Concrete Weight Calculator: What a Pour Weighs

Work out what concrete weighs from its volume. A cubic yard is about 4,050 lb and a cubic metre about 2.4 tonnes, with lightweight mixes covered.

How much are you pouring?

Weight matters for access, formwork and lifting, not for ordering.

Enter a volume to see what it weighs.

All calculations run in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.

How much does a yard of concrete weigh

weight = volume × density

Normal-weight concrete runs about 150 lb per cubic foot, or 2,400 kg per cubic metre. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so a yard weighs roughly 27 × 150 = 4,050 lb — a little over two short tons.

Worked example: A 5 cubic yard pour weighs about 20,250 lb, or just over 10 short tons. In metric, 4 m³ is about 9,600 kg.

Concrete is ordered by volume and billed by volume, so its weight rarely comes up until it matters a great deal — when a truck has to cross a lawn, when formwork has to hold it up, or when a slab is going on a suspended floor. The arithmetic is simply volume times density; the useful part is knowing which density to use and what the number implies.

Quick answers

VolumeNormal-weight concrete
1 cubic foot150 lb
1 cubic yard4,050 lb (2.03 short tons)
1 cubic metre2,400 kg (2.4 tonnes)
5 cubic yards20,250 lb (10.1 short tons)
10 cubic yards40,500 lb (20.3 short tons)

Densities by mix

MixDensityPer cubic yard
Lightweight110 lb/ft³ (1,760 kg/m³)2,970 lb
Normal weight150 lb/ft³ (2,400 kg/m³)4,050 lb
Reinforced156 lb/ft³ (2,500 kg/m³)4,212 lb

Normal weight covers essentially all ordinary slabs, footings and driveways. Lightweight mixes swap the aggregate for expanded shale or clay and are used where dead load matters, such as toppings on suspended floors — they cost more and are specified deliberately, not chosen by accident. Reinforced is a little heavier simply because steel is much denser than aggregate.

Freshly placed concrete is what these figures describe. A cured slab weighs marginally less, since some mix water is consumed by hydration and some evaporates, but the difference is a few percent and not worth planning around.

Where the weight actually bites

Truck access. This is the big one. A mixer carrying 8 to 10 cubic yards has roughly 16 to 20 tons of concrete aboard, and the truck adds another 15 to 20 tons. That combined load is what cracks existing driveways, crushes kerbs and drops through septic tank lids and service covers. Walk the route before pour day and tell the supplier about anything soft, and about any bridge, cattle grid or private culvert on the way in.

Formwork and propping. Wet concrete behaves like a dense liquid and pushes outward on forms, especially in deep pours and columns filled quickly. Pressure grows with pour rate and height, which is why tall forms are filled in lifts.

Suspended slabs and toppings. Adding concrete to an existing floor adds dead load permanently. That is a structural question, not a DIY one.

Lifting. A precast lintel, step or paver has to be moved by someone. At 150 lb per cubic foot, small elements get heavy fast — a 2 ft × 2 ft × 4 in slab is about 200 lb.

Weight is not an ordering figure

Concrete is bought by the cubic yard or cubic metre, not by weight, so nothing here changes what you order. Use the cubic yard calculator for volume, and treat weight as a planning number for access, formwork and lifting.

Get the volume first with the cubic yard calculator, or convert an existing figure with the cubic feet to cubic yards converter. For small pours, the concrete bag calculator turns volume into bags — worth knowing that an 80 lb bag makes only about 0.6 cubic feet, so a cubic yard is around 3,600 lb of bags to carry. Price the job with the concrete cost calculator.

Related concrete calculators

Pouring a different shape? These cover the rest of the common jobs.

Working out volumes on site?

This tool is web-only. The Concrete Calculator app covers the five volume calculators — rectangular and circular slabs, irregular slab area, circular columns and post holes — with saved projects, job history and full offline use.

Download on the App Store

Free · 4.8 ★ on the App Store

Frequently asked questions

How much does a yard of concrete weigh?
About 4,050 lb, or just over two short tons, for a normal-weight mix at 150 lb per cubic foot. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so 27 × 150 gives 4,050. Reinforced concrete runs slightly heavier and lightweight mixes considerably less.
How much does a cubic metre of concrete weigh?
About 2,400 kg, or 2.4 tonnes, for a normal-weight mix. That is the metric equivalent of 150 lb per cubic foot, and it is why access matters so much — even a modest pour is measured in tonnes.
How much does concrete weigh per cubic foot?
Around 150 lb for normal-weight concrete. Lightweight mixes using expanded shale or clay aggregate run roughly 90 to 115 lb, and heavily reinforced sections a little above 150 because steel is far denser than aggregate.
Does concrete get lighter as it cures?
Slightly. Some mix water is chemically bound into the cement and some evaporates, so a cured slab weighs a little less than the same concrete freshly placed. The difference is small — a few percent — and is not worth allowing for in planning.
Why does the weight of concrete matter?
Almost never for ordering, and almost always for everything else. Access routes, formwork and propping, lifting precast elements, loading on a suspended floor, and whether a driveway or verge will survive a truck are all weight problems. A full mixer truck is well over 20 tons.
What does a full concrete truck weigh?
A standard mixer carrying 8 to 10 cubic yards is hauling roughly 16 to 20 tons of concrete alone, and the truck itself adds around 15 to 20 tons more. That combined weight is what breaks kerbs, cracks existing driveways and collapses septic tanks and service covers.