Groundwork and paving
Concrete sidewalk installation cost
A 4 ft by 40 ft front walk, poured 4 in over a compacted base with forms, mesh, joints and a broom finish, is about $1,713 — $10.71 a square foot, or $42.82 a running foot. The concrete in it is 31% of the price; the forms, base and joints that run with the 88 ft of edge are the rest, which is why a walk is priced by the foot and a yard-of-concrete figure tells you nothing. An old walk out first makes it $2,225; stamped $2,721; the same walk in pavers $3,520; poured yourself, $993 of materials and 23 hours. This counts the yards and the bags, the feet of form, the joints and the fee for a short load, and puts the six surfaces on one chart.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-23 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Concrete sidewalk installation cost calculator
The walk, and what is there now
Length and width give the square feet; the edge gives the forms and the joints; what is under it now gives the first line of the bill.
Door to driveway, or gate to porch.
front walk, two abreast
4 in for feet; 6 in where cars cross.
The standard walk: 4 in over a compacted base, tooled joints, a broom finish for grip. Priced by the piece below.
Sod cut and the trench dug to grade. Nothing to haul but dirt.
Your own ground, your own spec.
Optional on a broom finish.
About 11 crew hours.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Poured concrete, broom finish, installed
$1,713
$11 per sq ft · $43 per running foot · 160 sq ft · 2.17 yd of concrete
Priced by the foot, not the yard
The concrete — 2.25 yards with the short-load fee — is $523, 31% of it. The other 69% runs with the 88 ft of edge: forms, base, 9 tooled joints and 4 expansion joints, and the finishing.
Joints, at the width
Every 4 ft, and wherever it meets anything.
A walk cracks at the joints it should have had. Control joints are tooled at the width of the walk so the panels stay square; expansion board goes where the walk meets the stoop, the driveway or the curb, and every 20 ft between. Both are minutes of work while the concrete is soft, and neither is on a quote that says only “160 sq ft”.
One walk, six surfaces
The same 160 sq ft, installed, with the same ground under it.
What the crew charges for
- Excavation and grading
Sod off, dug 8 in to grade, the subgrade compacted.$176 - 4 in compacted base
4 in of crushed stone, compacted in one lift. Material and placing.$224 - Forms, 88 ft of edge
2×4 forms, stakes, set to line and grade, stripped after. Per foot of edge, and a walk is mostly edge.$158 - Welded wire mesh
6×6 welded wire on chairs, mid-depth. Keeps a crack closed; does not stop it.$56 - 2.25 yd of ready-mix, short load
2.17 yd with waste, and $151 of fee for a load under the plant's minimum.$523 - Placing, finishing, tooling the joints
Placing, screeding, floating, tooling the joints and edges, a broom finish. Per square foot.$512 - 4 expansion joints
1/2 in fibre expansion board, per foot of joint. Where the walk meets anything, and every 20 ft.$64
What it costs
National average. A 40 × 4 ft walk, poured concrete, broom finish, 4 in over 4 in of base, lawn or bare ground there now. Not included: steps, a stoop or landing, retaining walls, drainage, tree roots cut and barriered, or lawn repaired beside the forms.
Steps at the door are on the stair page; a walk that is only settled or cracked, and does not need replacing, on the concrete repair page.
Worth knowing
- 160 sq ft of walk is 2.17 cubic yards of concrete — ordered as 2.25, and $151 of short-load fee on top, because the plant's minimum is 5 yards. The concrete is 31% of the price; the other 69% runs with the 88 ft of edge — forms, base, joints and finishing — which is why a walk is quoted by the foot and not by the yard.
- Control joints tooled every 4 ft — the width of the walk, so the panels stay square — makes 9 of them, cut a quarter of the depth while the concrete is still soft. And 4 expansion joints of half-inch fibre board: one where the walk meets the stoop, one at the driveway or curb, and one every 20 ft between. A walk without them cracks where the joints would have been.
- 4 in over 4 in of compacted base is the walk. Where it crosses the driveway, the section goes to 6 in with the mesh — a car on 4 in breaks the panel at the edge — so if part of this walk is a driveway crossing, set that piece to 6 in and price it on its own.
- The same walk as gravel path with edging would be $800; the chart has all six on the same 160 sq ft.
On this page — 5 sections
Priced by the foot, not the yard
The short version
- 4 × 40 ft front walk: $1,713, $10.71 a square foot. $42.82 a running foot.
