Dumpster Rental Cost Calculator
Most calculators multiply a guess by a guess. This one starts from 3,536 published prices collected from 1,395 companies, then adds the two charges that move a bill most: weight over the allowance, at a median of $76 a ton, and days past the rental period at $16 a day.
Updated regularly. Every figure below is a median of published prices, not an estimate.
Median dumpster price by size
| Size | Median | Typical range | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 yard | $345 | $295 to $399 | 653 |
| 15 yard | $365 | $320 to $425 | 952 |
| 20 yard | $419 | $350 to $490 | 1075 |
| 30 yard | $520 | $445 to $600 | 592 |
| 40 yard | $600 | $499 to $700 | 264 |
Why the number it gives you is not a quote
It is an estimate built from what companies publish, and the gap between that and your invoice has three causes worth knowing before you call.
A published price is a starting price. It is the number a company puts on its own website to get the phone to ring, generally for the easiest version of the job: a driveway with clear access, standard household debris, and the container collected on time. Nothing about that is dishonest, and none of it is what you have if the drive is tight or the load is roofing.
Weight is where estimates and invoices part company. The commonly published allowance is 2 tons and overage runs a median of $76 a ton, so a load two tons over costs $152 more than the calculator's base figure, and a single layer of shingles off an average roof is around two tons on its own. The calculator lets you set the tonnage precisely for exactly this reason. Guess it high rather than low.
The spread between local companies is wider than the spread between states. Our own measurement puts the middle half of company prices inside a typical state above the middle half of state medians nationally, which means the estimate below tells you whether a quote is roughly sane and nothing about whether the company quoting it is the dear one in your town. The measurement, and then the companies serving your town.
What the calculator adds on top of the base price
| Charge | Median | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| $76 per ton | from 845 companies | Every ton over the included allowance, typically 2 tons |
| $16 per day | from 876 companies | Every day past the rental period, typically 7 days |
Weight is the one that surprises people. A 2-ton allowance is roughly a single-layer roof tear-off on an average house, and shingles are heavy: going two tons over adds $152 to a bill you thought was settled. The fees page breaks down what else appears on an invoice, and avoiding overage charges covers how to stay inside the allowance.
Prices where you are
A national median is a starting point, not a quote for your driveway. Pick your state above, or read the price index by state to see how far your market sits from the middle. Once you know roughly what a size should cost, the directory lists the companies near you with their own published prices, so you can see who is above and below their own state's median before you call.
Common questions about dumpster costs
- How accurate is this estimate?
- It is built from 3,536 prices published by 1,395 independent companies, so it is a median of what is advertised, not guessed. It is not a quote. Your own price moves with how far the yard is from you, what you are throwing away and how heavy it ends up.
- Why is my quote higher than the estimate?
- Usually weight. The listed price covers the container and a fixed allowance, a median of 2 tons, and everything over that is billed by the ton at a median $76. Roofing tear-off, concrete and dirt go over allowance faster than anything else.
- Does the calculator send my details to anyone?
- No. There is no form, nothing is submitted and nothing is stored. The numbers run in your browser against the same published data on the rest of this site.
- What size should I book if I am between two?
- Book the larger one. The price gap between neighboring sizes is smaller than the cost of a second haul, and an overfilled container that cannot be tarped will not be collected.