Key takeaways

One cubic yard of sand covers 324 sq ft at 1 inch, the paver bedding depth, and weighs about 1.35 tons dry.
Pavers sit on exactly 1 inch of screeded sand. A sandbox takes 4–6 inches. Joint sand is bought by the bag, not by depth.
Yards sell bulk sand by the ton. Bags hold about 0.5 cu ft, roughly 50 lb, and 40 of them make a ton.
Published prices run $25–$50 a ton for concrete sand and $35–$55 for play sand, plus a delivery fee.

How much sand do I need?

A 12 × 12 ft paver patio needs 0.49 cubic yards of bedding sand at 1 inch deep with 10% extra. That's about 0.66 tons, or 27 bags of 0.5 cu ft. Ask the yard for three-quarters of a ton. Sand is the thin layer in a patio. The gravel base under it is a much bigger order.

Here's the same math for common jobs. No waste is added, so add 10% to whatever you order.

Dry sand at 1.35 tons per cubic yard. Bags rounded up.
Project	Size and depth	Cubic yards	Tons	0.5 cu ft bags
Small patio, bedding	10 × 10 ft, 1 in	0.31	0.42	17
Patio, bedding	12 × 12 ft, 1 in	0.44	0.60	24
Large patio, bedding	16 × 20 ft, 1 in	0.99	1.33	54
Paver walkway, bedding	30 × 4 ft, 1 in	0.37	0.50	20
Sandbox, small	4 × 4 ft, 6 in	0.30	0.40	16
Sandbox, large	6 × 6 ft, 6 in	0.67	0.90	36

How to measure for sand

Measure length and width in feet. For a patio, measure the area the pavers will cover, border course included. For an odd shape, add each rectangle with Add another area. A round pool base takes the diameter.
Set the depth. It's thin for pavers and deep for play: 1 inch for bedding, 2 inches under an above-ground pool, 4–6 inches in a sandbox.
Choose the sand type. Dry sand types all weigh about the same. Pick wet if the pile at the yard is soaked, because the ton figure goes up by about a fifth.
Leave the waste at 10%. Sand runs off the end of the screed board and works down into the gravel base.

How deep should sand be?

Project	Depth	What to order
Paver or flagstone bedding	1 in, screeded	Coarse concrete sand
Paver joints	Fills the joints only	Polymeric sand, by the bag
Under an above-ground pool	2 in	Mason sand
Sandbox	4–6 in	Washed play sand
Mortar or concrete	Mixed by ratio, not depth	Mason sand for mortar, concrete sand for concrete

Which sand should you buy?

"Sand" at the yard can mean four or five different piles. Here's what each one is for.

Concrete sand. Coarse and sharp. It drains and locks under a plate compactor, which makes it the bedding layer under pavers and flagstone. It's also the sand in concrete.
Mason sand. Fine and even, made for mortar. It has no sharp grit, which is why it goes under above-ground pool liners.
Play sand. Washed and screened to take out dirt and fines. Soft and clean for a sandbox, and too fine to hold pavers in place.
Fill sand. Unwashed and cheap. For filling holes and trenches where nobody will see or touch it.
Polymeric sand. Fine sand mixed with a binder that sets when you wet it. It goes in the joints after the pavers are down, to stop weeds and ants. Sold in bags only.

How much does sand cost?

Sand is cheap by the ton. For a small job, the delivery fee is most of the bill. Here's what the cost guides and one supplier published.

What you're buying	Published price	Source
Concrete sand (coarse)	$25–$50per ton	[1]
Washed concrete sand (#23), one supplierSingle supplier list price	$24.50per ton	[2]
Mason sand	$30–$85per ton	[1]
Play sand, bulk	$35–$55per ton	[1]
Play sand, 50 lb bagHome improvement store price	$4–$6per bag	[1]
Delivery, within 10–15 miles	$50–$100per delivery	[1]
Delivery, 15–30 miles	$100–$200per delivery	[1]
One ton, delivered"Minimum order, higher per-unit cost"	$100–$200per load	[3]

[1] HomeGuide, How Much Does Sand Delivery Cost? (2026), updated Jun 2026.
[2] Speedway Construction Products, Sand.
[3] Angi, How Much Does Sand Delivery Cost? [2026 Data], updated Oct 2026.

Prices as published by each source, checked November 2026. They are national ranges, not quotes: your local yard can be well above or below them.

