Illustration: getasphaltcalculator.com
Repaving an asphalt driveway costs about $3 to $7 per square foot for an overlay, $3.25 to $7.75 for a mill and overlay, and $8 to $15 for a full tear-out and repave, in published cost guides checked in October 2026. On a 20 x 20 driveway that is $1,200 to $2,800 for an overlay and $3,200 to $6,000 for a tear-out. The condition of the base decides which of the three jobs you need.
Search for the cost to repave a driveway and you will find $3 per square foot on one page and $29 on another. Both can be right, because "repave" is used for three different jobs. This guide prices each one separately, shows what a quote is made of, and helps you work out which job your driveway needs. Every figure is for asphalt. If you are still choosing a job, start with our guide to asphalt resurfacing vs replacement.
How much does it cost to repave a driveway?
It costs about $3 to $7 per square foot to repave a driveway with an asphalt overlay and about $8 to $15 per square foot to tear it out and repave from the base up. A mill and overlay sits just above the overlay price. The table gives each tier with the price of a 20 x 20 driveway, the size most guides use as their example.
| Repaving tier | What the crew does | Cost per sq ft | 20 x 20 driveway (400 sq ft) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Overlay (resurfacing) | Repairs cracks, then lays 1.5 to 2 inches of new asphalt over the old surface | $3 to $7 | $1,200 to $2,800 |
| 2. Mill and overlay | Grinds off the top of the old asphalt first, then lays the new layer flush | $3.25 to $7.75 | $1,300 to $3,100 |
| 3. Full tear-out and repave | Removes the old asphalt, repairs the base, and paves a new driveway | $8 to $15 | $3,200 to $6,000 |
Cost to repave an asphalt driveway per square foot, by tier (midpoint)
The average cost to repave a driveway that large guides quote is less useful than it looks. NerdWallet reports $1,400 to $12,100, with an average of about $6,800 that it credits to Angi. That range is $7 to $14 per square foot applied to driveways from 200 to 864 square feet, so most of the spread is driveway size. This Old House, using Homewyse data, reports $2,550 to $11,600 for a 400 square foot asphalt driveway, which is $6 to $29 per square foot with no split between an overlay and a tear-out.
Why do driveway repaving prices disagree so much?
Published prices disagree because each source is pricing a different scope of work under the same word. The table lists what eleven published figures cover. Read down the middle column and the spread stops looking random.
| Source | What the figure covers | Asphalt, per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| HomeGuide, resurfacing guide | "a new overlay only", before repairs, milling or permits | $1 to $3 |
| Blacktop Concepts (contractor, MN and WI) | "National averages" for an asphalt driveway, new work included | $3 to $5 |
| HomeGuide, driveway guide | Resurfacing an older surface | $3 to $7 |
| Bob Vila | Resurfacing | $3 to $7 |
| Fixr | Resurfacing that strips off the top couple of inches first | $4 to $8 |
| Jet-Black (contractor franchise) | Resurfacing scope, by preparation and thickness | $3 to $10 |
| This Old House (Homewyse data) | Resurfacing a 20 x 20 driveway, $400 to $4,000 | $1 to $10 |
| NerdWallet | Repaving with asphalt | $7 to $15 |
| Bob Vila | Replacing a driveway, removal and disposal included | $8 to $15 |
| This Old House (Homewyse data) | Repaving with asphalt | $6 to $29 |
Upper end of each published asphalt driveway price, per square foot
The word doing the damage
HomeGuide prices asphalt resurfacing at $1 to $3 per square foot on one page and $3 to $7 on another. The lower figure is described as the overlay alone, before repairs, milling and permits. The higher one is not broken down. Before you compare two quotes, check that both describe the same tier.
Tier 1: cost to resurface an asphalt driveway with an overlay
An asphalt overlay costs about $3 to $7 per square foot, or $1,200 to $2,800 for a 20 x 20 driveway. The crew cleans the surface, seals or patches the cracks, sprays a tack coat, and compacts 1.5 to 2 inches of new hot mix over the old asphalt. Nothing is hauled away and the base is not touched, which is why this is the cheapest way to repave. Both HomeGuide and Bob Vila publish that range for resurfacing.
The asphalt itself is a small part of that price. A 400 square foot overlay needs about 3.6 to 4.8 tons of hot mix. At $70 to $130 per ton in the 2026 public bids we track on the asphalt price index, that is $255 to $630 of material, or $0.63 to $1.57 per square foot. Set against the low end of the quote, the mix is about 21% of the bill. The rest pays for the crew, the paver and roller, trucking, and the repairs done before paving. A contractor buying a few tons pays more per ton than a county buying hundreds, so treat the material figure as a floor.
