Concrete Weight per Yard (Wet): Why Your Wheelbarrow Tyre Keeps Complaining
Wet concrete weighs about 4,000 lb per cubic yard (roughly 2 US tons), or 2,400 kg per cubic metre (2.4 tonnes). That's the short answer. The longer answer matters if you're loading a trailer, sizing a skip, checking a suspended floor or wondering why your wheelbarrow tyre just gave up.
Concrete weight per cubic yard and cubic metre
Here are the figures for the common mixes. Fresh (wet) concrete is slightly heavier than cured concrete because some of the mix water evaporates as it dries.
| Concrete type | Per cubic metre | Per cubic yard | Per cubic foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard concrete, wet (fresh) | ≈ 2,350–2,450 kg | ≈ 3,960–4,130 lb (≈ 2 US tons) | ≈ 147–153 lb |
| Standard concrete, cured (dry) | ≈ 2,300–2,400 kg | ≈ 3,880–4,050 lb | ≈ 144–150 lb |
| Reinforced concrete (with steel) | ≈ 2,500 kg | ≈ 4,210 lb | ≈ 156 lb |
| Lightweight concrete | ≈ 1,440–1,840 kg | ≈ 2,430–3,100 lb | ≈ 90–115 lb |
A cubic yard is 0.765 m³, so 2,400 kg/m³ × 0.765 ≈ 1,835 kg, which is about 4,045 lb. That's where the "4,000 lb a yard" rule of thumb comes from.
Why wet concrete weighs more than dry
Concrete is cement, sand, aggregate and water. Some of the water reacts with the cement and stays locked in; the rest slowly evaporates over weeks as the concrete cures. The difference is typically a few per cent, so it won't change your order. It's more like the difference between a wet towel and a dry one: noticeable if you're carrying it, irrelevant to how big it is.
For anything structural (trailer loads, lifting, propping formwork), always use the wet figure. That's when the load is heaviest and the formwork is doing all the work.
What that means in real life
- A typical wheelbarrow (about 85–100 litres, 3 ft³) holds roughly 0.06–0.08 m³ of concrete if you don't overfill it, which is about 150–200 kg. Most people fill them two-thirds full for a reason.
- A 6 m³ ready-mix truck carries around 14 tonnes of concrete. A US 10-yard truck carries about 40,000 lb (20 US tons) of it.
- A small car trailer is often rated at 500–750 kg gross. That's only around a quarter to a third of a cubic metre of wet concrete. One "just a bit more" shovel is how axles bend.
- A 25 kg bag of dry ready-mix makes only about 0.011–0.012 m³ (0.4 ft³) of concrete, so one cubic metre is roughly 85–90 bags. It's the bag-mix equivalent of emptying the sea with a teacup.
Worked example: weight of a patio slab
A slab 4.0 × 3.0 m (13 ft 1 in × 9 ft 10 in), 100 mm (4 in) thick:
- Volume: 4 × 3 × 0.1 = 1.2 m³ (≈ 1.57 yd³).
- Wet weight: 1.2 × 2,400 = 2,880 kg (≈ 6,350 lb, or a little over 3 US tons).
- In imperial: 1.57 yd³ × 4,050 lb ≈ 6,360 lb. The two methods agree, as they should.
The concrete weight calculator does the conversion for any slab, footing or volume in kg, tonnes, lb and tons, so you're not fiddling with yards and metres on your phone in the rain.
When the weight matters most
- Suspended or raised slabs: the supports must carry the wet weight plus the people working on it.
- Breaking out old concrete: skips are limited by weight, not just volume. Concrete rubble is dense, so a skip full of it will often be over the weight limit long before it's visually full.
- Formwork: wet concrete pushes outwards like water in a bag. Deep pours (steps, walls) need well-braced shuttering.
- Vans and trailers: check the payload plate, not your optimism.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a yard of wet concrete weigh?
About 4,000 lb (roughly 2 US tons or 1.8 tonnes) for standard concrete. Reinforced concrete is a little more, at around 4,200 lb.
How much does 1 m³ of concrete weigh?
About 2,400 kg (2.4 tonnes) for standard concrete, and around 2,500 kg with reinforcing steel.
Does concrete get lighter as it dries?
Slightly, by a few per cent as excess water evaporates. Use the wet weight for any loading or formwork calculation.
How many bags of concrete make a cubic yard?
Roughly 45 bags of 80 lb ready-mix (about 0.6 ft³ each), or around 65–70 bags of 25 kg (55 lb). Bag yields vary by brand, so check the bag.
How heavy is a cubic foot of concrete?
About 150 lb (68 kg) wet for standard concrete.
Get the numbers for your pour
These calculators take you from size to weight to order:
- Concrete Weight Calculator: weight of any slab or volume in kg, tonnes, lb and US tons.
- Concrete Calculator: how many m³, yd³ or bags you need, with waste.
- Cubic Yards to Tons Calculator: converts volume to weight for concrete, gravel, sand and soil.