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How Much Does a Yard of Concrete Weigh?
Quick answer: A cubic yard of concrete weighs about 4,050 lb (2.02 tons, or 1,837 kg) freshly poured, and roughly 3,900 lb once fully cured. That is 150 lb per cubic foot.
A cubic yard of standard concrete weighs about 4,050 pounds — just over 2 tons. That's the quick answer. The useful answers depend on what you're doing: ordering a truck, hauling bags, sizing a dumpster for demolition, or checking whether a floor can carry a slab. Here are all of them.
Concrete weight calculator
Enter a volume and get the weight in pounds, tons and kilograms, for both freshly poured and fully cured concrete.
Quick reference table
| Measure | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1 cubic yard, standard mix (wet) | ~4,050 lbs (2.02 tons) |
| 1 cubic yard, fully cured | ~3,900 lbs |
| 1 cubic foot | ~150 lbs |
| 1 cubic yard, broken rubble (loose) | ~2,000–2,400 lbs |
| 1 sq ft of 4" slab | ~50 lbs |
| 1 sq ft of 6" slab | ~75 lbs |
| 80 lb bag (mixed yield 0.6 cu ft) | ~90 lbs placed |
| Lightweight concrete, per cu yd | ~2,400–3,100 lbs |
How much do 2, 3, 5 or 10 yards of concrete weigh?
Concrete weight scales linearly, so every figure below is just 4,050 lb multiplied out. The half and quarter yard rows matter more than they look: those are the volumes people move in a trailer or a pickup, and that is exactly where payload limits get exceeded.
| Volume | Wet weight (lb) | Tons | Kilograms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¼ cubic yard | 1,013 lb | 0.51 | 459 kg |
| ½ cubic yard | 2,025 lb | 1.01 | 919 kg |
| ¾ cubic yard | 3,038 lb | 1.52 | 1,378 kg |
| 1 cubic yard | 4,050 lb | 2.03 | 1,837 kg |
| 2 cubic yards | 8,100 lb | 4.05 | 3,674 kg |
| 3 cubic yards | 12,150 lb | 6.08 | 5,511 kg |
| 4 cubic yards | 16,200 lb | 8.10 | 7,348 kg |
| 5 cubic yards | 20,250 lb | 10.13 | 9,185 kg |
| 10 cubic yards | 40,500 lb | 20.25 | 18,370 kg |
Where 4,050 lbs comes from
Standard concrete — the normal mix of Portland cement, sand, gravel, and water — has a density of roughly 150 pounds per cubic foot. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet:
Real-world mixes range from about 140 to 155 lb/ft³ depending on the aggregate. Reinforced concrete with rebar runs slightly heavier (rebar is denser than the stone it displaces); lightweight structural mixes using expanded shale can drop to 90–115 lb/ft³.
Wet vs. cured: barely any difference
A common assumption is that concrete gets much lighter as it dries. It doesn't. Curing is a chemical reaction (hydration) that binds most of the mix water into the concrete permanently — only the excess evaporates. A yard placed at 4,050 lbs wet weighs roughly 3,900 lbs cured, a loss of just 3–5%.
Practical upshot: if a structure needs to hold a concrete slab or planter, design for the wet weight. It never meaningfully goes away.
Dry bagged concrete: a different number entirely
The 4,050 lb figure is mixed concrete. A bag on a pallet is dry mix, and it weighs what the label says — the water you add later is extra weight that arrives from your hose.
| Bag | Dry weight | Yield when mixed | Placed weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 lb bag | 40 lb | 0.30 cu ft | ~45 lb |
| 50 lb bag | 50 lb | 0.375 cu ft | ~56 lb |
| 60 lb bag | 60 lb | 0.45 cu ft | ~68 lb |
| 80 lb bag | 80 lb | 0.60 cu ft | ~90 lb |
It takes 45 × 80 lb bags to make one cubic yard — 3,600 lb of dry mix that becomes 4,050 lb placed, the difference being about 55 gallons of water. A full pallet of 80 lb bags (42 bags) weighs 3,360 lb and yields roughly 0.93 cubic yards. Work out how many you need with the Concrete Bag & Yard Calculator.
What this means when ordering a truck
A standard ready-mix truck carries 8–10 cubic yards. Fully loaded, the truck weighs 66,000–70,000 lbs — around 35 tons. That's why:
- Trucks stay on the street, never on your driveway or lawn (a residential driveway is rated for cars, not 35-ton vehicles).
- Anything beyond chute reach (~16 ft) needs a pump, wheelbarrows, or a smaller trailer load.
