# How much does a yard of concrete weigh?

A cubic yard of normal-weight concrete weighs roughly 4,000 pounds, about 2 tons. Normal-weight concrete runs 140 to 150 lb/ft³ and a cubic yard holds 27 ft³, so the honest range is 3,780 to 4,050 pounds, shifting with the aggregate, the air content, and the water in the mix.

## Short version

- Figure 4,000 lb, or 2 tons, for one cubic yard of ordinary concrete.
- The density behind that number is 140 to 150 lb/ft³, and 27 ft³ makes a cubic yard.
- Structural lightweight concrete runs 90 to 115 lb/ft³, which drops a yard to roughly 2,430 to 3,105 lb.
- A single wheelbarrow trip is about 150 lb per cubic foot you shovel in, so keep loads small.
- Half a yard already weighs about a ton, which is more than most pickups are rated to carry.

## How do you get to 4,000 pounds?

The number comes from two figures multiplied together. NRMCA CIP 36 puts normal-weight concrete at 140 to 150 lb/ft³, and a cubic yard is 3 ft × 3 ft × 3 ft, or 27 ft³. Multiply and you get 3,780 lb at the light end and 4,050 lb at the heavy end, which is why the industry shorthand is "about two tons."

That is wet, freshly placed concrete — the weight you are moving on the day of the pour. Hardened concrete sheds a little of its mix water over the following months, so a cured slab weighs slightly less than what came out of the truck, but not enough to change how you plan a haul. Density of fresh concrete is measured under ASTM C138, the same test a producer uses to check yield.

Working backwards from thickness is often more useful than the yard figure. A 4-inch slab weighs about 50 lb per square foot, a 6-inch slab about 75 lb per square foot, using 150 lb/ft³. A 10 ft × 10 ft patio at 4 inches is roughly 5,000 lb of concrete sitting on your subgrade.

## What makes one yard heavier than another?

Aggregate does most of the work, since coarse and fine aggregate make up the bulk of the volume. A mix batched with dense trap rock or granite lands at the top of the range; one with a lighter local gravel or limestone lands lower. Nothing about that changes the strength you ordered — density and compressive strength are separate properties.

Air is the second lever. Air-entrained concrete for exterior flatwork carries intentional microscopic bubbles, and CIP 15 gives 4% to 7% air for exterior flatwork depending on aggregate size. Every percent of air displaces paste, so an air-entrained mix weighs less per cubic foot than the same mix without it, and CIP 15 notes it also costs about 5% strength per percent of air in high cement-content mixes.

Water and cement content move the number a little, and a mix with a heavy dose of a supplementary cementitious material can shift it slightly as well. In practice, none of these move the total as much as swapping the aggregate does.

## What does lightweight concrete weigh?

Structural lightweight concrete weighs 90 to 115 lb/ft³ against normal-weight concrete's 140 to 150, per CIP 36. Multiply through and a cubic yard runs about 2,430 to 3,105 lb — as much as a ton less per yard than a standard mix, which is the whole point when the design is fighting dead load.

The weight reduction comes from the aggregate. Lightweight aggregates meeting ASTM C330 are expanded shale, clay, or slate, and they replace ordinary stone. ACI 318 defines lightweight concrete through that aggregate plus an equilibrium density between 90 and 115 lb/ft³, with equilibrium density defined in ASTM C567 and approximately 3 lb/ft³ above the oven-dry value per NRMCA TIP 9. Structural lightweight concrete still has to deliver strength, generally 2,500 psi (17.0 MPa) or more.

You will meet it on bridge decks, parking structures, composite slabs on metal deck, and tilt-up panels. You will almost never meet it on a residential driveway, so for home projects the 4,000 lb per yard figure is the one to plan around.

| Mix | Density | Weight per cubic yard |
|---|---|---|
| Structural lightweight | 90–115 lb/ft³ | 2,430–3,105 lb |
| Normal-weight, air-entrained | ~140–145 lb/ft³ | 3,780–3,915 lb |
| Normal-weight, non-air-entrained | ~145–150 lb/ft³ | 3,915–4,050 lb |

## Can your truck or trailer haul a yard?

One yard is out of reach for a light-duty pickup. At roughly 4,000 lb it exceeds the payload rating of essentially every half-ton truck, and even half a yard at about 2,000 lb is at or past what most are rated for. Payload is set by the vehicle manufacturer and printed on the door jamb sticker, so check the sticker rather than a rule of thumb — and remember passengers, tools, and a trailer tongue all come out of the same number.

Trailer hauling has the same ceiling with a different label: the axle and tire ratings, plus the tow rating of the vehicle. Concrete is also a live load that sloshes and shifts while you drive, and a trailer loaded past its rating fails at the tire or the coupler, not gently.

For small jobs, a wheelbarrow moves about 150 lb for every cubic foot of concrete in it, which is why crews load two-thirds full and take more trips. If your project needs a full yard, the arithmetic is telling you to order ready-mix or a trailer-mounted mixer instead of hauling it yourself. To size the order, see [how much concrete you need](/questions/estimating-and-quantities/how-much-concrete-do-i-need/).

## What does the weight mean for delivery and driveways?

A loaded mixer truck is the heaviest vehicle most residential properties will ever see, because it is carrying several of those two-ton yards plus the truck itself. Capacity per truck is set by individual suppliers with no national standard, and road and bridge weight limits are set by your state DOT, so the supplier's dispatcher is the person who knows what can reach your address.

Two things get damaged most often: the existing driveway or apron the truck drives over, and buried utilities or septic components under the route. Many suppliers ask you to sign a waiver before they leave the street, and that waiver exists precisely because of the weight. If the truck cannot get close, the alternatives are a pump, a buggy, or wheelbarrows, and each one adds labor to the same yardage.

Demolition runs into the same number from the other direction. A 10 ft × 10 ft slab at 4 inches is about 1.23 cubic yards, roughly 2.5 tons of debris to lift and haul — see [how to break up concrete](/questions/demolition-and-removal/how-to-break-up-concrete/) before you start swinging.

## What do bagged mixes weigh per yard?

Bagged concrete weighs slightly less per yard than ready-mix because of how it is packaged and mixed, but the difference is small. An 80 lb bag yields about 0.60 ft³ according to manufacturer technical data sheets, so 27 ft³ takes about 45 bags — around 3,600 lb of bagged material to make one cubic yard. Yields vary by formulation, so check the data sheet for the specific product.

That number is usually the moment a homeowner decides to order ready-mix. Forty-five bags means 45 lifts of 80 lb each, plus mixing water, plus the working time to place it before the first batches set. Bags make sense for post holes, small pads, and repairs; a yard of anything is a delivery.

## Common mistakes

- **Loading a half yard into a half-ton pickup** — 2,000 lb of concrete is past most payload ratings, and the suspension is not the part that fails first.
- **Confusing weight with strength** — a lighter mix is not weaker, and a heavier one is not stronger; density and psi are separate properties.
- **Forgetting the truck weighs more than the load** — a driveway apron that survives a car can crack under a loaded mixer.
- **Using 150 lb/ft³ for lightweight concrete** — that overstates a lightweight yard by up to a ton and throws off structural weight takeoffs.
- **Filling the wheelbarrow to the rim** — at about 150 lb per cubic foot, a full barrow is unmovable on soft ground and dangerous on a ramp.