An installed paver patio runs $10 to $35 per square foot in 2026. Standard concrete pavers sit in the $12-$30 range, brick paver patios around $20-$26 per Homewyse's May 2026 numbers, and a 20×20 lands at roughly $6,000 to $14,000 all-in. Materials are the smaller half of that — figure 40 to 50 percent — which is why the same patio costs half as much if you build it yourself and why the base, not the paver, is where good installations spend their money.
Two prices matter and they get quoted interchangeably, so pin down which one you're hearing. Materials are what the pavers themselves cost at the supply yard; installed covers excavation, base, sand, laying, compaction, joint sand, and edging:
| Paver type | Material cost | Installed cost |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete pavers | $3-$8 / sq ft | $12-$30 / sq ft |
| Clay brick pavers | $4-$12 / sq ft | $20-$26 / sq ft (Homewyse, May 2026) |
| Natural stone (flagstone, bluestone, travertine) | $10-$30 / sq ft | commonly $30-$50 / sq ft |
| Thin porcelain | $8-$20 / sq ft | premium tier, labor-intensive |
Concrete wins the budget comparison because it's molded, not quarried or kiln-fired clay, and it's sold in the sizes that make layouts efficient. Clay brick holds color permanently — it can't fade, because the color goes all the way through — and stone brings the one-of-a-kind texture nobody has replicated cheaply. Porcelain is the newcomer: gorgeous, stain-proof, and unforgiving to cut without the right blade.
Per-square-foot prices hide the fact that small patios cost more per foot — mobilization, delivery, and edge work don't shrink with the job. Here's the standard concrete-paver math at a $15-$25 installed rate:
| Patio | Area | Installed @ $15-$25/sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft | 100 sq ft | $1,500-$2,500 |
| 12 × 16 ft | 192 sq ft | $2,880-$4,800 |
| 20 × 16 ft | 320 sq ft | $4,800-$8,000 |
| 20 × 20 ft | 400 sq ft | $6,000-$10,000 (market range to $14,000) |
That top figure isn't decoration. Contractor-published examples for a 20×20 regularly quote $6,000 to $14,000 once you include demolition of an existing slab, slope correction, steps, or a soldier-course border. A flat, empty backyard with access for a skid steer sits at the bottom of the range. A side yard behind a fence with a wheelbarrow haul sits near the top.
Every paver size covers a fixed slice of a square foot: face area = length × width ÷ 144. The classic 4×8 covers 0.222 square feet, so 4.5 of them fill a square foot. Count = area × pieces per square foot, plus waste. For a 320 square foot patio (a 20×16), with the standard 10 percent cutting allowance:
| Paver size | Pieces per sq ft | Needed for 320 sq ft (+10%) |
|---|---|---|
| 4 × 8 in | 4.50 | 1,584 |
| 6 × 6 in | 4.00 | 1,408 |
| 6 × 9 in | 2.67 | 939 |
| 8 × 8 in | 2.25 | 792 |
| 12 × 12 in | 1.00 | 352 |
Waste guidance: 5 percent for straight running-bond or stack-bond layouts, 10 percent for 45-degree herringbone or curved borders, since every edge piece gets cut. Pavers ship in bundles, so round up to the next full bundle and the cushion takes care of itself. Buy border and soldier-course pieces in the same order as the field — dye lots vary between production runs, and a mismatched border is the first thing everyone notices.
The industry recipe is 4 to 6 inches of compacted gravel plus 1 inch of bedding sand — more base for driveways, clay soil, or freeze-thaw climates. The tonnage math includes two multipliers worth knowing: crushed gravel runs about 1.4 tons per cubic yard, and loose gravel shrinks roughly 20 percent when compacted, so you order extra to end up with the thickness you planned:
| Patio area | Gravel @ 5 in | Gravel @ 6 in | Polymeric sand |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 2.6 tons | 3.1 tons | 23 lb |
| 320 sq ft | 8.3 tons | 10.0 tons | 72 lb |
| 400 sq ft | 10.4 tons | 12.4 tons | 89 lb |
Polymeric joint sand runs about a pound per 4-5 square feet of patio. Compact the gravel in 2-inch lifts with a plate compactor, not one deep pass — a single pass leaves loose pockets that settle into dips within a couple of seasons, and settled base is the failure mode behind most wavy patios.
With materials at 40-50 percent of the installed price, a capable DIYer with a rental plate compactor saves thousands on a 300-400 square foot patio. What you're signing up for: digging out 7-9 inches of buildup, hauling and compacting ten-plus tons of gravel, screeding sand, laying the field, cutting edges, and setting rigid edge restraints spiked about every 12 inches.
Three details separate a patio that looks new in ten years from one that heaves: slope, base, and edging. The Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute calls for a minimum 2 percent slope (about ¼ inch per foot) away from the house. The base depth has to match the use — 8 to 12 inches under anything vehicular. And edge restraints are not optional; unrestrained pavers creep apart at the edges and the pattern opens up. If you hire the job out, those three items are exactly what to write into the contract.
Paver count, base rock tonnage, polymeric sand, and cost from your patio dimensions and paver size — waste factor included.
Paver Calculator →Plan on $12-$30 per square foot installed for concrete pavers, $20-$26 for clay brick, and more for stone — call it $6,000-$10,000 for a 20×20 in the standard case. Get the paver count before you compare material quotes: the paver calculator converts your patio size and paver dimensions into a piece count with waste, base tonnage, and joint sand included, and the aggregate base calculator sizes the gravel order itself. Weighing pavers against a poured slab instead? The concrete calculator prices that side, and if the project is really a driveway rather than a patio, our driveway paving cost guide compares every surface on durability and price.
A 400 square foot, 20×20 paver patio runs about $6,000-$14,000 installed across the full market range, or roughly $6,000-$10,000 at a typical $15-$25 per square foot for standard concrete pavers. Materials alone run roughly 40-50 percent of the installed price.
A 4×8 inch paver covers 4×8÷144 = 0.222 square feet, so it takes 4.5 per square foot. A 10×10 patio needs 450 pieces plus waste — 495 with the standard 10 percent allowance for diagonal or curved layouts.
Plan on 4-6 inches of compacted gravel plus 1 inch of bedding sand. Per 100 square feet at 5 inches of gravel, that is about 2.6 tons accounting for compaction, and a 400 square foot patio at 5 inches needs about 10.4 tons plus roughly 90 lb of polymeric joint sand.
5 percent for straight running-bond or stack-bond layouts, 10 percent for 45-degree herringbone or curved borders where edge pieces get cut. Pavers come in bundles, so rounding up to the full bundle usually covers the difference.
Yes, with changes: use 8-12 inches of compacted base for vehicular traffic instead of 4-6, and choose 60mm or 80mm concrete pavers rated around 8,000 psi per ICPI guidance. The paver count math is identical — only the base and the paver spec change.