- The concrete is 31% of it. Forms, base and joints run with the edge, and the walk is mostly edge.
- An old walk out first: $2,225. The demolition is the second-biggest line.
- Small walks cost more per foot, not less: a crew minimum and a short-load fee do not shrink.
A 4 by 40 foot walk is 160 square feet and 2.17 cubic yards of concrete — $523 delivered, and that includes the fee the plant charges for sending a truck with a load under its minimum. It is also 88 feet of forms set to line and grade, 160 square feet dug and based, 9 joints tooled and 4 laid in, and a crew’s day placing, screeding, floating and brooming a strip four feet wide. Every one of those runs with the length, not the volume, which is why the trade quotes a walk by the foot and why a yard-of-concrete price tells you almost nothing about what one costs.
$523
2.25 yd of concrete, short load
31% of the walk
$222
Forms and joints
88 ft of edge
$400
Dug and based
4 in of compacted stone
$512
Placed and finished
A crew's day
MaterialsEstimator, Sidewalk and walkway installation price survey · checked 2026-09-23
The section, and the joints
Four inches of concrete over four inches of compacted crushed stone is the walk, and has been for a century. The base is not optional: concrete on bare clay heaves in the first frost and settles in the first wet spring, and a walk that has done either is a trip edge. Where a car crosses — the driveway apron — the section goes to six inches with mesh, because a tyre on a four-inch edge breaks it.
Then the joints, which are what most walks that cracked were missing. Control joints are tooled at the width of the walk, so the panels are square, a quarter of the depth into the soft concrete; the slab shrinks as it cures and cracks along them instead of across the middle. Expansion joints — half-inch fibre board through the full depth — go wherever the walk meets something that will not move with it: the stoop, the driveway, the curb, a wall, and every 20 feet along an open run. A quarter inch per foot of cross slope sends the water off, and a broom finish gives it grip when it is wet.
| Walk on lawn | Replacing an old walk | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 × 40 ft, broom finish | $1,713 | $2,225 |
| Per square foot | $10.71 | $13.91 |
| Demolition and haul | Sod and dirt | $512 — about 4 tons |
| Crew hours | 11 | 14 |
| Yourself | $993, 23 h | A breaker rental and a dumpster first |
Portland Cement Association / American Concrete Pavement Association, Concrete sidewalks and walkways — thickness, base, jointing and finishing · checked 2026-09-23
The same walk, six ways
Poured concrete with a broom finish is where most front walks land. The same pour with the top washed off to show the stone — exposed aggregate — is a couple of dollars a foot more and hides dirt and grips better; stamped and coloured is the look of stone on a slab, at a stamped price and with a sealer every few years to keep the colour. Pavers cost twice what the pour does, and can be lifted and relaid one at a time when a root moves them. Flagstone is the expensive one and the one that reads as a garden. Gravel with an edge is a weekend, a wheelbarrow and the cheapest line on the chart — and not a walk for a stroller, a wheelchair or a winter.
| 4 × 40 ft on lawn, installed | All in | Per sq ft | Yourself | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poured concrete, broom finish | $1,713 | $10.71 | $993 | 30 yr |
| Poured concrete, exposed aggregate | $2,113 | $13.21 | $1,105 | 30 yr |
| Poured concrete, stamped and coloured | $2,721 | $17.01 | $1,361 | 25 yr |
| Concrete pavers on sand | $3,520 | $22 | $1,310 | 30 yr |
| Flagstone, set on base | $4,480 | $28 | $2,270 | 40 yr |
| Gravel path with edging | $800 | $5 | $510 | 10 yr |
Same ground, same excavation and base under each. The yourself column is materials and a rental.
At the street
The sidewalk along the street is usually in the right-of-way — the city’s strip, even though you mow it — and there the city owns the spec and, mostly, you own the bill. That means a permit and an inspection, the city’s section (five feet wide is the common one, six inches through the driveway apron), and in many cities a contractor from their list. It also means asking first: some cities replace public sidewalks on a cost-share, some will do the work and bill the owner, and some send a notice when a panel has heaved more than a quarter inch and give you a season to fix it. A 300 square foot public walk replaced is about $4,002 here, permit included.
Before the forms go in
- Whose ground: along the street, call the city before pricing. Permit, section, and whether they share the cost.
- Utilities located — 811 — before anything is dug, even eight inches.
