Moving Cost Calculator

Estimate what a local or long-distance move costs before a single mover calls you back. Pick your origin and destination city, choose a home size from studio to 5+ bedrooms, and compare price ranges for three ways of moving: full-service professional movers, a moving container, and freight. Distance is computed from the actual coordinates of your two cities.

Moving from

Moving to

Home size

Move date

Pick both cities from the suggestions so we can use latitude & longitude for distance.

Example costs with professional movers

Ranges from the calculator's own model at three representative distances. Container and freight options usually come in lower because you do the loading; run the calculator above for all three tiers on your exact route.

Home size	Local (25 mi)	Regional (500 mi)	Cross-country (1,500 mi)
Studio	$300.00 – $700.00	$1,450.00 – $2,450.00	$1,925.00 – $3,125.00
1 bedroom	$400.00 – $875.00	$1,975.00 – $3,325.00	$2,600.00 – $4,225.00
2 bedrooms	$675.00 – $1,500.00	$2,450.00 – $4,175.00	$3,250.00 – $5,325.00
3 bedrooms	$950.00 – $2,150.00	$3,250.00 – $5,525.00	$4,325.00 – $7,050.00
4 bedrooms	$1,350.00 – $3,050.00	$4,175.00 – $7,075.00	$5,525.00 – $9,025.00

Planning estimates, not quotes. Sources and assumptions are on the calculator methodology page.

Popular moving routes

Pre-computed estimates for 190 common U.S. routes, each with a full cost table by home size and service type.

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Why use Moving Cost Calculator?

Moving quotes confuse people because the industry prices two different products under one name. Under about 100 miles you are buying labor by the hour: a crew and a truck, where the bill depends on how many hours the job takes. Past that line you are buying freight: your belongings are weighed, the distance is measured, and the price is built from both. This calculator prices each category the way the industry does, which is why a 90-mile move and a 300-mile move can feel so differently priced. The three tiers answer the question people actually have, which is not "what does moving cost" but "what does each way of moving cost me." Professional movers load, drive, and unload. A container company drops a box, you fill it, they drive it. Freight is the same trade at a bigger scale. In this model the container tier runs roughly half the full-service price on long routes, which is the honest price of your own labor. The estimates come from a lookup table calibrated at seven distances between 50 and 3,000 miles, interpolated in between, with home sizes from studio to 5+ bedrooms setting the weight assumptions. That makes the ranges useful for planning and for spotting an inflated quote, and useless as a binding price, which only a mover who has seen your inventory can give. The full method is on our calculator methodology page.

Key benefits

Distance computed from real city coordinates, not a typed-in guess
Three service tiers compared side by side on the same route
Calibrated against distance bands from 50 to 3,000 miles
Local moves under 100 miles priced as a separate category, the way the industry prices them
Dedicated pages for common routes with pre-computed tables by home size

Features

City autocomplete with latitude and longitude behind each suggestion
Six home sizes with weight and crew assumptions from studio to 5+ bedrooms
Professional, container, and freight ranges from one calculation
Example cost table at local, regional, and cross-country distances
Free embeddable version for bloggers and real-estate sites

Popular use cases

Budgeting a cross-country relocation before accepting a job offer
Comparing whether a container beats full-service movers on your route
Sanity-checking a quote that feels high for the distance involved
Planning a local move where the real question is hours, not miles

How to use Moving Cost Calculator

1
Pick both cities
Choose your origin and destination from the autocomplete suggestions so real coordinates are used for the distance.
2
Choose your home size
Studio through 5+ bedrooms. Size sets the weight and crew assumptions behind the estimate.
3
Compare the three tiers
Professional movers load and drive. With a container or freight, you load and they drive, which is why those tiers cost less.
4
Check your route page
Popular corridors have dedicated pages below the calculator with a full cost table for every home size.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to move a 2-bedroom home?

From this calculator's model: roughly $675 to $1,500 for a local move under 50 miles, around $2,800 to $4,800 at 1,000 miles, and about $4,050 to $6,225 for a 2,400-mile coast-to-coast move with professional movers. A container or freight service on the same routes usually comes in lower because you do the loading.

What actually drives the price of a move?

Two things dominate: distance and weight. Local moves are billed by the hour per crew member, so packing readiness matters most. Past roughly 100 miles, pricing switches to weight and distance, which is why the same apartment costs several times more to move between states than across town.

Is a moving container cheaper than full-service movers?

Usually, and the gap grows with distance. In this model a container runs roughly 40 to 60 percent of the full-service price on the same route, because you do all the loading and unloading. You trade money for labor and a few extra days in transit.

How accurate are these estimates?

They are planning ranges from a model calibrated against typical market pricing at seven distance bands, not quotes. Your real price moves with the season, fuel, access at both addresses, and how much you actually own. Use the range to spot an outlier quote, then get two or three binding estimates.

Why is my quoted price higher than the calculator?

Common reasons: peak season (May through September), stairs or long carries at either address, packing services, storage between dates, and bulky items like pianos or safes. None of those are in the base range, and together they can add 20 to 50 percent.

How is the distance calculated?

Straight-line distance from the latitude and longitude of your two cities. Driving routes are longer, but the cost model was calibrated on the same basis, so the estimate stays consistent. Route pages state this explicitly next to the mileage.

When is the cheapest time to move?

Mid-week, mid-month, and outside May through September. Demand peaks around summer weekends and month ends when leases turn over, and crews are discounted when the calendar is empty. Booking four to six weeks ahead beats both last-minute and far-future pricing.

Related guides

Last reviewed: July 2026

Example costs with professional movers

Popular moving routes

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