Reference data
Asphalt tonnage and coverage
Square feet and square yards a ton of asphalt covers at every compacted depth, the spread rate behind it, and millings against hot mix.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-16
How much does a ton of asphalt cover, and how do I convert square yards to tons?
About 81 square feet at two inches compacted — which is where the familiar rule of “eighty square feet a ton” comes from, and it is true for that one depth only.
The general answer is the spread rate: 111 pounds of hot mix per square yard per inch of compacted depth. Multiply square yards by inches by 111, divide by 2,000, and you have tons. It is the figure paving crews work in and it is almost never published for the people buying the material.
Coverage by compacted depth
| Compacted depth | ft² per ton | yd² per ton | Tons per 100 yd² | Tons per 1,000 ft² | Loose thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 163 | 18 | 5.53 | 6.15 | 1.25 in |
| 1.5 in | 108 | 12 | 8.30 | 9.22 | 1.88 in |
| 2 in | 81 | 9 | 11.06 | 12.29 | 2.50 in |
| 2.5 in | 65 | 7 | 13.83 | 15.36 | 3.13 in |
| 3 in | 54 | 6 | 16.59 | 18.44 | 3.75 in |
| 3.5 in | 46 | 5 | 19.36 | 21.51 | 4.38 in |
| 4 in | 41 | 5 | 22.13 | 24.58 | 5.00 in |
| 5 in | 33 | 4 | 27.66 | 30.73 | 6.25 in |
| 6 in | 27 | 3 | 33.19 | 36.88 | 7.50 in |
That last column is the one that catches people. Asphalt is spread roughly a quarter thicker than it finishes, so a two-inch driveway goes down at about 2.50 inches and is rolled to two. Work the tonnage from the loose figure and you over-order by that quarter; set the screed to the finished figure and you end up with a driveway a quarter thinner than specified.
Mixes and their densities
| Material | Compacted density | Tons per yd³ | Spread rate | ft²/ton at 2 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot mix asphalt | 145–150 lb/ft³ | 1.96–2.02 | 111 lb/yd²/in | 81 |
| Recycled asphalt millings | 120–140 lb/ft³ | 1.62–1.89 | 98 lb/yd²/in | 92 |
| Cold patch | 130–145 lb/ft³ | 1.75–1.96 | 103 lb/yd²/in | 87 |
Lift limits
| Limit | Inches | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum lift | 1.5 | Thinner than this the mix cools before the roller reaches it, and the stones bridge instead of locking together. |
| Maximum lift | 3 | A roller densifies the top few inches of what it sits on. Deeper than this and the bottom stays loose. |
| Minimum compaction temperature | 185 °F | Below it, rolling achieves nothing. It is why hot mix cannot be stored, bagged or laid over two days. |
Where these numbers come from
All of it derives from one figure: the compacted density of the mix. The spread rate is that density times nine square feet to the square yard, divided by twelve inches to the foot. Coverage is 2,000 pounds divided by the density times the depth. There is no rule of thumb anywhere in the table, which is why it stays correct at depths where the rules of thumb stop working.
The density itself is a range rather than a constant — 145 to 150 pounds per cubic foot is ordinary for hot mix, depending on the aggregate and the mix design — and the difference between the ends of that range is about three per cent on the tonnage. Worth knowing when the order is close to a truckload.
Millings are the ragged case
Recycled asphalt has no mix design and no specification. Its density depends on what was in the road it came off and how finely it was ground, so the range here is wider and should be treated as an indication. If a supplier cannot tell you the source or whether the load has been screened, the density is the least of what you do not know about it.
Using it
The asphalt calculator runs this arithmetic on your own measurements, gives the tonnage as a range across the density band, and — if there is already a driveway there — prices sealing, overlaying and rebuilding side by side.
Send this to whoever is paying
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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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