Asphalt Calculator

Split a driveway into base and surface tonnage, plus the area in square yards.

Your measurements

The area you are paving

Measure the finished area you want covered, not the excavation. If the shape is irregular, split it into rectangles and add the results together.
Both measurements are in feet. For anything measured in inches, divide by twelve first. A 30 inch path is 2.5 feet wide.
Compacted thickness, not the loose depth the truck tips out. A residential driveway is commonly 2 to 3 inches of base under 1.5 to 2 inches of surface. This is the asphalt course, not the crushed stone underneath it.
Compacted thickness. A residential driveway is commonly 1.5 to 2 inches of surface over the base course, and the surface mix is the finer, more expensive one.
Ten percent is the usual allowance, and what running short actually costs is rarely the material. On a bulk delivery it is a second haulage charge for a part load. On a concrete pour it is worse, because a slab finished in two goes has a cold joint through it. 5.00%
Material and price
Weight per cubic foot varies by material and with how wet the load is. Loose gravel and crushed stone run about 100 to 110, dry concrete sand near 100, screened topsoil nearer 74, and compacted hot mix asphalt about 145. Ask the supplier if the load matters, because the same volume weighs more after rain.
Enter the price and then say what it is per, below. Delivery and any minimum load charge are not included here.
Bagged material is priced per bag, delivered aggregate per ton, and ready-mix per cubic yard. Pick whichever matches the quote you are working from.
Use this when the same measurement repeats, such as four identical pads or three beds of the same size. Leave it at one for a single area.
Asphalt to order
10.66 tons
43%
is surface
Base course 6.09 tons
Surface course 4.57 tons
Both courses 10.66 tons
Area in square yards
53.33 sq yd
Same in cubic yards
5.44 cu yd

What to buy

Material cost $1,279
Works out per ton $120.00

Every figure here is a planning estimate, not a professional takeoff. Yields, waste factors and code requirements vary by product, supplier and jurisdiction, so confirm quantities against the manufacturer’s data and your local building department before you order.

Generated by Mathterial

Asphalt is ordered by the ton, laid in two courses and quoted by the square yard, and those three units are why estimating it goes wrong. This asphalt calculator takes the area and the thickness of each course, then returns the tonnage of the base course, the tonnage of the surface course and the total, because those are two deliveries at two prices rather than one number.

Why it asks for two thicknesses

A driveway is not one slab of asphalt. The Colorado Asphalt Pavement Association puts the ordinary residential build at a 2 inch bottom course with a 1.5 inch surface course over it, and the two are different mixes: the base is coarser and cheaper, the surface finer and dearer. A calculator that asks for a single depth hides the split that the invoice is going to show you anyway.

Both figures here are compacted thickness, which is what a specification states and what an inspector measures. Loose mix out of the truck sits higher than what you end up with, and closing that gap is the paving crew with the roller, not something your order has to allow for.

Tons out, volume underneath

Volume is how the arithmetic works and weight is how the material is sold, so the page shows both. The bridge between them is the unit weight of compacted hot mix, about 145 pounds per cubic foot.

Tonnage of one course

tons = area × thickness ÷ 12 × density ÷ 2,000

Run once for the base course, once for the surface, then add the allowance

The trade often states the same density per square yard instead. The Indiana DOT design manual publishes 110 pounds per square yard per inch of compacted mixture in its roadway quantities factors, which works out to 146.7 pounds per cubic foot, so 145 is a round number sitting in the same place. If your supplier quotes a unit weight for their mix, use theirs: density is an input here rather than a constant, because it is printed on paperwork you already have.

Five percent, not ten

Most material calculators default to a ten percent allowance and this one does not. Hot mix cannot be returned, cannot be stored and arrives at around 300 degrees with the clock running, so an overage is money burned rather than material put aside for later. Five percent covers the thin spots and what the wheelbarrow keeps. Anything beyond that is a surcharge you are charging yourself.

Why the square yard figure is there

Paving is quoted per square yard, so a contractor price comes back in units the tape measure never gave you. The page prints the area in square yards beside the tonnage so a quote can be checked in the units it was written in. A 40 by 12 foot driveway is 480 square feet, which is 53.3 square yards.

Asphalt calculator FAQ

How many tons of asphalt do I need for a driveway?

A 40 by 12 foot driveway built the usual way, a 2 inch base course under a 1.5 inch surface course, takes about 10.7 tons at 145 pounds per cubic foot with a 5 percent allowance. Change either thickness and the tonnage moves with it.

How much does a ton of asphalt cover?

At 145 pounds per cubic foot a ton is 13.8 cubic feet, which spread 2 inches thick covers about 83 square feet, or a little over 9 square yards. The published highway factor of 110 pounds per square yard per inch says the same thing a shade more conservatively.

Is asphalt sold by the ton or by the square yard?

Plants sell it by the ton and paving contractors quote by the square yard, which is why this page prints both. Multiply the square yards by the thickness factor to check a quote against a plant price.