How much is fill dirt per yard and per ton?
Fill dirt typically costs $14.50–$27 per cubic yard before delivery, from national cost guides (HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor) and the 2026 price lists of landscape suppliers in Washington and Colorado. Across those sources it runs from $5 to $30 a yard. Plain, unscreened fill from a pit or a job site sits at the low end, and screened fill, with the rocks and roots sifted out, at the top.
A few suppliers sell dirt by the ton. HomeGuide gives $4–$15 a ton delivered, the one per-ton figure in our survey. Dirt weighs 0.93–1.35 tons per cubic yard dry, depending on whether it’s closer to clay or sand, so a ton is roughly three quarters of a yard to just over one yard.
The calculator above prices fill dirt and topsoil by the yard. Enter the cubic yards you need, or work them out first in the dirt calculator, which adds the settling allowance for fill.
Fill dirt vs topsoil prices
Fill dirt is subsoil, sold to raise grade or fill a hole. Topsoil is the screened soil that grass and garden plants grow in. Topsoil typically costs $19–$54 a cubic yard, with figures from $10 to $70.
| Size | Fill dirt | Topsoil |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cu yd | $14–$25 | $19–$55 |
| 5 cu yd | $70–$135 | $95–$270 |
| 10 cu yd | $145–$270 | $190–$540 |
| 15 cu yd | $215–$405 | $285–$805 |
| 30 cu yd | $435–$810 | $570–$1,610 |
National and supplier typical ranges, 2025–2026 sources. Fill dirt: $14.50–$27 per cu yd; Topsoil: $19–$54 per cu yd.
Fill is usually the cheaper of the two, but not always. One Denver-area yard lists screened fill dirt at $29 a yard and screened topsoil at $25. Price what the job needs: unscreened fill for the bottom of a deep hole, screened fill where you’ll compact it under a patio or shed, and topsoil only for the top layer where grass or plants will grow.
What drives the price of dirt
- What kind of dirt. Unscreened fill is the cheapest soil you can buy. Screened fill, structural fill for compacting under a slab or shed, topsoil and soil blends with compost each cost more.
- Screening. Sifting out rocks, roots and clods adds a step at the yard, and the price shows it.
- Order size. The delivery fee is per load, so it adds the most per yard to small orders. A full truckload usually costs less per yard than a few yards delivered.
- Distance and access. A long drive from the pit or a tight driveway the truck can’t back into raises the delivery charge.
- Moisture. If you buy by the ton, wet dirt gives you fewer yards for your money, because the water is weighed too.
- Spreading. Most prices are for dirt dumped in one pile. Spreading and grading it is a separate cost, whether you pay in hours or in rental fees.
How much is a dump truck load of dirt?
A delivered dump truck load of dirt typically costs $150–$400, with figures up to $600. HomeGuide prices a load as 10 to 15 cubic yards of fill, topsoil or sand, which works out to roughly $10 to $40 a yard delivered. In HomeGuide’s figures, standard fill sits at the low end of that range and clean or structural fill at the high end.
How much fits in the truck depends on the truck and on weight. Ten cubic yards of dry fill dirt weighs 9.3–13.5 tons, and wet soil weighs more, so a truck can reach its legal weight limit before its body is full. The dirt calculator covers dump truck sizes in more detail. Ask the supplier how many yards each load carries, and compare loads by the price per yard.
Ten yards is 270 cubic feet, enough to cover 1,080 square feet 3 inches deep or 540 square feet 6 inches deep. Have the driver dump it as close to where it’s going as the ground allows, and keep the truck off septic fields, irrigation lines and soft lawn.
Delivery fees
Bulk delivery typically costs $50–$150 per load. On a small order that fee can be larger than the dirt: two yards of fill dirt cost about $30–$55, and delivering them costs $50–$150.
A full truckload often works out cheaper per yard for the same reason. Ten yards of fill bought by the yard and delivered comes to $195–$420. A typical dump truck load of 10 to 15 yards costs $150–$400. If your project needs 8 or 9 yards, price a full load before ordering by the yard: the cost per yard falls, and the extra dirt can go into low spots.
