How much does gravel cost per ton?

Typically $30 to $55 per ton picked up at a landscape supply or quarry, for ordinary crushed stone or gravel. Crushed concrete is cheaper at $15 to $30, and decorative stone such as river rock runs $60 to $120 per ton.

How much does a yard of gravel cost?

About $40 to $75 per cubic yard delivered, once a typical delivery fee is spread over a normal load, or $42 to $77 of material alone if you convert the per-ton price at 1.4 tons per yard. A single-yard delivery costs far more per yard because the fee is not shared.

How much does gravel delivery cost?

Usually a flat $60 to $150 per trip within about fifteen miles, with a per-mile charge beyond that. Because it is flat, it dominates the price of a small order and barely matters on a ten-yard one.

How much gravel do I need for a 12 x 50 ft driveway?

At 4 inches deep that is 600 square feet × 0.333 ft = 200 cubic feet, or 7.4 cubic yards, about 10.5 tons of gravel. Add 15 percent for compaction and edge loss and order 12 tons.

What is the cheapest gravel for a driveway?

Crushed concrete, usually $15 to $30 per ton, because it is recycled locally rather than quarried and hauled. It compacts well and makes a perfectly good base or budget driveway surface; it is simply greyer and less uniform than quarried stone.

Is it cheaper to buy gravel by the ton or by the yard?

Neither is inherently cheaper: they are two ways of measuring the same pile. Convert both quotes to the same unit before comparing: one cubic yard of gravel is 1.4 tons, so a $45 per ton price is $63 per cubic yard.

How much does a truckload of gravel cost?

A single-axle dump truck carrying 5 tons runs roughly $250 to $400 delivered. A tandem carrying 10 to 16 tons runs $500 to $1,000. The exact figure depends on the stone and the haul distance from the quarry.

Why is river rock so much more expensive than crushed stone?

Because it is a graded, washed, naturally rounded product that is often trucked a long way, whereas crushed stone comes from the nearest quarry. Haulage dominates the price of anything this heavy, so distance from source is the single biggest cost driver.

How much does pea gravel cost per ton?

About $35 to $55 per ton picked up, or $45 to $75 per cubic yard delivered. It is washed and screened to a narrow size range, which is why it costs more than an unwashed dense-graded base material.

Does gravel get cheaper in winter?

Often, yes. Spring is peak demand for every landscape yard, and late-autumn or winter pricing is commonly 10 to 15 percent softer with much shorter delivery lead times. The trade-off is working in bad weather and, in cold climates, frozen ground.

How much does it cost to gravel a driveway per square foot?

Material alone runs about $1 to $3 per square foot at 4 inches deep. A contractor installing it, including excavation, fabric and compaction, typically charges $5 to $12 per square foot depending on access and the amount of digging.

Do I pay for the water in wet gravel?

If you buy by the ton, yes: you are buying weight and water is weight. It is rarely enough to change a decision on a driveway, but on a large order it is real money, which is why some yards keep their piles covered.

How much gravel can I get for $500?

Roughly 9 to 16 tons picked up at $30 to $55 per ton, or about 6 to 10 tons delivered once a fee is included. That is enough for a 12 by 50 ft driveway at 4 inches with material to spare.

Is there a minimum order for bulk gravel?

Most yards will sell you as little as a quarter yard for pick-up, but delivery usually has a one to two yard minimum and always carries the full trip fee. Below about two yards, picking it up yourself is nearly always cheaper.

Gravel cost per ton and per yard

What bulk stone actually costs, what delivery adds, and how to price a whole job.

The short answer

Bulk gravel runs about $30–$55 per ton picked up at the yard, or $40–$75 per cubic yard delivered once a typical delivery fee is spread over a normal load. Crushed concrete is the cheapest at $15–$30 a ton; decorative river rock is the most expensive at $60–$120. Delivery adds $60–$150 per trip.

$30–55 per ton Gravel, picked up Material only
$40–75 per yd³ Gravel, delivered Fee spread over a load
$60–150 per trip Delivery Flat, within ~15 miles
$1–3 per ft² Driveway, material 4″ of stone

Gravel costs roughly $30 to $55 per ton if you load it yourself at a landscape supply or quarry, and roughly $40 to $75 per cubic yard delivered once the delivery fee is shared across a normal load. The spread is wide because "gravel" covers everything from crushed concrete fill at $15 a ton to imported decorative river rock at $120.

Prices on this page are typical US landscape-supply ranges for material only, current for 2026. Bulk aggregate is one of the most regional products there is: it is heavy, so haulage from the quarry dominates the price, and two towns fifty miles apart can differ by 40%. Treat these as the range to sanity-check a quote against, not as a quote.