- The driveway crossing marked out as its own 6 in piece.
- Grade set to fall away from the house, a quarter inch a foot across the walk.
- Tree roots within a few feet: cut and barriered now, or the walk lifts in five years.
- The quote in feet of edge and count of joints, not square feet alone.
- Sealer decided: optional on broom, part of the job on stamped.
MaterialsEstimator, Ready-mix minimum load and short-load fee survey · checked 2026-09-15
What goes wrong
01Pouring on the dirt
Clay heaves in frost and settles when wet; the walk follows it and becomes a trip edge in two winters.
Instead — 4 in of crushed stone, compacted, under every walk. It is a tenth of the price.
02No joints, or joints too far apart
Concrete shrinks as it cures and cracks somewhere; without joints at the width, that somewhere is the middle of a panel.
Instead — Control joints at the width, expansion board where it meets anything and every 20 ft.
034 in through the driveway
A car on a 4 in edge breaks it, usually in the first year.
Instead — 6 in with mesh for any piece a wheel crosses.
04Pricing by the yard of concrete
The concrete is 31% of the walk. The other 69% runs with the edge.
Instead — By the foot, with the base, forms and joints named.
05Pouring the public walk without asking
It is the city's right-of-way, with its permit, its section and sometimes its contractor — and sometimes its money.
Instead — A call to the city first. Some share the cost; some will not let you.
06Ordering a truck for a path
A ready-mix plant charges $55 a yard for every yard under its 5 yard minimum. On a yard's worth, the fee is more than the concrete.
Instead — Under a yard, bags — 37 of 80 lb for a 3 × 20 path — mixed and placed in one go.
07Pouring in sections a day apart
Every cold joint shows as a line, and it is a weak one.
Instead — Formed one day, poured in one go the next, with a second pair of hands.
08Replacing a walk that needed lifting
One panel heaved or settled is a foam lift or a grind for a few hundred dollars; a new walk is thousands.
Instead — Replace when more than a quarter of the panels are cracked, or the surface is scaling everywhere.
- 01Measure the runDoor to driveway, or gate to porch, in feet. Curves and dog-legs add up along the centreline.
- 02Pick the width3 ft is a path for one, 4 ft a front walk two can share, 5 ft the public sidewalk. Joints will be cut at that spacing.
- 03Find the driveway crossingAny piece a car will roll over is 6 in with mesh, not 4. Price it as its own piece.
- 04Look at what is thereLawn is dug; an old walk is broken up and hauled at about 50 lb a square foot; old pavers are lifted and the base dug out.
- 05Check whose ground it isAlong the street it is probably the city's right-of-way: a permit, an inspection, their section, and perhaps their contractor.
- 06Count the joints, not just the feetControl joints at the width, expansion board where the walk meets anything and every 20 ft. A quote that is only square feet has not thought about them.
A walk that is heaved at one joint or scaling on top is repaired, not replaced. The concrete repair page prices the grind, the lift and the resurfacer, and says when replacement is the cheaper answer.
Before replacing it- Sidewalk vs walkway
- The same thing priced the same way. A sidewalk runs along the street, usually in the public right-of-way; a walkway runs from the door to the drive, on your own ground.
- Right-of-way
- The strip along the street the city owns even when you mow it. A sidewalk there is built to the city's section, with its permit, and often by its licensed contractor.
- Control joint
- A groove tooled into the soft concrete, a quarter of the depth, at intervals equal to the walk's width. The crack happens there instead of somewhere else.
- Expansion joint
- Half-inch fibre board through the full depth, where the walk meets a stoop, drive or curb and every 20 ft or so. Lets the slab move without pushing on its neighbour.
- Short-load fee
- What a ready-mix plant charges per yard below its minimum load, usually 5 yards. A walk is almost always a short load.
- Broom finish
- The surface dragged with a stiff broom after floating. Grip when wet; the standard for anything walked on.
- Exposed aggregate
- The top of the pour washed off before it sets so the stone shows, then sealed. Grip, texture, and a finish that hides dirt.
- Stamped concrete
- Coloured concrete with a pattern pressed in while soft — stone, slate, brick. Needs a sealer every few years to keep the colour.
- Driveway apron
- The part of a walk a car crosses. 6 in thick with mesh, against 4 in for the rest; a car on 4 in breaks the edge.
- Trip edge
- A vertical lip between panels of a quarter inch or more. The number cities and courts use; a heaved panel is ground or lifted, not tolerated.