An overlay only works on a sound driveway. The Federal Highway Administration's thin overlay checklist, written for road agencies, states the rule plainly: the pavement "must be structurally sound with no fatigue (alligator) cracking or potholes." It also calls for sealing any crack wider than a quarter inch and correcting drainage problems before the new layer goes down. The same logic applies to a driveway. HomeGuide puts the practical limit at pavement under 15 to 20 years old with less than 30% of the surface damaged.
Repairs that get added to an overlay quote
Repairs are where an overlay quote grows. HomeGuide lists crack sealing at $1 to $3 per linear foot, pothole and crack repair at $2 to $5 per square foot of repaired area, and replacement of failed sections at $3 to $12 per square foot. A driveway that needs a lot of this is drifting toward tier 3. For the repair methods themselves, see how to fix cracks in an asphalt driveway and our pothole repair cost guide.
Tier 2: mill and overlay cost
A mill and overlay costs about $3.25 to $7.75 per square foot, or $1,300 to $3,100 for a 20 x 20 driveway. That range is our own sum of two published figures: the overlay price plus milling, which HomeGuide lists at $0.25 to $0.75 per square foot. One published figure is broadly in line with it. Fixr describes resurfacing as a job that "strips off the top couple of inches of asphalt and puts down a new layer" and prices it at $4 to $8 per square foot.
Milling grinds off the top inch or two of old asphalt before the new layer goes down. You pay for it in two situations. The first is height. A plain overlay raises the driveway by 1.5 to 2 inches, which can leave a lip at the garage slab, the sidewalk or the street apron. The second is drainage, because added height at the edges can send water toward the garage instead of away from it. Milling keeps the finished surface where the old one was. A contractor can also mill only the transitions and overlay the rest, which costs less than milling the whole driveway. Ask which of the two the quote covers.
The ground-off material is not waste. It is hauled to a plant and recycled, and the same material is sold as asphalt millings for base layers and rural driveways.
Tier 3: cost to replace an asphalt driveway with a full tear-out
A full tear-out and repave costs about $8 to $15 per square foot, or $3,200 to $6,000 for a 20 x 20 driveway. Bob Vila gives that range and says it includes removing and disposing of the old driveway. Bob Vila's page was last updated in May 2024, so treat the range as a published guide figure rather than a 2026 price. The crew breaks up and hauls off the old asphalt, regrades and repairs the base, then paves a new surface. Allow for the wait before you can drive and park on it, covered in our guide to how long asphalt takes to cure.
Some guides publish a lower asphalt driveway replacement cost. HomeGuide lists $4 to $10 per square foot, which is why the calculators on this site carry a wider $4 to $15. The figure to watch is removal. Bob Vila prices a new driveway at $7 to $13 per square foot, a dollar or two under the $8 to $15 it gives for a replacement with removal and disposal included. This Old House puts demolition and disposal at $1 to $4 per square foot. A replacement quote near the bottom of the range may not include it, so ask. For a first driveway on bare ground, see how much an asphalt driveway costs.
Material is an even smaller share here than in an overlay. HomeGuide says most driveways need 2 to 3 inches of asphalt. At 3 inches, a 20 x 20 driveway needs about 7.3 tons of hot mix, worth $510 to $945 at 2026 bid prices, or $1.27 to $2.36 per square foot. That is about 16% of the low end of the quote. Demolition, hauling, base stone and grading take the rest. A tear-out is also the moment to fix what the old driveway got wrong, so read how thick an asphalt driveway should be before you accept the old thickness again.
Cost to repave a driveway by size
Multiply your driveway's area by the per-square-foot range for the tier you need. The table does that for six common sizes. A 100 foot driveway appears twice, because its cost depends on whether it is 10 or 12 feet wide.
