Topsoil Calculator
Find how much topsoil you need for a garden bed, raised bed, lawn or leveling job. Enter the area and depth to get cubic yards, tons and bags, with a waste allowance.
Topsoil needed
Assumes ~1.1 tons per cubic yard; soil weight varies with moisture. Bags are ~0.75 ft³ (about 40 lb).
How to calculate topsoil
Topsoil is estimated by volume: the area you are covering multiplied by how deep you want the soil. Work out the area in square feet (length times width, or π times radius squared for a round bed), multiply by the depth in feet (depth in inches ÷ 12), and divide by 27 to get cubic yards. The formula is cubic yards = area (ft²) × depth (in) ÷ 12 ÷ 27. The calculator above does this and also estimates the weight and the number of bags.
Screened topsoil weighs roughly 1.1 US tons per cubic yard, but soil is the least consistent material here: moisture, clay content and organic matter all change the weight significantly. Use the tonnage as a planning estimate for delivery, and lean on the cubic-yard figure when ordering.
How deep should topsoil be?
Depth depends on what you are growing. A raised bed or new planting bed usually wants 6 to 12 inches so roots have room. Top-dressing an existing lawn needs only a thin 0.25 to 0.5 inch layer, while building a new lawn typically calls for 4 to 6 inches of topsoil over the prepared subgrade. Vegetable beds are often on the deeper end. Enter the depth that matches your planting and the calculator sizes it instantly.
Bags vs bulk delivery
Bagged topsoil, usually around 0.75 ft³ per bag, is convenient for a single raised bed or a few top-ups. Once you pass about one cubic yard, bulk delivery becomes much cheaper per yard and saves a lot of lifting. The bag count above gives you the comparison point. If you are edging beds with mulch after planting, size that with the mulch calculator.
Waste and settling
Freshly placed topsoil settles as it is watered and worked, so adding about 5 percent covers settling and uneven spreading. For raised beds that you expect to compact over a season, a little more is reasonable. If your landscaping plan also includes a gravel path or a patio base, the gravel calculator and sand calculator handle those layers.