Asphalt Price Per Ton (2026): Hot Mix, Cold Mix and Delivered Prices

Hot mix asphalt costs about $70 to $130 per ton picked up at the plant in 2026 public bids. Delivery adds about $4 to $9 per ton. Bulk cold mix ran $115 to $230 in a Texas county bid, and recycled millings cost $10 to $20. A 20-ton load of hot mix comes to about $1,480 to $2,780 delivered. Installed driveways are priced per square foot ($3 to $15), not per ton.

How much is asphalt per ton in 2026?

Standard hot mix asphalt (HMA) costs about $70 to $130 per ton picked up at the plant. That range spans the four 2026 public bid tabulations we checked: $70 to $80 for base mix and $90 to $93 for surface mix in Ohio, $71.50 to $83 in Maryland, $100 to $129 in New York and $81 to $96.75 in Texas.

These are bulk prices. Counties and towns buy hundreds of tons a season, so a homeowner ordering a few tons should expect to pay more per ton, and to meet a minimum charge. Delivery and installation come on top. The sections below show what each of those adds.

Asphalt price per ton by mix type

Plants sell several mixes, and each one is priced differently. The mix a contractor orders for a driveway isn't the mix used on an airport apron or a winter pothole patch. If the composition is unfamiliar, what asphalt is and how it is made covers it.

*Polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) and Superpave mixes have no flat national price. PMA carries a premium for the polymer itself and the extra blending and quality control at the plant. Superpave is a design method rather than a product: every Superpave mix uses a PG (Performance Grade) binder rated for local temperatures. A wide-spread grade such as PG 76-22 usually needs the same polymer modification as PMA, so it costs more. A mild-climate grade such as PG 58-28 needs none and can price close to standard HMA (Pavement Interactive). You'll mostly see either one on airport aprons, bus lanes, intersections and industrial lots.

Most driveways and parking lots use standard HMA. If a quote lands well outside the $70 to $130 range, ask which mix and what quantity it covers. A specialty mix or a small delivered order can look like an overpriced HMA quote when it's a different product. For installed prices per square foot, see how much an asphalt driveway costs.

Cold mix asphalt price per ton

Bulk high-performance cold mix ran $115 to $135 per ton picked up and $143 to $228 delivered in the Grayson County, Texas bid. That's above hot mix, because cold mix is a patching product that stays workable in a stockpile, not a paving mix. The same bid priced hot-mix, cold-lay patching mix at $74 to $182 per ton.

Bagged cold mix costs $8 to $20 per 50 lb bag (HomeGuide). At 40 bags to the ton, that's $320 to $800 per ton, several times the bulk price. Bags make sense for a few potholes. For more than that, bulk cold mix or a hot mix patch costs less per ton. Cold mix vs hot mix asphalt compares the two, and pothole repair cost prices the job.

Why some guides still say $40 to $80 per ton

Several cost guides, including HomeGuide, list hot mix material at $40 to $80 per ton. The low end of that range is well under every 2026 public bid we found. The high end only reaches the cheapest of them, Ohio base mix at $70 to $80. Those bids come from buyers who order in bulk, so a homeowner is unlikely to beat them.

The binder in the mix also got more expensive in 2026. Across the 11 state DOT binder indices we track, the latest reading is 13% to 45% higher than in March 2026. New York's index went from $638 to $803 per ton (NYSDOT). That rise is one reason an older range can read low, but only part of it: at about 6% of the mix, it adds roughly $4 to $13 to a ton of hot mix.

Treat a quote at $40 to $80 per ton with care. Ask whether it's for new hot mix or for millings, and whether it's per ton or per tonne.

Liquid asphalt price per ton vs. hot mix price

Liquid asphalt, also called asphalt binder or asphalt cement, is the petroleum glue in the mix. It's priced on its own: the state DOT indices we track put it at $568 to $807.50 per ton in their latest 2026 readings. That isn't the price you pay for paving.

Binder is about 6% of hot mix by weight, according to the FHWA Federal Lands estimating table. NAPA puts it at about 5%, with aggregate making up the other 95%. At the 6% figure, one ton of hot mix holds about 120 lb of binder, worth roughly $34 to $48 at current index prices. Aggregate, plant costs, trucking and margin make up the rest of the $70 to $130. So in our calculation, a $100 per ton move in the binder index shifts the mix price by only about $6 per ton.

Public paving contracts use these indices to adjust the price paid when binder moves after a bid. A homeowner won't see an index clause, but the same movement reaches plant prices over time.

Plant, delivered or installed: which price is it?

An asphalt price per ton means different things depending on who quotes it. Before you compare two numbers, check which of these each one is.

