1.35 tons.

Suppliers quote bulk sand either by the ton or the cubic yard, and mixing them up throws an order off by a third. At 100 lb/ft³, one ton is about 0.74 cubic yards — this view makes the round-trip conversion the main answer.

Why order extra? The headline number is the exact material your project needs. When you actually order, add about 5–10% on top — the “with 5% waste” figure in the result is a safe starting point. That margin covers what you lose to compaction, cuts around edges and corners, and ordinary spillage during handling. It is cheaper to have a little left over than to stop mid-job and wait on a second delivery.

Field notes

Order sand in half-yard steps — most yards won't split finer, and a tight order leaves you short once the pile settles. For paver bedding, screed to exactly 1 inch; going deeper feels safer but lets pavers rut under load. Damp sand from the bottom of a pile weighs noticeably more than the 100 lb/ft³ dry figure, so buy by volume, not by the bag weight on the tag.

How the sand tons to yards calculator works

The math behind the tool:

cubic yards = (length ft × width ft × depth ft) ÷ 27
tons = cubic feet × 100 lb/ft³ ÷ 2000

Material density

MaterialDensityPer cubic yard
Dry sand 100 lb/ft³ 1.35 tons

Sources: Oregon State University Extension (soil and compost volume guidance).

Frequently asked questions

How much does a cubic yard of sand weigh?

A cubic yard of dry sand weighs approximately 2,700 lb (1.35 tons) at a density of 100 lb/ft³. Wet or compacted sand can weigh 10–20% more.

How many 50 lb bags of sand are in a cubic yard?

One cubic yard of sand equals about 54 bags of 50 lb sand, since a 50 lb bag holds roughly 0.5 cubic feet and a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet.

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