A ton of gravel covers roughly 100–110 square feet at 2 inches deep, about 70 square feet at 3 inches, and around 50 square feet at a 4-inch driveway depth. The exact figure depends on the stone: lighter pea gravel spreads a little further than dense crusher run.
Coverage per ton by depth
| Depth | Pea gravel | 3/4" crushed stone | Crusher run |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2" | ~115 sq ft | ~110 sq ft | ~95 sq ft |
| 3" | ~77 sq ft | ~74 sq ft | ~63 sq ft |
| 4" | ~58 sq ft | ~55 sq ft | ~48 sq ft |
| 6" | ~38 sq ft | ~37 sq ft | ~32 sq ft |
The math behind the chart
Gravel weighs 1.4–1.7 tons per cubic yard depending on type, and a cubic yard covers 162 square feet at 2 inches. So one ton of 3/4" crushed stone (1.45 tons/yd³) is 1 ÷ 1.45 = 0.69 cubic yards, and 0.69 × 162 ≈ 112 square feet at 2 inches. Halve it for 4 inches, and so on. (A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet — see how many cubic feet are in a cubic yard for the full conversion.)
Worked example: a gravel parking pad
Say you are resurfacing a 20 × 15 ft parking area with 3 inches of crushed stone. Area: 300 sq ft. From the chart, one ton covers ~74 sq ft at 3 inches, so 300 ÷ 74 ≈ 4.1 tons — order 4.5 tons with a compaction allowance. Most suppliers sell in half-ton increments, and delivery beats hauling: 4.5 tons is nine pickup-truck trips. Rounded stone works the same way — see river rock weight per yard if you are pricing both.
Estimate your own project
Our gravel calculator does this conversion for six gravel types at any depth, returning cubic yards and tons together — and if you are building a driveway from scratch, it pairs with the layered base depths in the same page’s depth guide.