Asphalt Tonnage Calculator

The calculator multiplies your paving area by the thickness to get cubic feet, then multiplies by 145 lb per cubic foot (the density of compacted hot-mix asphalt) to get total weight, then divides by 2000 to convert to short tons. A 100 ft by 20 ft driveway at 2 in thick works out to about 333 cubic feet, 48,333 lb, or 24.17 tons before waste.

2 inches of compacted hot-mix is standard for a residential driveway over a sound gravel base. Step up to 3 inches if heavy vehicles park on the surface or the subgrade is soft. Commercial parking lots typically run 3 to 4 inches of asphalt over 6 to 8 inches of compacted base, with thicker designs for truck routes and loading areas.

Hot-mix asphalt cools fast, so you cannot save unused material for a second pour. A 5 to 10 percent waste allowance covers edge spillage, slight over-excavation, compaction loss, and the rounding the supplier does when filling the truck. Bump it to 10 to 15 percent for irregular shapes, curves, or sloped sites where placement is harder to control.

Enter a price per ton and the calculator multiplies it by the tonnage including waste. US hot-mix asphalt typically runs 80 to 150 USD per ton at the plant in 2026, with significant regional swings. That price is material only. Trucking, paving crew, equipment mobilization, and any base prep or sealcoating are billed separately and usually cost two to three times the raw material price on a residential job.

Yes. Switch the shape to circle and enter the diameter for round pads like trailer turnarounds. Choose L-shape to combine two rectangles when the driveway wraps around a garage or porch. For more complex outlines, break the area into rectangles, run the calculator for each, and add the tonnage together before placing the order.