When the time comes for you to move out (again), the very first question you’re going to have to answer is whether you need to hire movers.
There’s no such thing as free moving services, so you know that using a professional moving company will cost you. It should come as no surprise that the real question will be just HOW MUCH movers will charge you for the job.
As you can easily guess, it’s very advantageous to know the moving price in advance. Not only will you be able to set your moving budget properly but you’ll also determine whether hiring a moving company is the more cost-efficient option in your particular case.
As a bonus, you will be more or less mentally ready for the moment when your mover quotes you the price you’re going to have to pay in the end. This way, there won’t be any last-minute unpleasant surprises when the moving company you work with delivers your items to the new address.
Moving companies can be rather expensive in some cases, especially when the destination place is located thousands of miles away.
But just how expensive are movers?
What can you expect price-wise when you hire a top-rated moving company in your area?
Take a closer look at the average movers costs below to get a good idea about how expensive moving companies are in reality.
How expensive are movers when moving locally?
Even when you’re moving locally – staying within a radius of 50 miles and never leaving the state of origin, you may still need to use professional moving services for a number of reasons: not enough time to get ready on your own, lack of any friends willing to help you pack and move, or moving a bunch of specialty items that require professional care to survive the relocation unscathed.
And so, how expensive are local movers?
What you must know about local moving companies is that they charge by the hour. This is an important piece of information because the longer the movers work to complete your move, the more money you will owe them in the end. All of a sudden, the TIME factor becomes both critical and decisive.
The average cost of local movers is approximately $80 per hour per mover, or around $160 per hour for 2 men and a truck.
Thus, local movers rates will depend on various factors such as the town or city you’re moving away from and the time of the year. However, the main price-forming factor when moving locally is the size of your home. Why?
The answer is too obvious: the more things there are in a home, the more time the pros will need to pack up and load those household items. And as you already know, more time spent on a residential move equals more money when it comes to using the services of a local moving company.
Therefore, it’s easy to assume that local movers will charge you less when you’re moving out of a studio apartment than if you were moving out of a 3-bedroom home.
To make things clearer for you, let’s break down the average moving cost by home size when hiring local movers:
| Home Size | Number of movers | Hours spent on the move | Average Cost of Local Movers |
| Studio | 2 | 3 | $480 |
| 1-bedroom | 2 | 4 | $640 |
| 2-bedroom | 3 | 6 | $1,440 |
| 3-bedroom | 4 | 7 | $2,240 |
| 4-bedroom | 4 | 9 | $2,880 |
Keep in mind that these average costs of local movers do not include any extra charges that are inevitably going to increase the final moving price.
- Additional mover. If you wish to hire an extra local mover with the idea of having the pros complete the house move faster, then you should expect to be charged $80 per hour more for the additional helping hand.
- Travel fee. Some local moving companies charge a travel fee. A travel fee is an extra charge for the time your movers will spend on the road from their office to your location. Typically, the travel fee is equal to one hour of labor according to the current tariff of the local movers you’re hiring.
- Packing supplies. Bear in mind that you may be charged extra for the packing materials that the movers use to protect your household items. The average cost of the packing materials used in a house move can vary greatly – anywhere from around $100 to $500 depending on the number and type of things inside the home. Don’t forget to ask your local moving company in advance about the price of the packing supplies.
See also: What do local movers cost?
How expensive are movers when moving long distance?
Naturally, when moving long distance, professional moving services become more expensive because of the greater distance and the more complicated logistics.
What you need to understand is that, unlike local movers, interstate moving companies charge a flat fee calculated on the basis of several essential factors such as the distance between the two homes, the total weight of the shipment, any additional services, the overall complexity of the house move, and the time of the year and exact move-out date.
In other words, long-distance movers charge on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific relocation parameters.
And so, how expensive are long-distance movers?
The average cost of long-distance movers ranges from $2,567 – $5,801 (2-bedroom) and $3,570 – $6,163 (3-bedroom) for a move distance of 1,000 miles.
However, to answer this important question satisfactorily, we have to give you the average cost of long-distance movers for 250 miles, 500 miles, 1,000 miles, and 2,000 miles respectively for each home size.
Are you ready to learn some average moving costs?
How expensive are movers when moving 250 miles?
Take a closer look at the table below to find out the average cost of interstate movers when you’re moving to a place that’s located roughly 250 miles away.
| Home Size | Distance | Average Cost of Long-Distance Movers |
| 1-bedroom | 250 miles | $1,210 – $3,013 |
| 2-bedroom | 250 miles | $1,556 – $4,225 |
| 3-bedroom | 250 miles | $1,880 – $4,505 |
| 4-bedroom | 250 miles | $2,100 – $5,066 |
These average moving costs are just approximate values that do not include any extra moving services such as packing and furniture disassembly.
How expensive are movers when moving 500 miles?
See the table below to learn about the average cost of state-to-state movers when you’re moving to a new place located approximately 500 miles away.
| Home Size | Distance | Average Cost of Long-Distance Movers |
| 1-bedroom | 500 miles | $1,598 – $3,213 |
| 2-bedroom | 500 miles | $2,083 – $4,352 |
| 3-bedroom | 500 miles | $3,250 – $5,375 |
| 4-bedroom | 500 miles | $3,788 – $6,783 |
These average moving costs are just approximate values that exclude any add-on moving services such as packing and temporary storage.
How expensive are movers when moving 1,000 miles?
See the table below to get a good idea about the average cost of cross-country movers when you’re moving to a new home that’s located about 1,000 miles away from your current place.
| Home Size | Distance | Average Cost of Long-Distance Movers |
| 1-bedroom | 1,000 miles | $2,363 – $4,930 |
| 2-bedroom | 1,000 miles | $2,567 – $5,801 |
| 3-bedroom | 1,000 miles | $3,570 – $6,163 |
| 4-bedroom | 1,000 miles | $4,208 – $6,885 |
These average moving costs are just approximate values that do not include additional moving services such as packing, furniture disassembly, and temporary storage.
How expensive are movers when moving 2,000 miles?
Check the table below to get familiar with the average cost of out-of-state movers when you’re moving to a new place located about 2,000 miles away from where you are.
| Home Size | Distance | Average Cost of Long-Distance Movers |
| 1-bedroom | 2,000 miles | $2,576 – $4,998 |
| 2-bedroom | 2,000 miles | $3,460 – $6,146 |
| 3-bedroom | 2,000 miles | $4,693 – $7,523 |
| 4-bedroom | 2,000 miles | $6,481 – $10,625 |
These average moving costs are just average values that do not include additional moving services such as packing, furniture disassembly, temporary storage, etc.
Read also: How much do cross-country movers cost?
And now that you’ve seen the average prices of local moving companies, what do you think: are movers expensive?
Note that the cost of moving services can be quite relative to whoever is about to use them. In this line of thought, the real question is this: are moving companies expensive for you?
Use our free Moving Cost Calculator to learn the price of your upcoming house move.
