Concrete Footing Calculator
Enter your measurements
Extra to cover cuts, breakage, and mistakes.
Results
- Concrete needed1.45 cubic yards
- Volume39.11 cubic feet
- 60 lb bags87
- 80 lb bags66
Estimated cost
per cubic yard of ready-mix, delivered
Material range reflects ready-mix concrete delivered at 3,000 psi, priced per cubic yard. Short-load fees, rebar, form lumber, and labor are not included and should be budgeted separately.
Estimate only — prices vary by region, supplier, and season. Get a local quote before buying.
A concrete footing calculator takes your total footing length, width, and depth and converts those dimensions into the cubic yards and bag counts you need to order. Because footings are long and narrow — with width and depth measured in inches rather than feet — the unit math trips up even experienced builders, and ordering short means a costly second batch. This concrete footing calculator handles that conversion instantly, adding a configurable waste allowance (10% is standard) so your order covers minor overruns and form irregularities. Concrete for footings is sold as ready-mix delivered by the truck (typically in quarter- or half-yard increments with minimum-load fees) or in 60 lb and 80 lb bags from a home center. The bag route is practical for small pours under roughly half a yard; anything bigger usually favors ready-mix on both cost and labor. Footing depth and width are not arbitrary — most local codes prescribe minimums based on frost depth, soil bearing capacity, and the load above, so confirm your dimensions with your building department before you pour.
How it’s calculated
Volume = Length × Width × Depth (footings are long and narrow — width and depth are in inches), then ÷27 for cubic yards.
Worked example
Consider a continuous foundation footing that runs 60 feet in total length, 16 inches wide, and 8 inches deep — a typical size for a residential addition in a moderate frost zone. Entering those dimensions with a 10% waste allowance, the calculator returns 2.17 cubic yards (58.67 cubic feet), which translates to 131 sixty-pound bags or 98 eighty-pound bags if you go the bagged route. That volume sits right at the boundary where a ready-mix minimum-load order and a pallet of 80 lb bags become close competitors on total cost.
Inputs
- Total footing length
- 60 ft
- Width
- 16 in
- Depth
- 8 in
- Waste / overage
- 10 %
Result
- Concrete needed
- 2.17 cubic yards
- Volume
- 58.67 cubic feet
- 60 lb bags
- 131
- 80 lb bags
- 98
- Estimated material cost
- $304 – $402
Materials & pricing near you
Ready-mix concrete for footings is priced per cubic yard delivered, and 2026 prices vary widely by market, mix design, and access. In most US metros, expect roughly $140–$185 per cubic yard for a standard 3,000 psi mix; rural markets with fewer plants often run toward or above the top of that range, while high-volume suburban markets land near the floor. Most suppliers add a short-load fee (commonly $50–$150, sometimes more) when an order falls below three to four yards, which can tip the economics toward bagged concrete for small footings. Ready-mix demand and pricing peak in spring and summer. Rebar, tie wire, and form lumber are separate line items — footings almost always need reinforcement, so price it before finalizing your budget. Confirm local frost-depth and footing-width requirements with your building department, since non-compliant footings fail inspection.
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure total footing length for a rectangular building?
Add up the centerline lengths of all continuous footing runs. For a simple rectangle, that means adding all four sides. Avoid double-counting corners — the standard approach is to measure the outside perimeter and then subtract the footing width once at each corner, though many builders simply use the outside perimeter and let the small overage serve as their waste factor.
What width and depth should I use for a residential footing?
Footing dimensions are set by local building codes, not rule-of-thumb preferences. Under the IRC, a footing must be wider than the wall it supports — projecting beyond each face — with the exact width pulled from load and soil-bearing tables (often 16 to 24 inches for a typical residential wall). The bottom must also sit below the local frost depth, which ranges from a few inches in the Deep South to 48 inches or more in northern states. Your permit drawings or a quick call to your building department will confirm the required dimensions for your project.
When does bagged concrete make more sense than a ready-mix truck?
Ready-mix becomes cost-effective — and far less labor-intensive — once you need roughly half a cubic yard or more, because short-load fees on small ready-mix orders can be substantial. Below that threshold, 80 lb bags mixed on-site are usually cheaper and more practical, especially in tight-access situations where a truck can't reach the pour location. For a footing job in the 2–3 cubic yard range, compare the delivered ready-mix quote (including any short-load fee) against the per-bag cost times the bag count the calculator gives you.
Why add a 10% waste factor to a footing pour?
Footing trenches make waste almost unavoidable: form boards are never perfectly plumb, the soil at the bottom of a trench is rarely laser-flat, and over-excavated low spots quietly soak up extra concrete. A 10% overage is the construction-industry standard for formed concrete work and ensures you can finish the pour in a single continuous session. Running short mid-pour can create a cold joint — a structural weak point in a footing — so it is far better to have a little left over than to come up short.