For the 12 × 12 ft patio, 0.66 tons of concrete sand at $25–$50 a ton is $17–$33 of sand. At the single supplier's $24.50 list price it's about $16. A $50–$100 delivery fee for a yard within 10–15 miles costs more than the sand. If the gravel base is coming on a truck anyway, ask whether the sand can come on the same trip.

For a 6 × 6 ft sandbox 6 inches deep, with 10% extra, you need 0.99 tons, which is 40 bags of 50 lb. At $4–$6 a bag, that's $160–$240. The same ton of bulk play sand is $35–$54, or $85–$154 with a $50–$100 delivery. Around half a ton the two come out about even. Past that, bulk wins.

Before the truck shows up

Ask about the minimum order and the delivery fee for your distance. In HomeGuide's figures the fee roughly doubles once you're more than 15 miles from the yard. Lay a tarp where you want the pile, close to the patio or sandbox, and away from storm drains. An uncovered sand pile washes out in a hard rain.

Keep the pile under a tarp until you use it, and put a lid on the sandbox when it's done. Neighborhood cats treat uncovered play sand as theirs.

Bulk or bags?

Bags make sense for paver joints, which only come in bags, and for small jobs under about a quarter ton, which is about 10 bags. A one-off sandbox top-up, a few square feet of bedding under a stepping stone or a repair to a sunken paver all fit. Around half a ton they cost about the same. Past that, bulk is cheaper even with delivery, and you don't have to lift 50 lb bags in and out of the car.

The sand formula

Cubic feet = length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (in) ÷ 12
Cubic yards = cubic feet ÷ 27
Tons = cubic yards × 1.35 for dry sand, 1.4 for concrete sand, 1.65 for wet sand

Bags are cubic feet divided by the bag size, rounded up. A ton of dry sand is about 0.74 cubic yards. Wet, a ton is only about 0.61 yards. The weights come from regional materials charts listed on the methodology page. To turn a quote in tons back into yards, use the yards to tons converter. For other materials, the cubic yard calculator does the same volume math.

Sand coverage per cubic yard

A cubic yard spread 1 inch thick covers 324 square feet. At bedding depth, one 0.5 cu ft bag covers 6 square feet.

Square feet one cubic yard covers, by depth

Every extra inch of depth shrinks the area. Exact figures in the table below.

1 in324 sq ft
2 in162 sq ft
3 in108 sq ft
4 in81 sq ft
6 in54 sq ft

Bag counts use 0.5 cu ft bags, about 50 lb of dry sand.
Depth	1 cubic yard covers	Yards per 100 sq ft	Bags (0.5 cu ft) per 100 sq ft
1 in	324 sq ft	0.31 yd³	17 bags
2 in	162 sq ft	0.62 yd³	34 bags
3 in	108 sq ft	0.93 yd³	50 bags
4 in	81 sq ft	1.23 yd³	67 bags
6 in	54 sq ft	1.85 yd³	100 bags

Frequently asked questions

How much sand do I need for a 12 × 12 paver patio?

At 1 inch deep, 144 sq ft takes 12 cubic feet: 0.44 cubic yards, about 0.6 tons or 24 bags of 0.5 cu ft. With 10% for screeding losses, order 0.66 tons or 27 bags. The compacted gravel base under it is a separate 4–6 inches, worked out with the gravel calculator.

How much sand do I need for a sandbox?

Fill it 4–6 inches deep. A 4 × 4 ft box at 6 inches is 8 cubic feet, or 16 bags of 0.5 cu ft play sand. A 6 × 6 ft box at 6 inches is 18 cubic feet: 36 bags, or about 0.9 tons if you buy it loose.

How much does a cubic yard of sand weigh?

Dry sand weighs 2,500–2,800 lb per cubic yard, about 1.35 tons. Wet sand holds water between the grains and runs 3,000–3,400 lb, about 1.65 tons. Since you pay by the ton, a wet load gets you less sand. More weights are on the yards to tons page.

How many bags of sand are in a ton?

About 40 bags of 50 lb. By volume, a 50 lb bag of dry sand is close to 0.5 cu ft, so a cubic yard is 54 bags and a ton is roughly three-quarters of a yard.

How much polymeric sand do I need?

It only fills the joints, so area times depth doesn't apply. Plan on about one 50 lb bag per 50–100 sq ft of pavers. Narrow joints and thin pavers sit at the high end of that range, wide joints and thick pavers at the low end. The bag has a coverage chart for your paver size.

Can I use play sand under pavers?

No. Play sand is fine and rounded, so it shifts under load and holds water. Bedding sand should be coarse concrete sand, which locks together when the pavers are compacted into it. Save the play sand for the sandbox.

Sand Calculator