Hiring moving companies can cost about a few hundred dollars and many thousands of dollars, based on how far to your destination and the amount of work you are prepared to do yourself.
The quantity of belongings you are moving is also a factor that dictates the cost.
People hire moving companies to save themselves time and effort and to make sure they have their moves managed professionally.
So, what is the cost to hire a moving company?
Below is a detailed explanation of the cost of local and interstate moves and other hidden cost factors to consider when hiring a moving company for the moving job.
Average Moving Costs
The cost of a local move on average is $80 to $100 for each hour for a crew of two movers. The overall cost you will pay to move locally is mostly dependent on the time it takes the movers to load and unload the moving truck, which implies that having more items to move will cost you even more.
A long-distance move is highly expensive. On average, it would cost about $5,000 to move to another state on a distance of over 1,000 miles. The cost of interstate moves can start from a few thousand dollars to almost $10,000, based on the size of your shipment you are moving and the distance you are traveling.
What is the Cost of One Moving Company for a Local Move?
To move locally within 50 miles, your cost should be based on per hour. If your move is being performed by two movers, the cost will be between an average of $80 and $100 per hour. You can prepare for more cost by the hour for a larger crew, but the work timeline will be short, so costs may be even out.
Local move estimates can be determined based on your home’s size:
| Property size | Average weight | Number of hours | Estimated cost |
| One-bedroom home | 3,500 pounds | 3 – 5 hours | $240 – $500 |
| Two-bedroom home | 5,000 pounds | 5 – 7 hours | $400 – $700 |
| Three-bedroom home | 10,000 pounds | 7 – 10 hours | $560 – $1,000 |
| Four-bedroom home | 12,000+ pounds | Over 10 hours | $800 – $2,000 |
How much do Long-Distance Movers Charge for a Move?
When you are planning your budget for a long-distance move, you won’t pay an hourly rate with most movers. Instead, expect your move to be charged based on a flat fee on your origin location, your destination, and the overall weight or volume of your household shipments that you are moving.
Based on the size of your cargo, you can get ready to pay over 100 miles from your current location.
The chart below indicates a few examples of a long-distance move, using an average 3-bedroom home.
| From | To | Miles | Average cost |
| Los Angeles | Phoenix | 365 | $3,753 |
| Springfield, IL | Denver | 811 | $4,760 |
| Trenton, NJ | Houston | 1,367 | $5,930 |
| Sacramento, CA | Raleigh, NC | 2,343 | $7,713 |
Factors that can impact your Overall Cost of Moving
There are a few important factors that affect your overall cost of moving:
- Distance and travel fees: Long distance moving company so much considers the distance between the two homes as the major factor for your cost.
- Your home’s size: Relocating a 5-bedroom house is going to be more expensive than moving to a 1-bedroom apartment. When moving companies provide you a quote, they will ask for the number of bedrooms you are moving as well as the square footage of your household to provide you an estimated moving cost, but they may also need to physically be on-site to provide you the best and most accurate moving quote.
- Location: If you currently reside in an apartment building with so many stairs or no space for parking, an extra fee may be charged to you. Even when you live on a higher floor, the cost can increase. Your area can also impact your moving price. Not all streets in the city are sufficiently wide for parking a moving truck. Some moving companies will add a surcharge if they have to walk a certain distance (usually 75 feet) to the truck from your doorstep.
- Extra stops: Stopping more than once on the move will also cost more, so prepare for extra payment if you are loading or unloading belongings in different locations, like your house and a storage facility.
- Specialty items: Moving companies charge extra to move large, heavy, or bulky belongings, such as pianos, fragile antiques, grandfather clocks, and art.
You will also need to consider the cost of additional insurance for highly valuable belongings. Get ready for some items that your moving company will not move, like pool chemicals, flammables, car batteries, and perishable items. They also suggest that you move sentimental and valuable items, such as heirloom and family photos with you. It is difficult to name the price of those items, so try to make your arrangements to move them.
6 Additional Factors that impact Moving Cost
1. Moving add-ons: The cost of hiring a moving company will be impacted by the number of movers hired (labor costs); services needed, such as packing and unpacking of household belonging; and any extra services provided by the movers, such as felt pads, stretch wrap, and mattress bags. These extra services may be added in the main quote, so be sure to watch out for them.
2. Moving supplies: Remember the moving supplies you will have to buy. You will need to add moving boxes, plastic bins, bubble wrap, packing tape and paper, and any other supplies required for the move into the moving quote. These costs can greatly become high, so ensure you check the moving box calculator on moving.com to determine the exact quantity of supplies you will need.
3. Travel fees: This can quickly sum up for long-distance move in particular. Travel fees should be added by your movers in your moving quote. These cover labor costs for the time it takes to move from one location to another. They also take fuel costs into account. Local moves will possibly have a travel fee of almost one hour’s worth of labor.
4. Liability and valuation coverage: If you hire a moving company, you will possibly need to get some kind of liability coverage. Most movers offer various levels of protection, such as:
5. Basic Released Value Protection: This provides coverage for 60 cents per pound shipment liability. To move locally, this lowest coverage type will be included in your hourly rate.
6. Full-Value Protection: This is a more comprehensive coverage than Basic Released Value Protection. The movers that offer this coverage type are held accountable for any loss or damage and they are to replace the belongings or pay you with the current, depreciated value of the item.
Conclusion
Do you need the best moving company to handle your next move? Go through our list of the best long-distance moving companies to uncover our recommendations for long-distance moves.