- Welded wire mesh
- 6 × 6 in steel grid on chairs at mid-depth. Holds a crack closed once it has happened; does not prevent it.
- Cross slope
- A quarter inch per foot across the walk so water runs off, and no more than 2% if the walk is to be an accessible route.
Common questions
- How much does a concrete sidewalk cost to install?
- About $1,713 for a 4 ft × 40 ft front walk — $10.71 a square foot, or $42.82 a running foot — poured 4 in thick over 4 in of compacted base, with forms, welded wire mesh, 9 tooled control joints, 4 expansion joints and a broom finish. Replacing an old walk on the same line is about $2,225, the difference being the demolition and haul-off. A short 3 × 20 ft path is $907, because the crew's minimum and the short-load fee do not shrink with the walk.
- How much does a concrete sidewalk cost per square foot?
- About $10.71 a square foot installed for a plain broom-finish walk on lawn, $13.91 where an old walk comes out first, $13.21 exposed aggregate and $17.01 stamped and coloured. The figure rises on small walks — $15.12 on a 60 sq ft path — because forms, joints and the crew minimum run with the edge and the day, not the area. Per running foot of a 4 ft walk it is $42.82.
- How much does it cost to pour a sidewalk yourself?
- About $993 for the 4 × 40 walk — 2.25 yards of ready-mix with the short-load fee, base gravel, form lumber, mesh, expansion board and a compactor rental — and about 23 hours, two of them with a second person for the pour. A 3 × 20 path is $547 and 37 bags of 80 lb mix. What you save is the crew; what you cannot skip is the base, the joints and finishing the whole walk before it stiffens.
- Why is the concrete only a third of the price?
- Because a walk is mostly edge. A 4 × 40 walk is 2.17 yards of concrete — $523 delivered, including the short-load fee — and 88 ft of forms, 4 expansion joints, 160 sq ft of base and excavation, and a crew's day of placing, screeding, jointing and brooming. Those run with the feet, not the yards, and they are $1,190 of the $1,713.
- What is the short-load fee?
- A ready-mix plant's minimum is usually 5 yards, and below it they charge about $55 for every yard the truck is short. A walk wants 2.25 yards, so the fee is $151 on top of the concrete. Under a yard the calculator switches to bags: a 3 × 20 path is 37 bags of 80 lb, mixed on site, which is cheaper than a truck for that little and a hard morning's work.
- How thick should a sidewalk be?
- 4 in over 4 in of compacted base for foot traffic, and 6 in with mesh wherever a car crosses it — the driveway apron. Some cities specify 5 in for the whole public walk. Thicker than that buys nothing for feet; the base and the joints are what stop a walk cracking.
- Where do the joints go?
- Control joints at a spacing equal to the width — every 4 ft on a 4 ft walk, so the panels are square — tooled a quarter of the depth while the concrete is soft. Expansion joints of half-inch fibre board through the full depth wherever the walk meets a stoop, a driveway, a curb or a wall, and every 20 ft along an open run. The joints are minutes of work and the difference between a walk that cracks at the joints and one that cracks anywhere.
- Does a city sidewalk need a permit?
- If it is in the right-of-way, almost always: a permit and an inspection (about $150), the city's section — usually 5 ft wide, 4 in thick, 6 in through the driveway — and in many cities a contractor on their list. Some cities repair or replace public sidewalks on a cost-share with the owner, and some will do the work and bill you, so ask before pricing. A 300 sq ft public walk replaced is about $4,002 here.
- How much does a paver walkway cost compared with concrete?
- About $3,520 installed for the same 160 sq ft — $22 a square foot against $10.71 for poured concrete — with the same excavation and base, an inch of sand, the pavers and an edge restraint. Flagstone is about $4,480; a gravel path with edging $800. Pavers can be lifted and relaid one at a time; concrete cannot, and stone is the one that reads as a garden.
- Should I repair or replace an old sidewalk?
- One panel heaved by a root or settled at a joint is lifted or ground, for a fraction of a new walk. A walk with more than a quarter of its panels cracked, or a surface scaling everywhere, is replaced. The line between the two is on the concrete repair page; this page prices the replacement, with the demolition in it.
- How long before I can walk on it?
- Foot traffic after 24 hours, keep it damp for the first three days, and nothing heavy for a week. A car on the apron waits at least seven days. Salt stays off it the first winter.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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