• Plant price (material only): about $70 to $130 per ton for HMA in 2026 public bids. This is what you pay if you or your contractor haul it.
• Delivered: the plant price plus about $4 to $9 per ton within 15 to 20 miles (HomeGuide). In the Grayson County, Texas bid, delivered hot mix ran $91 to $114.75 against $81 to $96.75 picked up. Longer hauls cost more, because hot mix has to arrive hot enough to lay.
• Laid in place: on a public contract, the paving contractor's price per ton including placement. All hot mix items laid in place ran $133 to $205 per ton in the Lewisboro, New York bid.
• Installed (per square foot): about $3 to $15 per square foot for a residential driveway, covering material, labor, base prep and compaction. This is the number a driveway contractor gives you.

Asphalt price per cubic yard, square yard and square foot

To compare a ton price with a quote in other units, convert it with the compacted density of hot mix, about 145 lb per cubic foot (FHWA lists 145.2). The table shows material cost only, at the $70 to $130 plant price.

That's why per-square-foot quotes look so much higher. At 3 inches deep, the asphalt in one square foot costs about $1.27 to $2.36. An installed driveway runs $3 to $15 per square foot because labor, base and equipment make up most of the bill. For the unit math in detail, see square yards to tons of asphalt and how much asphalt weighs.

What common asphalt orders cost

The table prices the job sizes people ask about most, at a 3-inch compacted depth, using the $70 to $130 plant price and $4 to $9 per ton delivery. One ton covers about 55 square feet at that depth (full coverage table).

Installed, the picture changes. At $3 to $15 per square foot, a 20 x 20 driveway costs about $1,200 to $6,000 and 1,000 square feet about $3,000 to $15,000. Where you land in that range depends on base work, old surface removal, access and region. The asphalt driveway cost calculator prices those parts separately.

If "1,000 feet" means a strip 1,000 feet long, multiply by the width first. A 10-foot-wide lane 1,000 feet long is 10,000 square feet, or about 181 tons at 3 inches.

How to calculate your asphalt price

1. Area (sq ft) × depth (ft) × 145 ÷ 2,000 = tons.
2. Tons × price per ton = material cost.
3. Add delivery: about $4 to $9 per ton within 15 to 20 miles.
4. Add 5% to 10% for waste, compaction and spillage.

For example, 800 square feet at 3 inches is 800 × 0.25 × 145 ÷ 2,000 = 14.5 tons. Worked examples are in how to calculate asphalt tonnage. To skip the math, use the asphalt cost per ton calculator.

Asphalt price per ton by state

The price near you is set by the nearest plant, because hot mix has to arrive hot. We've read four 2026 public bids directly:

For every other state, the asphalt price index gives a regional estimate and links the official DOT binder index. To get a real price near you, call two or three plants within 15 to 20 miles of the job. Ask for the mix, the price per ton picked up and delivered, and any minimum order.

What moves the price per ton

• Binder price: it tracks crude oil and refinery output. The 13% to 45% rise in the indices since March 2026 adds about $4 to $13 to a ton of hot mix, because binder is only about 6% of the mix.
• Aggregate: about 95% of the mix by weight (NAPA). It's quarried locally, so its price varies by plant.
• Distance from the plant: delivery rises with haul time, and very long hauls aren't possible at all for hot mix.
• Order size: bulk buyers get the bid prices above, while small orders pay more per ton and often a minimum charge.
• Mix spec: polymer-modified and high-grade Superpave binders cost more than standard HMA.
• Season: most paving happens in the warm months, and many northern plants close for winter.

Sources and citations

• Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio: asphalt price sheet 2026–2027 (April 2026), clevelandmetroparks.com
• Garrett County, Maryland: bid tabulation 26-0603HM (June 2026), garrettcountymd.gov
• Town of Lewisboro, New York: highway bid results, bid opening June 17, 2026, lewisborony.gov
• Grayson County, Texas: asphalt materials bid tabulation 2026-03, co.grayson.tx.us
• NYSDOT: average posted price for PG binder, Item 698.04, monthly 2026, dot.ny.gov. Other state indices are linked on the asphalt price index.
• HomeGuide: asphalt prices (hot mix range, bagged cold mix, millings, delivery, mix premiums), checked October 2026, homeguide.com
• National Asphalt Pavement Association: Fast Facts, 2023 (95% aggregate, 5% binder), asphaltpavement.org
• FHWA Federal Lands Highway: Application Rates and Weights for Estimating Purposes (145.2 lb/ft³; binder 6.0% by weight of mix), highways.dot.gov
• Pavement Interactive, "Superpave Performance Grading", pavementinteractive.org