Driveway Cost Calculator
Estimate what a new driveway will cost per square foot, installed.
What you'll need to order
- asphalt, concrete or gravel
- base aggregate
- edge restraint
Prices vary by region and haul distance. Get quotes from at least two local suppliers.
How this calculator works
total = length × width × price per square foot
Installed price covers excavation, base preparation, material and labour. Prices swing widely by region and site access — a sloped or hard-to-reach driveway can cost half again as much as a flat one.
Switch the site to metric — the control is in the footer — and your inputs, your results and the tables below follow. The formula, the constants, the guidance text and the sources stay in US units on purpose: that is how the standards they come from are written, and restating them would detach each figure from the document you are meant to be able to check it against.
Where these numbers come from
Price per square foot is a market rate that moves with region, season, fuel and site access. There is no authority to cite for it; get two local quotes.
Worked example
With driveway length 40 ft, driveway width 12 ft, installed price 5 , this calculator returns 2400 .
Installed cost for driveways of common size
Open any row to load it into the calculator above — the link carries the numbers with it, so it can go straight to a supplier or a crew.
| Job | Size | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|
| Single-car, gravel | 40 ft × 10 ft × 2 | 800.0 |
| Single-car, asphalt | 40 ft × 12 ft × 5 | 2,400 |
| Two-car, asphalt | 40 ft × 20 ft × 5 | 4,000 |
| Two-car, concrete | 40 ft × 20 ft × 9 | 7,200 |
| Long rural drive, gravel | 300 ft × 12 ft × 2 | 7,200 |
Prices swing hard on access and slope. A drive a truck cannot back down costs half again as much.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a driveway cost per square foot?
Gravel runs $1 to $3 installed, asphalt $3 to $7, concrete $6 to $12, and pavers $10 to $25. Base preparation is included in these figures but heavy excavation or poor soil is not.
How wide should a driveway be?
Ten feet for a single car, 12 feet if you want room to open doors comfortably, and 20 to 24 feet for a double. Add 2 feet either side if you plan to walk past a parked car.
Is asphalt or concrete cheaper for a driveway?
Asphalt costs roughly half as much upfront but lasts 15 to 20 years and needs sealing every few years. Concrete costs more initially and lasts 30 or more years with little maintenance, so lifetime cost is often similar.
What is not included in a per-square-foot price?
Demolition of an existing surface, deep excavation, drainage work, retaining walls and permits are all quoted separately. On a difficult site these can add more than the paving itself.