Asphalt Driveway Cost Calculator
Estimate what a driveway costs to pave - enter the size and pick asphalt, concrete or gravel to get an installed price range, the cost per square foot and the tonnage of hot mix, with tear-out and grading priced separately.
United States — national average · 2026 prices
Material only unless stated as installed. Excludes tax, permits and local labour. Verify with local suppliers — see how we calculate.
How this calculator works
Every figure above comes from the formula below, applied to the assumptions listed. Nothing is looked up from a hidden table — you can reproduce the result by hand.
Formula
area = length × width
surface = mobilisation + area × (rate + extra thickness × $/in)
tear-out = area × $1.00–$3.00 · grading = area × the selected rate
hot mix (tons) = area × thickness (in) ÷ 324 × 2.0
Assumptions & limits
- Paving is priced as mobilisation plus an area rate, not as a flat price per square foot. Bringing a crew, a paver and a roller to a site costs the same for 400 sq ft as for 4,000, so the cost per square foot falls as the driveway grows. Mobilisation is taken as $900–$1,800 for new asphalt, $700–$1,400 for a resurface, $800–$1,600 for concrete and $400–$900 for gravel.
- Area rates, 2026 US national: new asphalt with base $3.80–$7.00 per sq ft at 3 in · asphalt resurface $2.80–$5.00 at 2 in · new concrete with base $6.50–$12.00 at 4 in · gravel $1.00–$2.50 at 4 in.
- Each inch above the base thickness adds $0.90 per sq ft for asphalt and $0.70 for concrete. Those are derived, not guessed: an extra inch of compacted hot mix is 12.1 lb per sq ft, which is $0.76 of material at $125 per ton, plus placement.
- Hot-mix tonnage uses the same constants as the asphalt calculator — 145 lb per cubic foot, about 2.0 tons per cubic yard — so the two tools agree.
- Tear-out and disposal of an existing driveway is $1.00–$3.00 per sq ft and is off by default. Grading is a three-step selector; "heavy" reflects a sloped site or one needing imported fill.
- Excluded: permits, curb cuts and aprons beyond the flat amount you enter, retaining walls, culverts, drainage structures and any utility relocation. Sealcoating is a maintenance item, not part of a new install.
- The base under the surface is what decides how long a driveway lasts. These figures assume 6–8 in of compacted aggregate for new asphalt and concrete; a quote that is cheap because it thins the base is not comparable.
Worked example
A 40 × 20 ft driveway in new asphalt, 3 inches compacted, no tear-out, minimal grading
- Area = 40 × 20 = 800 sq ft
- Low = $900 + 800 × $3.80 = $3,940 · high = $1,800 + 800 × $7.00 = $7,400
- Cost per sq ft at the midpoint = $5,670 ÷ 800 = $7.09
- Hot mix = 800 × 3 ÷ 324 = 7.41 yd³ × 2.0 = 14.8 tons
Result:About $3,940 to $7,400 installed — roughly $7 per square foot, with 14.8 tons of hot mix in it.
Built and maintained by Christoph Ballmer, Honeygoat GmbH
Method and constants last checked against the calculator code on September 1, 2026. Independent trade review is not yet in place for this calculator — see how we handle review.
Read the site-wide calculation methodology · estimate vs. quote and safety limits
Why a flat price per square foot is the wrong model
Almost every driveway estimate online multiplies your area by a rate. That is convenient and it is wrong at both ends of the range, because paving does not scale that way. A crew, a paver and a roller cost the same to bring to your house whether they lay 400 square feet or 4,000. That mobilisation is roughly $900 to $1,800 for a new asphalt driveway, and it lands on the bill before a single ton is spread.
cost = mobilisation + area × rate + tear-out + grading
Run the two extremes through it and the effect is stark. A 20 × 20 pad works out at about $6.05 to $11.50 per square foot; a 2,000 sq ft driveway on the same specification comes to about $4.25 to $7.90. Same crew, same asphalt, same day — the small job simply has fewer square feet to spread the setup over. Anyone quoting you $5 per square foot for a one-car pad is quoting a big-driveway rate.
What the layers cost, and which one matters
The visible half of a driveway is the cheap half. Three inches of compacted hot mix over an 800 sq ft driveway is about 14.8 tons — roughly $1,850 of material at $125 per ton, which is a third of a $5,700 job. The base underneath it is where the money and the lifespan actually sit. Six to eight inches of compacted aggregate is what spreads a wheel load out before it reaches the soil; the asphalt on top is a wearing surface, not a structure.
This matters when quotes come back apart. The cheapest bid is very often cheap in the layer nobody can see afterwards. Ask every bidder for the base depth and whether it is compacted in lifts, and treat a quote that will not answer as incomparable rather than cheap.
Asphalt, concrete or gravel
| Surface | Thickness | 800 sq ft installed | $/sq ft | Life | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel | 4 in | $1,200–$2,900 | $1.50–$3.60 | Indefinite with topping | Regrade and top up yearly |
| Asphalt, resurface | 2 in | $2,940–$5,400 | $3.70–$6.75 | 10–15 yr | Seal every 3–5 yr |
| Asphalt, new | 3 in | $3,940–$7,400 | $4.90–$9.25 | 15–20 yr | Seal every 3–5 yr |
| Concrete, new | 4 in | $6,000–$11,200 | $7.50–$14.00 | 30+ yr | Seal joints occasionally |
Those are the calculator's own figures for an 800 sq ft driveway at each surface's standard thickness, with no tear-out. Asphalt is roughly a third cheaper to install than concrete and wants more attention afterwards; over thirty years the two land much closer together than the install prices suggest. Climate usually decides it before cost does. Asphalt flexes with freeze-thaw movement and shrugs off de-icing salt, which is why it dominates the north; concrete holds up better under sustained heat and does not soften, which is why it dominates the south.