Free fill dirt: where it comes from and the risks
Free fill dirt comes from jobs that dig more soil than they can use: foundations, pools, utility trenches and grading. Hauling surplus soil away costs the contractor money, so some give it away, but you won’t know what’s in it.
Suffolk County’s health department in New York, writing about construction and demolition debris sites, notes that soils at such sites have sometimes been found to contain contaminants including metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, compounds found in soot and tar), pesticides and asbestos. Fill that comes from a demolition or contains building debris can carry the same risks.
Before you accept free fill:
- Ask where it came from, by address, and what the site was used for.
- Look at the load. Turn it down if it has concrete, brick, wood, metal, plastic, ash or an oily smell.
- Don’t use it where you’ll grow food or where children play.
- Check local rules. Some states and towns regulate where fill can come from and who can accept it.
Free dirt still costs something: you pay to spread it, and to haul away anything you reject.
Filling a 30 × 20 ft area yourself vs hiring a crew
Say you want to raise a 30 × 20 ft area by 1 foot with fill dirt. Fill settles after it’s dumped, so the calculator adds 15% for settling, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service figure for fill that’s hauled in, dumped and shaped, plus 5% for spillage:
- Area: 30 ft × 20 ft = 600 sq ft; × 12 in deep = 600 cu ft.
- 600 cu ft ÷ 27 = 22.2 cubic yards.
- Adding 15% for compaction and 5% extra for waste gives 26.8 cubic yards.
- Rounded up to the next 0.5 cubic yard: order 27 cubic yards.
- Weight of fill dirt: 24.9–36.2 tons, depending on moisture and grading.
At 10 to 15 yards a load, 27 yards is 2 or 3 truckloads. Priced by the load, that’s $300–$1,200 delivered. Priced by the yard, 27 yards cost $390–$730, plus $100–$450 for two or three deliveries: $490–$1,180. If you’ll seed the area, the top layer should be topsoil. A 4 in topsoil layer over the same 600 square feet, for example, is an 8-yard order at $150–$430 before delivery.
Then the dirt has to be spread. Twenty-seven yards is 729 cubic feet, about 122 loads in a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow, so a job this size calls for a skid steer or a compact tractor, rented or with an operator. For a small job, such as 5 yards to fill a low corner, a wheelbarrow is fine: about 23 loads. Landscaping workers earned a national median of $18.82 an hour in May 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics); a crew that arrives with a skid steer charges more per hour, since the machine and the overhead are in the rate.
Hauling dirt yourself rarely pays beyond a yard or so. A half-ton pickup like the 2026 Ram 1500 Tradesman carries about 0.88–1.27 cubic yards of dry soil before it reaches its payload limit, which at typical topsoil prices is about $17–$70 of soil a trip. Check your own truck’s payload on the door pillar sticker.
What to ask a dirt supplier
- Is this fill dirt, screened fill or topsoil?
- Where does the fill come from, and can I see the pile or a photo of it before delivery?
- Is the price per cubic yard or per ton, and is delivery included?
- How many yards does one truckload carry, and is there a minimum?
- Can the driver spread the load as the truck unloads, or dump it in two places?
- Is there an extra charge for a long drive or a tight driveway?
How to read a dirt quote
Put every quote on the same footing: dollars per cubic yard, delivered. A load price divided by the yards in the load gives you that number. A per-ton price converts at the soil’s weight, 0.93–1.35 tons a yard dry: $15 a ton is about $14–$20 a yard, and more if the soil is wet. Compare it with the typical $10 to $40 a yard for a delivered truckload, or with $14.50–$27 a yard plus a $50–$150 delivery fee for smaller orders.
Homeowners asking what a dump truck load costs where they live get answers all over the map, and our survey shows the same spread: $150 to $600 a load, before you know how many yards each load holds or whether it’s fill or topsoil. A quote near the top often means topsoil, screened fill, a long drive or a small truck, and one near the bottom is likely unscreened fill close to its source.
Is clean fill bought by the load from a topsoil yard cheaper than buying it by the yard? It is when the yard prices a full truck below its per-yard rate times the yards in the load, so ask for both prices. The quote checker in the calculator above compares a quote with the typical range for the dirt and amount you enter.