How Much Does a Concrete Driveway Cost in St. Louis? (2026 Prices)
Revised August 13, 2026
How much does a 20x40 concrete driveway cost?
Concrete driveways in St. Louis run roughly $7 to $12 per square foot installed for a standard broom finish, putting a 400 to 600 square foot two-car drive at about $2,700 to $7,300. Tearing out the old surface adds roughly $1.40 to $6 per square foot, and stamped or exposed aggregate adds $2 to $5. The variable that decides whether it lasts is not the concrete but the base — on our expansive clay soil, a compacted aggregate base is the difference between even settling and cracks in four years.
Keep reading ↓Imagine the driveway at a 1960s house in Crestwood, or Ferguson, or St. Peters. It has been cracking for years and you have been ignoring it, the way everyone does. Then one winter the crack becomes a step you can catch a toe on, a corner starts to sink toward the garage apron, and it stops being cosmetic.
Three contractors come out. The quotes are $4,200, $7,900, and one that just says driveway replacement with a number and no detail at all.
Here is what concrete flatwork actually costs in the St. Louis metro, and why our particular dirt makes the base prep matter more than the concrete.
The short answer
Concrete driveways in St. Louis generally run $7 to $12 per square foot installed for a standard broom-finish slab, with the full local range spanning roughly $6.75 to $20 depending on finish and site conditions.
For a typical two-car driveway of 400 to 600 square feet, expect about $2,700 to $7,300 installed.
If an old driveway has to come out first, demolition and haul-away adds roughly $1.40 to $6 per square foot depending on thickness, whether it is reinforced, and how far the truck has to be from the work.
Decorative finishes carry a premium: stamped patterns and exposed aggregate typically add $2 to $5 per square foot over a broom finish.
Why the base matters more here than the concrete
This is the part that separates a driveway that lasts thirty years from one that cracks in four, and it is largely invisible once the job is done.
Much of the St. Louis region sits on expansive clay soil. Clay holds water, swells when wet, and shrinks when it dries out. Over a St. Louis year — wet spring, dry August, repeated freeze-thaw cycles rather than one steady freeze — that ground moves considerably. A slab poured directly onto undisturbed clay with no compacted base is being asked to bridge soil that will not hold still.
A proper job excavates below the slab, brings in several inches of compacted aggregate base, and compacts it in lifts rather than dumping it and driving over it once. That base is the difference between a driveway that settles evenly and one that cracks along the line where the fill was loose.
When one quote is $3,000 under another, the base is frequently where the money went missing. It is also the one part you cannot inspect afterward, which is why it is worth asking about before rather than after.
What else moves the number
Thickness. Four inches is standard for cars. Six inches is the right answer where a truck, an RV or a dumpster will sit, and at the garage apron where turning loads concentrate. Thickness is a direct materials cost and an easy place for a low bid to hide.
Reinforcement. Wire mesh is the budget option and only works if it is actually lifted into the middle of the slab rather than left on the ground. Rebar on chairs costs more and behaves better. Fiber-reinforced mix helps with surface cracking but is not a substitute for steel.
Concrete strength. Ask what PSI mix is being poured. Exterior flatwork in a freeze-thaw climate should be a properly air-entrained mix — the tiny air bubbles give freezing water somewhere to expand, which is what prevents surface scaling. A cheaper non-air-entrained mix will look identical on day one and start flaking after a couple of winters.
Control joints. Concrete cracks; the only question is whether it cracks where someone decided or where it felt like it. Joints should be cut at sensible spacing, generally within a day of the pour, and to about a quarter of the slab depth. A quote that does not mention jointing is a quote from someone not thinking about cracking.
Drainage and slope. Water has to run away from the house and the garage. On a flat lot that can mean regrading, and on a sloped one it can mean a trench drain. Getting this wrong is expensive to fix later and is a common cause of a wet garage.
Access. If the truck can back to the forms, the pour is fast. If concrete has to be wheeled or pumped — common on narrow city lots or where the drive is behind the house — labor climbs.
Concrete versus asphalt, honestly
Asphalt is cheaper up front, typically by a meaningful margin, and it goes in faster. It also needs sealing every few years and softens in August heat, and its usable life in this climate is generally shorter than concrete’s.
Concrete costs more initially and asks for very little afterward beyond keeping joints sealed and being sensible about de-icing salt. On a house you intend to keep, concrete usually wins on total cost over its life. On a rental or a short hold, asphalt can be the rational choice.
One genuine warning for this region: rock salt and similar chlorides are hard on concrete, especially on a slab less than a year old. Sand for traction on new concrete through its first winter.
What a quote should itemize
- Square footage, and the slab thickness being poured
- Removal and disposal of the existing surface, if any
- Depth of excavation and the base material, with compaction stated
- Reinforcement type — mesh, rebar, or fiber — and how it will be positioned
- Concrete strength and whether the mix is air-entrained
- Control joint layout and when they will be cut
- Finish: broom, exposed aggregate, stamped
- Grading and drainage work
- Permit, where the municipality requires one for a driveway or apron
- Warranty, and specifically what it says about cracking
On that last point: no honest contractor warrants concrete against all cracking, because concrete cracks. What a good warranty covers is failure — settling, heaving, spalling, and cracks beyond a stated width. A contractor who promises no cracks at all is either inexperienced or telling you what you want to hear.