Resurface or replace
An overlay is roughly half the price of a rebuild, so the question is worth getting right. The test is not how bad the surface looks — it is whether the base is still doing its job:
- Resurface when the damage is on top: fading, surface cracking, a few shallow potholes, and the driveway still drains and sits level.
- Replace when cracks are wide and interconnected in an alligator-hide pattern, when areas sink or hold water after rain, or when the edges are crumbling. All three say the base has failed, and new asphalt over a failed base fails again within a couple of seasons.
- The quarter rule. If more than about a quarter of the area shows base failure, rebuilding is the cheaper decision even though the invoice is bigger — you stop paying twice.
The line items that move the total
- Tear-out and disposal, $1.00–$3.00 per sq ft. On an 800 sq ft driveway that is $800–$2,400, and it is the single largest optional line.
- Grading and drainage. A flat site with somewhere for water to go is the cheap case. Slopes, imported fill and anything needing a swale or culvert push this up fast — and getting it wrong undoes the paving.
- Apron and curb cut. Where the driveway meets the public road is often municipal territory, with its own permit and its own specification. Ask early; it is a common surprise.
- Access. A driveway a paver cannot reach turns into hand work. Narrow side yards, overhanging trees and tight turns all cost real money.
Common mistakes
- Comparing quotes without the base depth. It is the one number that decides whether the driveway lasts, and the one most often left off a bid.
- Paving in the cold. Hot mix has to be laid and rolled while hot. Late autumn work in a cold region compacts poorly, and it shows in year three.
- Sealing too early. New asphalt needs months to cure before its first sealcoat; sealing it fresh traps oils and softens the surface.
- Buying thickness instead of base. An extra inch of asphalt costs about $0.90 per square foot. The same money spent on base depth buys far more life.
Related planning
To order the material rather than price the job, the asphalt calculator converts area and thickness into tons of hot mix using the same constants as this page. For the aggregate under it, use the gravel calculator; for a concrete driveway priced by the yard, the concrete cost calculator. If you are paving a parking area or patio instead, the paver calculator costs out a segmental surface.
Figures are planning estimates using 2026 US national price ranges, not a quote. Local material and labour rates, site access, drainage and municipal apron requirements all move the total — confirm with a local paving contractor before signing.
Frequently asked questions
How much is 2,000 sq ft of asphalt?
For a new 2,000 sq ft asphalt driveway laid 3 inches thick over a compacted base, expect roughly $8,500 to $15,800 - about $4.25 to $7.90 per square foot. A resurface over sound existing pavement is much less, roughly $6,300 to $11,400. The material itself is a small part of that: 2,000 sq ft at 3 inches is about 37 tons of hot mix, roughly $4,600 at $125 per ton. The rest is the crew, the paver, the roller and the base.
How much to pave a 300 ft driveway?
That depends entirely on the width, which is the number the question leaves out. A 300 ft driveway at 10 ft wide is 3,000 sq ft and comes to roughly $12,300 to $22,800 in new asphalt; at 12 ft wide it is 3,600 sq ft and roughly $14,600 to $27,000. Long rural driveways also need turnouts or a turnaround, and the base matters more than on a short suburban run because there is more ground to get wrong. Enter both dimensions above.
How much does a 20x20 asphalt driveway cost per square foot?
About $6.05 to $11.50 per square foot - noticeably more than the $4 to $8 quoted for large driveways, and the reason is worth understanding. Bringing a crew, a paver and a roller to your house costs the same whether they pave 400 square feet or 4,000. That mobilisation is roughly $900 to $1,800, and on a 400 sq ft pad it is a quarter to a third of the whole bill. Small driveways are always dearer per foot; the calculator above models it directly instead of hiding it in a flat rate.
Is 3 inches of asphalt enough for a driveway?
For a residential driveway, yes - 3 inches of compacted hot mix over 6 to 8 inches of compacted aggregate base is a comfortable specification for cars and light trucks. Two inches over a sound base is the common resurfacing thickness and holds up fine for ordinary car traffic. Step up only if the driveway will carry an RV, a loaded trailer or delivery trucks. The layer that actually decides whether a driveway lasts is the base underneath, not the last inch of black on top - a thick surface on a thin base cracks anyway.
Is asphalt or concrete cheaper for a driveway?
Asphalt is cheaper to install and dearer to keep. On an 800 sq ft driveway the calculator puts new asphalt at roughly $3,900 to $7,400 and concrete at roughly $6,000 to $11,200. Over the life of the driveway that gap narrows: asphalt wants sealing every three to five years and lasts about 15 to 20, while concrete needs little and lasts 30 or more. Climate decides it more often than price - asphalt tolerates freeze-thaw movement and de-icing salt better, concrete handles sustained heat better.
Should I resurface or replace my driveway?
Resurface when the base is still sound and the damage is on the surface: fading, minor cracking, a few shallow potholes. An overlay is roughly half the cost of a rebuild. Replace when the cracks are wide and interconnected in a pattern like alligator hide, when there are areas that sink or hold water, or when the edges are crumbling away - all three mean the base has failed, and a new surface over a failed base fails again in a couple of seasons. If more than about a quarter of the driveway shows base failure, rebuilding is the cheaper decision.