Cubic Feet to Cubic Yards
Cubic feet to cubic yards means dividing by 27, because one cubic yard (3 × 3 × 3 ft) holds 27 cubic feet. So 100 cubic feet is 3.70 cubic yards, or 50 bags of the 2 cu ft size. To go the other way, multiply cubic yards by 27.
Example: 100 cubic feet
3.7 cubic yards
- 2.83 m³
50 bags of 2 cu ft · 67 bags of 1.5 cu ft · 100 bags of 1 cu ft
How many cubic feet are in a cubic yard?
There are 27. A cubic yard is a cube that measures one yard, or 3 feet, along every edge, so it holds 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 cubic feet: three layers of nine one-foot cubes.
The usual mistake is dividing by 3 or by 9. Three feet make a yard of length and 9 square feet make a square yard, but a cubic yard has depth as well. Divide 100 cubic feet by 9 and you get 11.11, so an order placed on that number would be three times the real 3.70 cubic yards.
By hand, cubic yards = cubic feet ÷ 27. Say you’ve measured three raised planters at 24, 30 and 26 cubic feet. Together they hold 80 cubic feet, and 80 ÷ 27 = 2.96 cubic yards. A supplier that sells in half-yard steps would load 3 yards, about 1 cubic foot more than you need. Small amounts work the same way: a 0.75 cu ft bag of topsoil is 0.75 ÷ 27 = 0.028 cubic yards.
The converter at the top of the page divides as you type. Under the result it shows the same volume in cubic meters and as bags of 2, 1.5 and 1 cu ft. The Swap button turns it around, from cubic yards to cubic feet.
Cubic feet to cubic yards table
Each row is the cubic feet divided by 27, to three decimal places. Multiples of 27 (27, 54, 81, 135) come out to whole yards.
| Cubic feet | Cubic yards |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.037 |
| 5 | 0.185 |
| 10 | 0.37 |
| 20 | 0.741 |
| 27 | 1 |
| 40 | 1.481 |
| 50 | 1.852 |
| 54 | 2 |
| 75 | 2.778 |
| 80 | 2.963 |
| 81 | 3 |
| 100 | 3.704 |
| 135 | 5 |
| 150 | 5.556 |
| 200 | 7.407 |
| 250 | 9.259 |
| 300 | 11.111 |
| 400 | 14.815 |
| 500 | 18.519 |
| 750 | 27.778 |
| 1,000 | 37.037 |
How many bags make a cubic yard?
Bagged soil, mulch and stone are sold by the cubic foot, so the bags in a yard are 27 divided by the bag size. When that isn’t a whole number, multiply by the yards you need before rounding up. Two yards in 2 cu ft bags is 54 ÷ 2 = 27 bags; rounding each yard up to 14 first would buy one bag too many.
| Bag size | Sold as, for example | 1 yard | 2 yards | 3 yards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 cu ft | Quikrete all-purpose gravel; Pavestone pea gravel and river pebbles | 54 | 108 | 162 |
| 0.75 cu ft | Scotts Premium Topsoil | 36 | 72 | 108 |
| 1 cu ft | Timberline all-purpose topsoil | 27 | 54 | 81 |
| 1.5 cu ft | Scotts Nature Scapes mulch | 18 | 36 | 54 |
| 2 cu ft | Scotts Nature Scapes mulch | 14 (13.5 exact) | 27 | 41 (40.5 exact) |
| 3 cu ft | Master Gardener shredded hardwood mulch | 9 | 18 | 27 |
Read the volume printed on the bag before you count. Scotts Nature Scapes mulch, for one, comes in both 1.5 and 2 cu ft bags, and the two give different counts.
Same volume, different weight
A cubic foot is a fixed amount of space, and its weight depends on the material in it. Per cubic foot, hardwood mulch weighs 15–30 lb per cubic foot, dry topsoil 69–100 lb per cubic foot, dry sand 83–104 lb per cubic foot, #57 stone 93–96 lb per cubic foot and cured concrete 140–155 lb per cubic foot.
Two cubic feet of #57 stone, the volume of a 2 cu ft mulch bag, weighs 185–191 lb, and the same volume of hardwood mulch weighs 30–59 lb. Bagged stone and gravel come in 0.5 cu ft sizes, and a bag that size holding #57 stone weighs 46–48 lb. If you’re buying by weight rather than volume, the cubic yards to tons converter has the weight per yard of ten common materials.
Cubic yards to cubic feet
Multiply cubic yards by 27. This is the direction to use when a supplier quotes in yards and you want to compare with bags, or when you’re checking a trailer measured in feet against a bulk order.
| Cubic yards | Cubic feet |
|---|---|
| 0.25 | 6.75 |
| 0.5 | 13.5 |
| 0.75 | 20.25 |
| 1 | 27 |
| 1.5 | 40.5 |
| 2 | 54 |
| 2.5 | 67.5 |
| 3 | 81 |
| 4 | 108 |
| 5 | 135 |
| 6 | 162 |
| 8 | 216 |
| 10 | 270 |
For metric, the foot is defined as exactly 0.3048 meters, which makes a cubic yard 0.765 cubic meters. One cubic meter is 1.31 cubic yards.
