Why use this calculator
Moving quotes are hard to compare because carriers do not price the same way for every job. Under about a hundred miles a move is sold by the hour, and the variables that matter are crew size, stairs and how ready you are on the day.
Beyond that it is priced on the weight of your shipment and the distance it travels, which is why two quotes for the same house can differ by thousands when one has estimated the weight generously. This estimator works from the same weight rules the industry uses, separates transport from packing, storage and cover, then prices the job at three service levels so you can see exactly what you are being paid to do the work yourself. Walking into a quote with a weight figure and a target number changes the conversation entirely.
How to use it
- Choose the size of the home being moved, which sets the estimated shipment weight that long-distance carriers bill against.
- Enter the door-to-door driving distance from a mapping app, remembering that anything up to a hundred miles is treated as a local hourly move.
- Pick the service level you are considering; the table below the results prices all three regardless.
- Set the floor level only if goods must be carried up stairs with no lift, because stair carries are charged either in extra hours or as a flat fee per flight.
- Enter the hourly crew rate from a written quote if you have one, and the current pump price for fuel, which only affects the self-drive options.
- Choose how much packing you want the crew to do, then add any months of storage needed if your settlement dates do not line up.
What each result means
- Estimated total cost
- Everything added together at the service level you chose. Treat it as a midpoint with a range of roughly twenty per cent either side.
- Labour and transport
- Moving the goods themselves, priced hourly for local moves and on weight times distance for long-distance ones.
- Packing labour
- What the crew charges to box your belongings, driven by shipment weight and how much of the house they pack.
- Packing materials
- Cartons, tape, paper, mattress bags and furniture pads. A full pack includes most materials, so this line halves.
- Storage in transit
- Monthly warehouse charges when your dates do not line up, plus the handling that goes with a second load and unload.
- Insurance or valuation cover
- Protection for the shipment. Released value at sixty cents a pound is nearly worthless, so this prices full value protection.
- Estimated shipment weight
- The industry rule of thumb weight for a home this size. Long-distance quotes are built from this number, so check it against yours.
- Cost per pound moved
- Total divided by shipment weight, the cleanest way to compare quotes that bundle different services together.
- Do-it-yourself total
- Rental truck, fuel, tolls, equipment and casual loading help, plus packing, storage and the rental damage waiver.
- Hybrid total
- You rent and drive the truck while paid crews load at one end and unload at the other. Often the best value for a long move.
- Full-service total
- The carrier supplies crew, truck and driver door to door. The most expensive option and the only one that comes with real liability.
The formula
Local moves use transport = hourly rate × (base crew hours + 0.75 per extra floor + travel time) plus a fixed truck fee
Long-distance moves use transport = shipment weight × linehaul rate
Self-drive replaces that with truck rental × days + fuel at the truck's miles per gallon + tolls + equipment + casual loading help. Packing labour is 0.12 dollars per pound for a full pack and 35% of that for fragile-only. Valuation cover is 1.1% of a declared value of 6 dollars per pound, with a 150 dollar floor. Total is transport plus packing, materials, storage and cover.
How this number is used in practice
The single biggest thing people get wrong about moving quotes is valuation cover. Carriers are required to offer released value protection at no extra charge, which pays sixty cents per pound per article. A fifty pound television is worth thirty dollars under that scheme no matter what you paid for it.
Full value protection costs roughly one per cent of the declared value and is the only version that means anything, and most carriers will not let you declare less than about six dollars per pound. That is why this estimator prices cover rather than leaving it out: it is a real and unavoidable few hundred dollars on any move worth insuring.
The second thing is timing. Roughly seventy per cent of US moves happen between May and September, and prices track that demand closely. Moving mid-week and mid-month in autumn or winter can cut a quote by twenty to thirty per cent against a Saturday at the end of June, for exactly the same work.
Binding and binding-not-to-exceed estimates matter here too: a non-binding estimate can legally grow once the truck is weighed, and the difference is usually discovered on the doorstep at the destination when you have very little bargaining power.
Finally, weight is the lever you control. Long-distance cost is almost linear in weight, so every box you do not move is money back. Selling or donating furniture that is cheap to replace, and not shipping books across a continent, routinely takes ten to fifteen per cent off a shipment. Weigh that against what replacement actually costs at the other end before you decide.
Worked examples
2-bedroom home, 500 miles, full service, ground floor, self-packed
$3,428 in total on an estimated 5,500 lb shipment, which is $0.62 per pound.
The same 500-mile move driven yourself in a rental truck
$1,395 including truck, fuel, tolls, equipment and loading help. A saving of $2,033.
Studio moving 30 miles across town from a third-floor walk-up
A local hourly job of $1,148 full service, where the stair carry adds 1.5 crew hours.
4-bedroom home, 2,000 miles, full service with a full pack and two months of storage
$15,579 once the whole-house pack, two months of storage and full value cover are included.