| Driveway | Area | Overlay | Mill and overlay | Tear-out and repave |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 x 20 ft, 2 car | 400 sq ft | $1,200 to $2,800 | $1,300 to $3,100 | $3,200 to $6,000 |
| 20 x 30 ft | 600 sq ft | $1,800 to $4,200 | $1,950 to $4,650 | $4,800 to $9,000 |
| 20 x 40 ft | 800 sq ft | $2,400 to $5,600 | $2,600 to $6,200 | $6,400 to $12,000 |
| 10 x 100 ft, long single lane | 1,000 sq ft | $3,000 to $7,000 | $3,250 to $7,750 | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| 12 x 100 ft, long single lane | 1,200 sq ft | $3,600 to $8,400 | $3,900 to $9,300 | $9,600 to $18,000 |
| Large or long driveway | 2,000 sq ft | $6,000 to $14,000 | $6,500 to $15,500 | $16,000 to $30,000 |
Do not scale a small-driveway rate in a straight line
HomeGuide notes that some contractors set a minimum of $2,000 or more for asphalt paving. Our reading of why: a crew, a paver, a roller and a dump truck have to come out whether the driveway is 400 square feet or 2,000. Expect a small driveway to price at the top of a per-square-foot range and a large one nearer the bottom.
Price your own driveway by tier. The asphalt driveway cost calculator works as a resurfacing cost calculator too. Pick new, replacement or resurfacing and enter your dimensions. It builds its estimate from material, labor, base and removal rates, so its totals will differ from the published ranges in this table.
Open the driveway cost calculatorWhat is in a driveway repaving quote?
A repaving quote is a per-square-foot paving price plus line items, and the line items explain most of the gap between two bids. Ask each contractor to price these separately. A quote that lists none of them is either a plain overlay with no preparation or a number that will grow once work starts.
| Line item | Published cost | Tiers it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Crack sealing | $1 to $3 per linear foot (HomeGuide) | Overlay, mill and overlay |
| Pothole and patch repair | $2 to $5 per sq ft repaired (HomeGuide) | Overlay, mill and overlay |
| Section replacement | $3 to $12 per sq ft replaced (HomeGuide) | Overlay, mill and overlay |
| Milling | $0.25 to $0.75 per sq ft (HomeGuide) | Mill and overlay |
| Demolition and disposal | $1 to $4 per sq ft (This Old House), or $1,000 to $3,000 per job (NerdWallet) | Tear-out |
| Excavation | $1,000 to $2,500 per job (NerdWallet) | Tear-out, when the base is rebuilt or regraded |
| Permit | $20 to $60 for resurfacing (HomeGuide), $50 to $500 for paving (This Old House), about $250 on average (NerdWallet) | All three, where the town requires one |
| Sealcoating later | $1 to $2 per sq ft (HomeGuide) | All three, as later maintenance |
Two more things move the price without appearing as a line. Thickness is one. A quote for 1.5 inches and a quote for 2 inches are different jobs, and the thicker one uses a third more asphalt. Season is the other. HomeGuide says winter paving can cost 10% to 15% less where the weather allows it, though cold limits when hot mix can be laid at all. Our guide to the best time to pave a driveway covers the temperature limits.
Repave vs resurface: which tier does your driveway need?
The base decides the tier. A worn surface over a firm base can be overlaid. A failed base has to come out, whatever the surface looks like. Use these signs as a first pass, then ask the contractor what they found underneath.
- Overlay: fading, surface wear, and cracks under a quarter inch wide, the limit This Old House gives for resurfacing. The driveway is level, drains well, and is under 15 to 20 years old.
- Mill and overlay: the same sound driveway, where added height would create a lip at the garage, sidewalk or street, or change where water runs.
- Tear-out and repave: alligator cracking, potholes that return after patching, soft or sunken areas, or standing water. HomeGuide's threshold is cracking across 60% or more of the surface.
An overlay laid over a failed base tends to show the old cracks again, a problem called reflective cracking. You then pay for the overlay and for the replacement it was meant to avoid. The resurfacing vs replacement guide walks through that diagnosis, and how long an asphalt driveway lasts covers what each choice buys you in years.
What is the cheapest way to redo a driveway?
The cheapest way to redo an asphalt driveway is the lightest job its condition allows. Each step below costs more than the one before, and each fixes a problem the previous one cannot.
- Crack and pothole repair, $100 to $400 (HomeGuide). Enough when the damage is limited to a few places.
- Sealcoating, $1 to $2 per square foot. It protects a sound surface and restores the color. It adds no structure and fixes no cracks. See what sealcoating costs.
- Overlay, $3 to $7 per square foot. A new wearing surface over a sound base.
- Mill and overlay, $3.25 to $7.75 per square foot. The same, without the added height.
- Tear-out and repave, $8 to $15 per square foot. The only option that repairs the base.
Resurfacing is worth it when the base is sound. HomeGuide puts the saving from an overlay at 20% to 30% against a full replacement, and the tier ranges above put an overlay at less than half the cost of a tear-out. It is poor value on a failed base. If the budget will not stretch to asphalt at all, a gravel surface is the lower-cost route, and our asphalt vs gravel comparison prices both.