Timing and how to save without cutting the base
Spring and fall are ideal for pouring here. Summer pours can be done but need care, because concrete that cures too fast in high heat is weaker at the surface. Winter pours require blankets and admixtures and are best avoided if you can wait.
The honest ways to save: keep the shape simple, since curves and multiple levels cost more than rectangles; choose broom finish over stamped; do several flatwork projects at once so one mobilization covers a drive, a walk and a patio; and schedule in the shoulder season rather than at peak.
The ways that cost you later: thinner slab, thinner base, skipping reinforcement, or a cheaper non-air-entrained mix. Every one of those is invisible at handover and obvious within three winters.
Repair, resurface, or replace
Replacement is not always the answer, and the three options are genuinely different jobs at genuinely different prices.
Repair makes sense for isolated cracks in a slab that is otherwise flat and sound. Crack filling and sealing is inexpensive and buys years. It does not look invisible, and it does nothing for a slab that is moving.
Mudjacking or polyurethane lifting is the option people most often do not know exists. Where a slab has settled but is not broken up — a driveway panel that dropped an inch at the garage apron, a walk that tipped toward the house — the slab can be lifted back to grade by pumping material underneath it. It typically costs a fraction of replacement and takes a day. On our clay soil, settling without cracking is common, which makes this worth asking about before accepting a tear-out quote.
Resurfacing puts a thin overlay over existing concrete. It works only when the underlying slab is structurally sound and simply looks bad. Over a cracked or moving slab, the overlay will telegraph every one of those cracks within a season or two.
Replacement is the right call when the slab is broken into multiple pieces, when sections have heaved or sunk at different rates, when the surface is scaling and spalling across large areas, or when the drainage is wrong and has to be regraded anyway.
Questions worth asking every bidder
Four questions sort most quotes quickly. How deep is the excavation and what base material goes in. What thickness and what PSI mix. What reinforcement, and how will it be held up off the ground. Where will the control joints go and when will they be cut.
A contractor who answers those crisply has done this work properly before. One who waves them off as details is telling you which parts of the job they intend to move quickly through, and those are precisely the parts that decide whether you are doing this again in six years.
Curing, and the first year
Concrete does not dry, it cures — a chemical reaction that keeps gaining strength for weeks. What happens in the first days sets how the surface performs for decades.
You can usually walk on a new slab after a day or so and drive a car on it after about a week, though a contractor pouring in cool weather may ask for longer. Keep trucks, dumpsters and anything heavy off it for a month.
Ask how the slab will be cured. Concrete that dries too fast at the surface — hot sun, dry wind — ends up with a weaker skin that scales later. Curing compound, plastic sheeting or keeping it damp all address this, and a contractor who has a plan for it is one who has watched a summer pour go wrong before.
Through the first winter, use sand rather than salt. De-icing chlorides are hard on all concrete and hardest on concrete less than a year old, and salt damage looks exactly like poor workmanship a few years later.
Comparing concrete contractors in the St. Louis metro?
Browse concrete contractors across Missouri and Illinois on St Louis Near Me Directory, and ask every one of them about base depth and compaction. Run a concrete company? Listing it is how neighbors find you.
Clay soil is the common thread in a lot of St. Louis home repair — the same ground movement shows up in basement waterproofing. And if you are pricing several trades at once, our breakdowns of roof replacement and electrical work read quotes the same way.
The same road salt that is hard on concrete is hard on your car — see what car detailing costs in St. Louis for the winter-damage side of it.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 20x40 concrete driveway cost?
That is 800 square feet, so at St. Louis rates of roughly $7 to $12 per square foot expect about $5,600 to $9,600 installed for a standard broom finish. Add demolition of the old surface at roughly $1.40 to $6 per square foot, and add $2 to $5 per square foot if you want stamped or exposed aggregate.
How much to pour 1000 sq ft of concrete driveway?
Around $7,000 to $12,000 in this market for a standard four-inch broom-finish slab with proper base. Going to six inches for truck or RV parking, or adding decorative finish, pushes it higher. Removal of an existing 1,000 square foot drive typically adds $1,400 to $6,000 on its own.
Is it cheaper to do a concrete driveway or asphalt?
Asphalt is cheaper to install and faster to complete. Concrete costs more up front but needs far less maintenance and generally lasts longer in this climate. On a house you plan to keep, concrete usually wins over its lifetime; on a short hold or a rental, asphalt can be the sensible call.
What are the downsides of having a concrete driveway?
Higher upfront cost, longer cure before you can drive on it, and repairs that are harder to make invisible than asphalt patching. It is also vulnerable to de-icing salt, particularly in its first winter — use sand for traction on new concrete. And it will develop hairline cracks; control joints decide where.
How much should a 20x20 concrete patio cost?
Four hundred square feet at local rates works out to roughly $2,800 to $4,800 for a broom finish, more with stamping or exposed aggregate. Patios can sometimes be poured slightly thinner than driveways since they carry no vehicle load, but the base preparation matters just as much on our clay soil.
Is it cheaper to pour a concrete patio or use pavers?
Poured concrete is usually cheaper to install than pavers of comparable area. Pavers cost more in labor but are easier to lift and reset if the ground settles — a real consideration on expansive clay. Concrete is lower maintenance; pavers are more repairable. Neither is wrong, they fail differently.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.