- Know your yardage before calling — use the Concrete Cost & Yardage Calculator — because short-load fees apply under 3–4 yards.
Broken concrete: the demolition math
Tearing out a slab? Broken concrete takes up more space than solid concrete because of air gaps between chunks — figure 2,000–2,400 lbs per loose cubic yard of rubble, and about 1.4–1.5 loose yards per solid yard removed.
Example: removing a 10 × 20 ft, 4-inch patio. Solid volume = 200 × 0.333 ÷ 27 = 2.47 cu yd, weighing about 10,000 lbs (5 tons). That fills most of a 10-yard dumpster's weight limit while barely covering its floor — which is why dumpster companies sell "concrete-only" boxes with low fill lines.
Weight per square foot (for decks, floors & planters)
At 150 lb/ft³, concrete adds 12.5 lbs per square foot for every inch of thickness:
| Slab thickness | Weight per sq ft |
|---|---|
| 2 in (overlay/topping) | 25 lbs |
| 4 in (patio, sidewalk) | 50 lbs |
| 5 in (driveway) | 62.5 lbs |
| 6 in (garage, RV pad) | 75 lbs |
This is why you can't pour a "thin concrete floor" over a wood-framed deck without an engineer — 50 lbs/sq ft of dead load exceeds what typical residential framing is designed to carry. Check thickness standards in How Thick Should a Concrete Slab Be?
Concrete weight per yard at a glance
The concrete weight per yard figure you need depends on which state the concrete is in, and the spread between them is large enough to matter for both delivery and demolition planning:
| State | Weight per cubic yard | Tons |
|---|---|---|
| Wet, as delivered | ~4,000–4,050 lb | ~2.0 |
| Cured, normal weight | ~3,900 lb | ~1.95 |
| Lightweight structural | ~2,700–3,000 lb | ~1.4 |
| Broken up for disposal | ~2,000–2,400 lb | ~1.1 |
Broken concrete weighs far less per yard than solid concrete because of the void space between the chunks — usually 35–45% lighter. That is the number to use when you are sizing a dumpster, and using the solid figure instead is why people routinely over-order disposal capacity.
Weight per square foot by slab thickness
| Slab thickness | Weight per sq ft | Weight of a 10 × 10 ft slab |
|---|---|---|
| 3 in | ~36 lb | ~3,600 lb |
| 4 in | ~48 lb | ~4,800 lb |
| 5 in | ~60 lb | ~6,000 lb |
| 6 in | ~72 lb | ~7,200 lb |
Roughly 12 lb per square foot per inch of thickness is the shortcut worth remembering — it lets you weigh any slab in your head.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a cubic yard of concrete weigh?
About 4,050 lbs — just over 2 tons — at the standard density of 150 lbs per cubic foot.
Does concrete weigh less after it cures?
Only 3–5% less. Most mix water bonds chemically into the concrete during curing; a 4,050-lb wet yard cures to roughly 3,900 lbs.
How much does a fully loaded concrete truck weigh?
66,000–70,000 lbs for a 10-yard load — which is why trucks never drive on residential driveways or near septic fields.
How much does broken concrete weigh?
About 2,000–2,400 lbs per loose cubic yard of rubble. A solid yard of slab becomes roughly 1.4–1.5 loose yards when broken up.
How much does a 4-inch slab weigh per square foot?
About 50 lbs per square foot — 12.5 lbs per square foot per inch of thickness.
How many pounds are in a yard of concrete?
4,050 pounds in a cubic yard of standard mix. In metric that is 1,837 kg per cubic yard, or about 2,400 kg per cubic metre.
How much does half a yard of concrete weigh?
About 2,025 lb — just over one ton. That already exceeds the payload rating of most half-ton pickups, so half a yard is a delivery job, not a haul-it-yourself job.
How much does a cubic foot of concrete weigh?
150 lb per cubic foot for a standard mix. Real mixes run 140–155 lb/ft³ depending on the aggregate, and lightweight structural mixes drop to 90–115 lb/ft³.
How much does 10 yards of concrete weigh?
40,500 lb, or about 20 tons — roughly a full ready-mix truck. The loaded truck itself weighs 66,000–70,000 lb.
How much does a bag of concrete weigh?
Bags are sold by dry weight: 40, 50, 60 or 80 lb. Once mixed, an 80 lb bag places about 90 lb of concrete and yields 0.6 cubic feet, so it takes 45 bags per cubic yard.
Does reinforced concrete weigh more?
Slightly. Rebar is denser than the stone it displaces, putting reinforced concrete around 156 lb/ft³, or about 4,200 lb per cubic yard — roughly 4% heavier.