Asphalt Calculator
Area and thickness in; tons of hot mix, square yards, truckloads and the material bill out.
At 110 lb per square yard per inch, 1,000 sq ft of pavement at 3 inches takes 18.3 tons, and one ton covers about 55 sq ft.
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Asphalt tonnage calculator
Area to pave
Compacted thickness
Plant price
HomeGuide put hot mix at $40-$80 a ton at the plant in December 2025, plus $4-$9 a ton delivered; 2026 price trackers quote higher, and state DOT bid tabs higher again. Plant prices follow the monthly liquid asphalt index, so put your plant's own quote in this field before you trust the total.
Adjust spread rate, overage and base stone
110 lb per square yard per inch — 146.67 lb per cubic foot compacted — is the typical rate; Illinois uses 112, Tennessee 106, open-graded mixes about 88. The mix design sheet from your plant has the exact figure.
Hot mix to order
0.0tons
0 sq ft ÷ 9 × 3 in × 110 lb ÷ 2,000 = 0.0 t, plus 5% overage.
Material cost
$0
0.0 t × $80 a ton, before delivery and trucking.
Tonnage is only as good as the area. On a lot with islands, curved drive aisles and a loading apron, rectangles drift, and every 1,000 sq ft you miss at 3 inches is about 18.3 tons you did not order. Trace the real lot on satellite imagery and paste the area in.
Already traced the lot? Switch the area to “I have the sq ft” and paste the total.
How many tons of asphalt do I need?
Multiply the area in square yards by the compacted thickness in inches and by 110 lb, then divide by 2,000. In square feet, tons = sq ft × inches × 0.00611. A 14,000 sq ft lot paved 3 inches thick takes 257 tons, 270 with a 5% overage, which is 17 loads at 16 tons.
The Tonnage Formula, Step by Step
Five lines take an area to a plant order. Here is the 14,000 sq ft strip center lot above, 3 inches for car traffic, with hot mix at $80 a ton.
Square yards
square feet ÷ 9
14,000 ÷ 9 = 1,556 sq yd
Tons of hot mix
sq yd × inches × 110 lb ÷ 2,000
1,556 × 3 × 110 ÷ 2,000 = 257 t
Tons to order
tons × 1.05 overage
257 × 1.05 = 270 t
Truckloads
order ÷ tons per truck, rounded up
270 ÷ 16 = 17 loads
Material cost
order × plant price per ton
270 × $80 = $21,600
The 110 lb figure is the typical spread rate for dense-graded hot mix — about 2.0 tons to the cubic yard once compacted, whether the ticket says hot mix, HMA or blacktop. Some states run their own: Illinois uses 112 lb, Tennessee 106, and open-graded friction courses about 88. If your plant's mix design sheet gives a different yield, open the calculator's factors and use it.
The same lot on 6 inches of crushed stone base takes about 459 tons of stone, ordered with compaction and waste. The calculator adds that line when you give it a base depth.
Asphalt Coverage by Thickness
Compacted hot mix at 110 lb per square yard per inch, before overage. Use it to sanity-check a plant order or to turn a tonnage on an old invoice back into an area.
| Thickness | Sq ft per ton | Tons / 1,000 sq ft | Tons / acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 in | 109 | 9.2 | 399 |
| 2 in | 82 | 12.2 | 532 |
| 3 in | 55 | 18.3 | 799 |
| 4 in | 41 | 24.4 | 1,065 |
| 4.5 in | 36 | 27.5 | 1,198 |
| 6 in | 27 | 36.7 | 1,597 |
HomeGuide's published coverage — 80 sq ft a ton at 2 in, 55 sq ft a ton at 3 in, 40 sq ft a ton at 4 in — matches this table to within a couple of square feet.
Parking Lot Asphalt Thickness
Thickness sets the tonnage, so it comes before the calculator. These are the Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association's recommended sections, validated with the National Asphalt Pavement Association's PAVEXpress tool. The ranges run from strong soil to weak.
Asphalt over aggregate base, drawn to scale at the thick end of each range.
| Traffic | Asphalt, 15 yr | Base | Asphalt, 30 yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light: cars, occasional delivery | 2.5-3 inches | 6 inches | 3.5-5 inches |
| Moderate: regular trucks | 4-4.5 inches | 8 inches | 6-7.5 inches |
| Heavy: distribution, truck courts | 6-7 inches | 10 inches | 7-9 inches |
Dumpster pads and loading-dock approaches get their own section: at least 6 inches of asphalt over 8 inches of base, even inside a light-duty lot. Trace them as their own sections so each has its own area, then run that area through the calculator above at their thickness.
Place it in lifts of 1.5-3 inches. A lift should be at least 4 times the mix's nominal maximum aggregate size to compact properly, which is why a 1.5-inch overlay calls for a fine surface mix.
Tons for Common Paving Jobs
Ordered with a 5% overage, loads at 16 tons. A check on a number you just calculated, not a substitute for measuring the lot.
| Job | Area | Tons | Loads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-car driveway, 24 × 24576 sq ft · 2 in | 576 sq ft | 7.4 | 1 |
| Small lot, about 12 stalls4,000 sq ft · 3 in | 4,000 sq ft | 77.0 | 5 |
| Strip center lot14,000 sq ft · 3 in | 14,000 sq ft | 270 | 17 |
| One-acre lot, new surface43,560 sq ft · 3 in | 43,560 sq ft | 839 | 53 |
| One-acre mill and overlay43,560 sq ft · 1.5 in | 43,560 sq ft | 419 | 27 |
| Truck court or dock apron6,000 sq ft · 6 in | 6,000 sq ft | 231 | 15 |
A small driveway can come in under a plant's minimum load charge; ask before you schedule a single-truck job.