To get cubic feet or yards from length, width and depth, the cubic yard calculator handles beds, circles and L-shapes, and the cubic feet calculator covers boxes, planters and round pots.
Questions people ask
Is 27 cubic feet equal to 1 cubic yard?
Yes, exactly. A yard is 3 feet, so a cube one yard along each edge holds 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 cubic feet. The unit tables in NIST Handbook 44 list the cubic yard as 27 cubic feet.
Is 3 cubic feet the same as 1 cubic yard?
No. Three cubic feet is one ninth of a cubic yard, or 0.11 cubic yards. Three feet does make a yard of length, but volume has three dimensions, so the factor is 3 × 3 × 3 = 27.
How many cubic yards is 100 cubic feet?
3.70 cubic yards, since 100 ÷ 27 = 3.7037. In bags, 100 cubic feet is 50 bags of 2 cu ft, 67 bags of 1.5 cu ft or 100 bags of 1 cu ft. Bought in bulk in half-yard steps, it's a 4-yard order.
How many 2 cu ft bags of mulch are in a yard?
13.5, so one yard means buying 14 bags. For two yards, multiply first and round up once at the end: that's 27 bags, where rounding each yard up separately would give 28. Scotts sells Nature Scapes mulch in 2 and 1.5 cu ft bags, and the 1.5 cu ft size takes 18 bags per yard.
How do you calculate cubic feet to yards?
Divide the cubic feet by 27. If you're starting from measurements, multiply length × width × height in feet first. A pile 6 ft long, 4 ft wide and 2 ft high is 48 cubic feet, and 48 ÷ 27 = 1.78 cubic yards.
How many cubic feet is half a yard?
13.5 cubic feet. That's 7 bags of 2 cu ft (6.75, rounded up) or 9 bags of 1.5 cu ft. A yard and a half is 40.5 cubic feet.
Sources
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NIST Handbook 44 (2024), Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Engineering Handbook Part 637, Chapter 2 Composting (210-VI-NEH, Amend. 40, Nov 2010), Table 2A-1. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Ottr Landscape Supply (Boston, MA), Bulk Landscape Material Weight Guide: Dirt, Gravel, Mulch & More. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Roseville Landscape Material Supply (Roseville, CA), Landscape Materials Calculator - Material Weight and Coverage Reference. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Scotts Miracle-Gro, Scotts Nature Scapes Color Enhanced Mulch 2 cu. ft.. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Scotts Miracle-Gro, Scotts Nature Scapes Color Enhanced Mulch 1.5 cu. ft.. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Health - Bulk Density (Soil Health Educators Guide sheet). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- South Dakota State University Extension (H. Klopp, A. Bly; updated 2023-09-22), Bulk Density is an Indicator of Soil Health. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- ScottsMiracle-Gro, Scotts Premium Topsoil - 0.75 CF (product 7113075). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Do it Best (retailer listing), Timberline 1 Cu. Ft. All-Purpose Top Soil (item 701263). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- T.H. Kinsella, Inc. (Kinsella Quarries), Fayetteville, NY, Project Calculator - Materials & Pricing Estimates. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Federal Highway Administration, Strength Characterization of Open-Graded Aggregates for Structural Backfills (FHWA-HRT-15-034), Chapter 3, Table 7. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Graniterock, Southside 1" x #4 Round Rock (Tech Note). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Do it Best (retailer), Quikrete 0.5 Cu. Ft. 50 Lb. All-Purpose Gravel (retailer listing). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Expanded Shale, Clay and Slate Institute (ESCSI), Chapter 4: Proportioning Structural Lightweight Aggregate Concrete, Table 4.8. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Select Sand & Gravel (Texas/Oklahoma), Understanding Material Density: How Much Does a Yard of Landscape Rock Weigh?. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Do it Best (retailer), Pavestone 0.5 Cu. Ft. 45 Lb. Pea Gravel, Model #54255 (retailer listing). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Graniterock, Southside 1 1/2" Round Rock (Tech Note). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Do it Best (retailer), Pavestone 0.5 Cu. Ft. Decorative Landscape River Pebbles, Model #54250 (retailer listing). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Wisconsin DOT / Wisconsin Highway Research Program (Michigan State Univ. & Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), Weight-Volume Relationships and Conversion Factors for Soils and Aggregates of Wisconsin (WHRP G22-05 Final Report, Dec 2023). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Engineering ToolBox, Engineering ToolBox bulk material density table (page d_1652; exact page title not captured). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- The Quikrete Companies, DATA SHEET - QUIKRETE Sand & Gravel Products (revised November 2020). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, Appendix C: Proposed Revisions to the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges (FHWA-HRT-05-057). Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- The Quikrete Companies, LLC, QUIKRETE Concrete Mix (No. 1101) Data Sheet, revised October 2022. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA), CIP 36 - Structural Lightweight Concrete. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- FEMA National US&R Response System, US&R Structural Collapse Technician, Module 1C Part 3 - Hazard Identification & Building Monitoring. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- U.S. Navy (Naval Education and Training), Builder Advanced (NAVEDTRA 14045A), Chapter 3 Concrete Construction, 5.3.1. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.
- Potomac Garden Center, Master Gardener Shredded Hardwood Mulch, 3 cu ft bag. Accessed Oct 19, 2026.