Fill correctly.

Everything divides by 324

A cubic yard of topsoil is 27 cubic feet, and spread one inch deep it covers 324 square feet. That single number does all the work. Two inches deep covers half as much, 162 square feet. Four inches covers 81. Twelve inches covers 27, which is to say a three by nine foot raised bed. Square feet divided by 324, multiplied by depth in inches, gives cubic yards, and the calculator above does exactly that with the density of your chosen material applied.

What the arithmetic will not tell you is how much a yard weighs when it arrives, whether bags or bulk is cheaper for your job, what screened means on a price list, and whether the cheap material at the bottom of that list is topsoil at all. Those are the parts below.

How much does a yard of topsoil weigh

Roughly 2,200 pounds dry, which is a little over a ton, and up to 3,000 pounds saturated after rain. That spread is not trivia. A half ton pickup is rated for about 1,000 pounds of payload, which means it can legally carry under half a yard of wet topsoil, and the yard will happily load a full yard into it if you ask. Two yards or more is a delivery, and most suppliers set a minimum of two or three yards for the truck to leave the lot anyway.

The comparison worth internalizing is bags against bulk. A 40 pound bag holds about 0.75 cubic feet, so it takes 36 bags to make one cubic yard. At $4 a bag that is $144, against $25 to $60 for a bulk yard delivered in most markets. Bags win for a single planter or a few low spots, where you would otherwise pay a delivery fee to move a wheelbarrow of soil. Bulk wins on anything past about half a yard, which is to say almost every real project.

Screened, unscreened, and what the words mean

Screened topsoil has been run through a mesh, usually a half inch or three eighths, which removes rocks, roots, clumps, and most of the debris. It rakes smooth, spreads evenly, and costs roughly double the unscreened equivalent. Unscreened topsoil comes off the pile as it was stripped, and it will contain stones, wood, and the occasional surprise. For filling a hole or building up a grade that will be buried under something else, unscreened is fine and the saving is real. For anything that will be seeded, sodded, or planted into, screened is worth the difference, because every rock in unscreened soil eventually becomes a rock in your lawn.

Two other terms show up on the same price list. Pulverized or shredded topsoil has been mechanically broken up as well as screened, and is the finest grade. Blended or super soil is topsoil pre-mixed with compost at some ratio the supplier chooses, which can be excellent value or mostly filler depending on the yard; asking what the ratio is separates the two.

Topsoil, garden soil, compost, and fill dirt

Topsoil is the A horizon in soil science terms: the upper layer of mineral soil that carries the organic matter, the biology, and most of the nutrients. Fill dirt is subsoil from below that layer, stripped of organic matter, and it is sold for structural purposes, filling voids, building up grade, backfilling against foundations. It compacts well, which is exactly why nothing grows in it. Putting fill dirt where you intend to grow grass is the most expensive saving in landscaping, because you pay again to fix it.

Garden soil is topsoil already amended, usually with compost, and sold bagged at a premium. Compost is not soil at all; it is decomposed organic matter, and used alone it holds too much water and settles dramatically. The standard practical recipe is to mix compost into topsoil at 20 to 30 percent by volume for beds, which is why a calculator that lets you price both separately is more useful than one that assumes a blend.

One caution on topdressing: a quarter to a half inch at a time is the limit on an established lawn. Burying existing grass under two inches of soil smothers it, and the correct approach for a badly uneven lawn is several thin applications across seasons rather than one thick one. For a lawn being built from scratch, four to six inches of screened topsoil over loosened subsoil is the extension recommendation, and skimping here is the single most common reason a new lawn struggles for years.

Where topsoil orders go wrong

Ordering by weight when the price is by volume. Suppliers quote cubic yards but load by the bucket and sometimes bill by the ton. A ton is not a yard. If a quote mixes the two, ask which one the price is per.

Underestimating settling. Fresh topsoil settles 10 to 20 percent as it is watered and walked on, more if it is loose and organic. Order the calculated amount plus a margin, or expect to be low.

Buying fill dirt to save money. Covered above and the most consequential error on this page.

Not asking where it came from. Topsoil is a stripped natural product, not a manufactured one, and quality varies enormously between suppliers and even between piles. Screened soil from a reputable yard is a known quantity; a cheap load from an unknown source can arrive full of clay, construction debris, or weed seed. Ask to look at the pile before ordering, and squeeze a handful: good topsoil crumbles, clay-heavy soil holds the shape of your fist.

The rest of the yard

Topsoil usually arrives alongside other bulk material. The mulch calculator covers the layer that goes on top of finished beds, the sod calculator handles the lawn that goes over the graded soil, and base material for paths and patios is a gravel calculator question. If you are capturing rain to water any of it, the rainwater calculator sizes the catchment.

Measure the area, decide the depth honestly, and order in yards. Running short mid-project means a second delivery fee for a fraction of a load, which is the most avoidable cost in the whole job.