Take Off the Lot From Satellite Imagery
A lot with islands is where a wheel, a site plan from 1998 and the owner's guess all miss. Trace the pavement instead: address to square footage in under three minutes.
Search the address
Any lot in the U.S. loads on satellite imagery, drive aisles, aprons and curb cuts included.
Trace each section
Draw the parking field, the apron and the truck court as separate sections, and the islands as cutouts, so each has its own area to order at its own thickness.
Take off and quote
Paste the area into the calculator for tons, then price the job at your rate and send a branded PDF quote.
Where an Asphalt Takeoff Goes Wrong
The formula is simple. These four inputs are where a paving order comes up short on the last truck or long by a load.
Loose thickness ordered as compacted
The screed is set at 1.25 times the finished thickness. Order from the compacted number on the plan; ordering from the loose mat buys a quarter too much.
The owner's lot size
A listing's lot area includes the building, the landscaping and the setbacks. The paved area is the number that buys asphalt, and it is always smaller.
Square yards and cubic yards mixed up
Plants and DOT specs work in square yards per inch; excavation works in cubic yards. Divide square feet by 9 for one and by 27 per foot of depth for the other.
One thickness for the whole site
Truck routes, dumpster pads and dock aprons need 6-7 inches while the car field needs 2.5-3 inches. Averaging them under-builds the part that fails first.
Sealing the lot once it cures is its own takeoff: gallons of sealer from the same area in the sealcoating cost calculator.
Asphalt Calculator Questions
Tons, coverage, truckloads and thickness.
About 0.00611 tons per square foot per inch of compacted thickness, which is 110 lb per square yard per inch converted to square feet. At 2 inches that is 12.2 tons per 1,000 sq ft, at 3 inches 18.3 tons, and at 4 inches 24.4 tons. Add 5% for raking, trimming and the last partial load before you call the plant.
One ton of compacted hot mix covers about 82 sq ft at 2 inches, 55 sq ft at 3 inches and 41 sq ft at 4 inches. Coverage halves when thickness doubles, so the thickness on the plan matters as much as the area.
A tandem dump truck carries 13-20 tons of hot mix, depending on the truck and your state's weight limits. Divide the order by what your trucks legally haul and round up: a 14,000 sq ft lot at 3 inches is 270 tons with overage, or 17 loads at 16 tons. At $80 a ton that is about $1,280 of material a load, before delivery.
The Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association's parking lot design guide calls for 2.5-3 inches of asphalt on 6 inches of aggregate base for car traffic, 4-4.5 inches on 8 inches for moderate truck traffic and 6-7 inches on 10 inches for heavy trucks, for a 15-year life on typical soil. Dumpster and loading-dock approaches take at least 6 inches of asphalt over 8 inches of base.
About 146.7 lb per cubic foot compacted, which is what 110 lb per square yard per inch works out to and sits inside the 142 to 148 lb band the Asphalt Institute publishes for dense-graded mixes. Loose, uncompacted mix weighs less, which is why a takeoff uses the compacted thickness on the plan.
About 2.0 tons. A cubic yard is a square yard 36 inches deep, so at 110 lb per square yard per inch it weighs 3,960 lb compacted. Plants sell hot mix by the ton, so cubic yards are usually only needed to reconcile a supplier quote or to size the stone base underneath.
Yes. Blacktop is the everyday name for the same hot-mix asphalt, and some guides reserve it for lighter residential mixes, but the takeoff does not change: area, compacted thickness and the spread rate give the tons either way. Use the same numbers whether the plant ticket says blacktop, hot mix or HMA.
Multiply tons by 2,000 and divide by 110 times the thickness in inches. 100 tons at 2 inches covers 909 square yards; at 3 inches it covers 606. Square yards to tons is the same line read backwards: square yards × inches × 110 ÷ 2,000. The calculator takes square yards directly, so a takeoff already in yards does not have to be converted first.
HomeGuide's December 2025 cost guide put hot mix at $40-$80 a ton at the plant, plus $4-$9 a ton for delivery within 15 to 20 miles, with a typical minimum order of 2 tons. Price trackers published through 2026 quote higher than that, and state DOT bid tabs higher still, which is the point: plant prices move with the liquid asphalt index most state transportation departments publish monthly, and only your plant's current quote prices your job.
Trace the paved area on satellite imagery and draw the islands as cutouts, so they come out of the order instead of into it. SurfaceMeasure returns the square footage directly, typically within 1–3% of a wheel measurement. On a 14,000 sq ft lot a 3% miss is 420 sq ft, about 7.7 tons at 3 inches.
Sources
Checked September 2026. Figures are reference values; your plant's mix design and your engineer's section govern a real order.
- Asphalt magazine: five rules of thumb for asphalt pavement constructionSpread rate, state variations, minimum lift and screed setting. Sept. 2023.
- Missouri Asphalt Pavement Association: Asphalt Parking Lot DesignThickness by traffic and design life, truck areas, lift thickness. 2022.
- HomeGuide: How much does asphalt cost?Price per ton, delivery, truck capacity and coverage. Dec. 2025.
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