When people use it
- Sanity-checking a removal quote before you sign a binding estimate
- Deciding whether to drive a rental truck across the country yourself
- Budgeting a corporate relocation allowance that has to cover the real bill
- Pricing storage in transit when the sale and the purchase do not settle on the same day
- Working out whether shipping bulky furniture beats replacing it at the other end
Tips
- Get three written estimates and insist they are binding or binding-not-to-exceed. A non-binding estimate can legally rise once the truck is weighed.
- Check any US interstate carrier's licence and complaint history on the FMCSA register before you pay a deposit.
- Released value cover at sixty cents a pound is not insurance. Price full value protection or use your own contents policy.
- Move mid-week and mid-month outside the May to September peak. The same job routinely costs twenty to thirty per cent less.
- Every pound you do not ship is money saved on a long move, so sell or donate anything cheaper to replace than to transport.
- Photograph valuable items and serial numbers before packing, and keep the inventory yourself rather than relying on the crew's list.
- Never pay a large deposit up front. Reputable carriers bill on delivery, and big prepayments are the classic sign of a broker scam.
What it assumes, and where it stops being accurate
- Shipment weights are the standard industry estimates for a home of each size. A heavily furnished home, a workshop or a piano can be far above them.
- Local pricing applies to moves of 100 miles or less and is based on an hourly crew rate. Some markets use a flat rate or a four-hour minimum instead.
- Long-distance pricing uses a simplified linehaul rate per pound that rises with distance. Real tariffs also vary by lane, season and truck availability.
- Specialty items are excluded. Pianos, safes, pool tables, hot tubs, fine art and vehicles are all charged separately and can add thousands.
- Long carries, shuttle trucks where a semi-trailer cannot reach the door, and elevator waits are not priced and are common surcharges.
- Figures are US dollars and US market practice. Australian and UK removalists price by the cubic metre rather than by weight, so use this only as a rough guide there.
Terms used on this page
- Linehaul
- The core transport charge for moving a shipment between two points, based on weight and distance.
- Released value protection
- The free minimum liability a US carrier must offer, paying 60 cents per pound per article.
- Binding estimate
- A quote the carrier cannot exceed for the services listed, unlike a non-binding estimate which can rise after weighing.
- Storage in transit
- Warehousing of your shipment by the carrier between collection and delivery, charged monthly.
- Accessorial charges
- Extras beyond the linehaul. Stairs, long carries, shuttles, bulky items and waiting time.
Questions people ask
- How do movers actually calculate a long-distance price?
- They estimate the weight of your shipment, then apply a linehaul rate per pound that varies with distance and lane. Packing, materials, stairs, long carries, shuttles and storage are added as separate line items. That is why the weight estimate is the number to challenge first when two quotes differ sharply on the same house.
- Is a DIY move really worth the saving?
- It depends on the distance and on what your weekend is worth. On a local move the gap is often small once you add the rental, fuel, per-mile charges and the help you end up hiring anyway. On a long move the gap is usually thousands, but so is the risk: you are driving an unfamiliar truck, and nothing is insured beyond the rental waiver.
- What does full-service moving include?
- Crew, truck, driver, loading, transport and unloading, with furniture disassembly and reassembly usually included. Packing is normally quoted separately and is the line most people cut. Unpacking and debris removal are almost always extra, so check what the estimate actually covers before comparing prices.
- Do I need moving insurance?
- Yes if the shipment is worth insuring. The free option, released value protection, pays sixty cents per pound per item, which is around thirty dollars for a fifty pound television. Full value protection costs roughly one per cent of declared value and covers repair or replacement. Check your contents policy first, since some already cover goods in transit.
- When is the cheapest time to move?
- Mid-week, mid-month, between October and April. Around seventy per cent of moves happen in the northern summer, and demand sets the price. Avoiding the last weekend of the month matters because leases turn over then. Booking four to six weeks ahead also helps, since last-minute jobs are quoted at whatever capacity remains.
- Why is my quote higher than this estimate?
- Usually surcharges rather than the base rate. Long carries where the truck cannot park close, shuttle vehicles for narrow streets, elevator waits, stair flights, bulky item handling and fuel surcharges all sit outside the basic calculation. Ask the estimator to list every accessorial charge on the written estimate before you sign it.
Use this with
Moving Cost Estimator answers one part of the question. These pick up where it stops: Fuel Cost Calculator, Road Trip Planner Calculator, Home Affordability Calculator and Rent vs. Buy Calculator.
Where these figures come from
Figures and rules on this page follow United States federal rules.
- FMCSA: Protect Your Move. US mover licensing, estimates and valuation cover rules
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Price series for moving, freight and truck rental services
- US Census Bureau. Geographic mobility and migration statistics
Moving Cost Estimator produces an estimate for general information. It is not financial, tax, medical, legal or engineering advice. read the full disclaimer. Spotted a wrong number? Report it and it gets fixed. The form picks up this calculator and the inputs you used.