Price by material

Typical US bulk prices, material only (2026)
Material	Per ton (pick up)	Per yd³ (delivered)	Typical use
Pea gravel	$35–$55	$45–$75	Paths, patios, dog runs
#57 crushed stone	$30–$50	$40–$70	Drainage, sub-base, French drains
Road base / Class 5	$20–$40	$30–$60	Compacted base under drives and pavers
Crushed concrete (RCA)	$15–$30	$20–$45	Base and fill, the budget option
River rock (1–3″)	$60–$120	$85–$170	Dry creek beds, borders, xeriscape
Decomposed granite	$40–$80	$60–$120	Paths, patios, natural drives
Sand (concrete / bedding)	$25–$45	$35–$60	Paver bedding, mixing
Screened topsoil	$20–$45	$22–$50	Lawns, bed top-up
Compost	$30–$60	N/A	Bed amendment, top-dressing
Mulch (hardwood)	$25–$50	N/A	Beds, tree rings

The pattern in that table is worth internalising: the cheapest stone is the one that came from closest. Crushed concrete is recycled locally, so it is always the budget option. Road base comes from the nearest quarry. River rock is often trucked hundreds of miles and is priced accordingly, which is why a decorative dry creek bed can cost more than the driveway it runs beside.

What delivery actually costs

Delivery is usually a flat fee per trip within a radius, not a per-ton charge: typically $60 to $150 within about fifteen miles, with a per-mile rate beyond that. Because it is flat, the delivered price per yard falls sharply as the order grows:

How a $100 delivery fee spreads across the load
Order	Material at $45/yd³	Delivery	Total	Effective $/yd³
1 yd³	$45	$100	$145	$145
3 yd³	$135	$100	$235	$78
5 yd³	$225	$100	$325	$65
10 yd³	$450	$100	$550	$55
16 yd³ (full tandem)	$720	$100	$820	$51

The practical consequence is that small deliveries are terrible value. If you need one yard, either pick it up or find a neighbour who needs the other four. Above about five yards the fee stops mattering much, and above ten you are paying close to the yard price.

Watch for the second trip. A tandem dump truck carries about 16 yards of stone, but only 10 to 11 tons of it before it hits a weight limit, so a 14-yard gravel order can quietly become two deliveries and two fees. Ask what the truck's legal load is in your material before you split an order.

Pricing a whole job

Material is only part of a job. A DIY gravel driveway is essentially material plus your weekend; a contracted one carries excavation, geotextile fabric, machine time and labour, which typically triples the number.

Rough all-in ranges for common gravel jobs
Job	Material only	Installed (contractor)
Gravel driveway, 12 × 50 ft, 4″	$300–$600	$1,500–$3,000
Gravel driveway, 12 × 100 ft, 6″ in two layers	$900–$1,800	$3,500–$7,000
Pea gravel patio, 12 × 12 ft, 3″	$90–$180	$700–$1,600
Paver base, 200 ft², 4″ of road base	$60–$140	Part of paver install
French drain, 50 ft trench	$120–$260	$1,000–$2,500
Dry creek bed, 30 ft of river rock	$250–$600	$900–$2,000

To price your own, work out the volume first and multiply. The gravel driveway calculator takes the drive dimensions and a price per ton or per yard and returns the material cost with the compaction allowance already in it, and the gravel calculator does the same for any shape.

Six ways to pay less

Buy the right product, not the nicest one. Nobody sees the base layer. Use crushed concrete or road base underneath and save the decorative stone for the top inch.
Order in one delivery. Two 5-yard loads cost a whole extra delivery fee against one 10-yard load.
Buy in the off-season. Spring is peak demand at every landscape yard. Late autumn and winter pricing is often 10–15% softer, and delivery slots are next-day.
Pick up small quantities. Under two yards, a trailer trip beats any delivery fee, as long as you respect the payload.
Price by the ton and by the yard. Convert both to the same unit before comparing. Two yards of gravel is 2.8 tons; a $50/ton quote is $70 a yard.
Measure properly. Over-ordering by a yard on a small job wipes out every saving above. Half an inch of extra depth on a big driveway is a ton of stone.

Bagged gravel, and when it makes sense

Bagged stone runs $4 to $8 for a 0.5 cubic foot bag, which works out to $215 to $430 per cubic yard, four to eight times the bulk price. It is only worth it for genuinely small jobs: a planter, a few feet of trench, a repair. The crossover is somewhere around a quarter of a yard, or about a dozen bags.

What bagged material does buy you is convenience and staging: no pile on the driveway, no tarp, nothing washing into the street, and you can do the job over three weekends. The bags per cubic yard page has the full crossover maths for every material.

Prices reviewed for 2026. They are ranges, not quotes: call two local suppliers before you budget, and see the weight guide if you need to convert a per-ton quote into the volume you actually asked for.

Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Figures here are typical ranges, not a quote: if a local supplier gives you a number for their product, use theirs. Something wrong? Email hello@bulkmaterialcalculator.com.