Cost to repave a driveway: key numbers
- 1$3 to $7 per sq ft: asphalt overlay, also called resurfacing, over a sound base.
- 2$3.25 to $7.75 per sq ft: mill and overlay, the overlay price plus $0.25 to $0.75 for milling.
- 3$8 to $15 per sq ft: full tear-out and repave, with removal of the old driveway.
- 4$1,200 to $2,800: overlay on a 20 x 20 driveway. A tear-out of the same driveway is $3,200 to $6,000.
- 5About 21%: the share of a low-end overlay quote that is asphalt, at 2026 public bid prices.
Sources and citations
- HomeGuide: Asphalt Driveway Resurfacing Cost (overlay-only rate, milling, repairs, permits; read from the Internet Archive copy of August 7, 2025)
- HomeGuide: How Much Does Paving an Asphalt Driveway Cost? (resurfacing rate, small repairs, minimum charge, seasonal saving; read from the Internet Archive copy of September 20, 2025)
- Bob Vila: How Much Does an Asphalt Driveway Cost? (resurfacing, paving and replacement rates; updated May 29, 2024)
- Fixr: Cost to Seal Asphalt Driveway (resurfacing rate and description, in its sealing vs resurfacing section; updated January 31, 2025)
- This Old House: Driveway Repaving Cost (asphalt totals, resurfacing total, demolition, permits; updated June 5, 2026, Homewyse data)
- NerdWallet: Cost to Repave a Driveway in 2026 (totals, demolition, excavation, permits; average credited to Angi)
- Jet-Black: What Is the Real Cost to Resurface Asphalt Driveway? (contractor resurfacing range; updated April 23, 2026)
- Blacktop Concepts: residential asphalt paving cost calculator (contractor, Minnesota and Wisconsin)
- Federal Highway Administration: Thin Hot Mix Asphalt Overlay checklist, FHWA-HIF-19-030 (July 2019; when a pavement is a candidate for an overlay)
- Hot mix prices per ton: four 2026 public bid tabulations, listed on our asphalt price index
- Asphalt Driveway Cost Calculator (internal tool)
Frequently asked questions
Repaving a 2,000 square foot asphalt driveway costs about $6,000 to $14,000 for an overlay, $6,500 to $15,500 for a mill and overlay, and $16,000 to $30,000 for a full tear-out and repave. Those totals multiply the area by published per-square-foot ranges. A driveway this large usually prices toward the lower end, because the cost of bringing out the crew and equipment is spread over more area.
It depends on the width. A 100 foot driveway that is 10 feet wide covers 1,000 square feet and costs about $3,000 to $7,000 to overlay or $8,000 to $15,000 to tear out and repave. At 12 feet wide it covers 1,200 square feet and costs about $3,600 to $8,400 to overlay or $9,600 to $18,000 to tear out and repave.
A 20 x 20 driveway is 400 square feet. Repaving it with asphalt costs about $1,200 to $2,800 for an overlay, $1,300 to $3,100 for a mill and overlay, and $3,200 to $6,000 for a full tear-out and repave. Some contractors set a minimum charge of $2,000 or more for paving work, so a driveway this small can price near the top of the range.
The cheapest way to redo an asphalt driveway is the lightest job its condition allows. Crack and pothole repair costs about $100 to $400, and sealcoating about $1 to $2 per square foot, but neither adds structure. An overlay at $3 to $7 per square foot is the cheapest way to get a new surface. It only works when the base under the old asphalt is sound.
Yes, when the base is sound. Resurfacing costs about $3 to $7 per square foot against $8 to $15 for a full tear-out, less than half the price. HomeGuide puts the saving more cautiously, at 20% to 30%. It is not worth it over alligator cracking, recurring potholes or standing water. Those point to a failed base, and the old cracks tend to show through the new layer.
Resurfacing means laying a new layer of asphalt over the existing driveway, also called an overlay. Repaving is used more loosely. Some contractors and cost guides use it for an overlay, and others use it for removing the old driveway and paving a new one. Ask any contractor quoting a repave whether the price includes removing the old asphalt and repairing the base.
Sometimes. Rules vary by town, and work that touches the sidewalk or the street apron is the most likely to need one. HomeGuide lists $20 to $60 for a resurfacing permit, This Old House lists $50 to $500 for driveway paving, and NerdWallet reports an average of about $250. Check with your local building department before work starts.
