Annual report · 2026 edition
The State of US Topsoil Supply
We index every bulk topsoil, mulch and landscape material supplier we can find in the United States — 14,695 of them, across 5,604 towns in 50 states. This is what that data says about how the trade actually operates, and where it is leaving money on the table.
Nine in ten suppliers are invisible for their own product
Google ranks local results heavily on a business's primary category. Of the 14,691 suppliers whose category we can read, only 1,337 (9%) use a topsoil category. The rest are filed as landscaping supply stores, mulch suppliers, garden centers and contractors — businesses that sell topsoil, listed as something else.
| Primary category | Suppliers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Landscaping supply store | 3,786 | 26% |
| Mulch supplier | 1,444 | 10% |
| Topsoil supplier | 1,337 | 9% |
| Garden center | 1,207 | 8% |
| Landscaper | 1,187 | 8% |
| Sand & gravel supplier | 843 | 6% |
| Excavating contractor | 358 | 2% |
| Plant nursery | 318 | 2% |
This is the cheapest unclaimed advantage in the trade. Changing a primary category takes about ten minutes and costs nothing.
Most yards are in a crowd. A few have the road to themselves.
Buyers do not shop by city limit, so we measured competition by radius: how many other suppliers sit within 25 miles. The median yard has 52, but the spread is enormous — 23% compete with more than a hundred, while 5% have three or fewer.
- 0–3 680 5%
- 4–20 2,497 17%
- 21–50 3,958 27%
- 51–100 4,139 28%
- 100+ 3,420 23%
Suppliers by number of competitors within 25 miles (n = 14,694)
Hardest markets
- New Jersey 169
- Massachusetts 134
- Connecticut 132
- Illinois 101
- Pennsylvania 99
- Rhode Island 99
- Ohio 80
- Idaho 74
Easiest markets
- Vermont 4
- Maine 6
- West Virginia 8
- North Dakota 9
- Montana 12
- Alaska 14
- Kansas 16
- New Mexico 18
Median competitors within 25 miles, states with 25+ indexed suppliers
A third of suppliers have almost no reviews
The median yard has 20 reviews at 4.6★, but the mean is 60 — a gap that tells you a small number of yards hold most of the reviews. 35% have fewer than ten, which in a trade where buyers ring two or three yards is usually the difference between being called and not.
- 0–9 5,165 35%
- 10–24 2,898 20%
- 25–49 2,395 16%
- 50–99 2,031 14%
- 100–249 1,512 10%
- 250+ 694 5%
Suppliers by Google review count (n = 14,695)
The weekend is half-abandoned
Homeowner landscaping decisions are made at the weekend, yet of the 6,732 suppliers publishing hours, only 63% open Saturday and 16% open Sunday. 15% open all seven days. For a yard willing to staff a Sunday morning in spring, that is a day of demand with almost no competition for it.
What topsoil costs, by region
Delivered prices vary more than material prices, because haulage is most of the cost on a short load. These are the ranges buyers should expect to be quoted per cubic yard, delivered, for screened topsoil.
| Region | States | Delivered, per yard |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast & New England | 9 | $40–80 |
| Alaska | 1 | $35–75 |
| Southwest & Desert | 5 | $40–70 |
| California & Hawaii | 2 | $30–65 |
| Mid-Atlantic & Piedmont | 9 | $40–60 |
| Mountain West | 4 | $30–60 |
| Pacific Northwest | 2 | $25–55 |
| Southeast Coastal Plain | 4 | $25–50 |
| Midwest & Great Lakes | 8 | $20–45 |
| Great Plains | 6 | $20–45 |
A quote outside these bands is not automatically wrong — screening, blending and short-load surcharges all move the number — but it is worth asking which of those applies.
How this was measured
The index holds 14,695 bulk suppliers across 5,604 US towns, compiled from public Google Business listings and maintained by us. It covers yards selling topsoil, mulch and landscape materials in bulk; it deliberately excludes national retail chains, which do not deliver by the yard.
Not every supplier publishes every field, so each figure is stated against the number of records that actually carry it rather than the whole index: categories for 14,691, opening hours for 6,732, review counts for 14,695, and competitor counts for 14,694. Competition is measured by straight-line radius, not drive time. Price ranges are editorial estimates for screened topsoil delivered, not a survey of quotes.
Figures are current as of 2026-09-25 and are rebuilt annually. You are welcome to quote or chart any of this with attribution to Topsoil.com. Journalists and researchers wanting the underlying breakdowns can email info@topsoil.com.
Are you one of the 14,695?
Every indexed supplier has a free scorecard showing where they sit against the 20 yards nearest them — rating, reviews, hours, and the listing gaps costing them calls.