How much a local move costs in 22 US metro areas

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How much a local move costs in 22 US metro areas

Imagine a move, and you probably picture the big one: a truck packed to the ceiling, a long drive, a new city. It makes for good movies, but it isn’t the move most people make. About 3 in 4 Americans who moved in 2023 stayed within the same state, and only about 1 in 5 crossed state lines, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. The real American move is small and close to home — a couch, a few rooms of furniture, carried a few miles across town, often on short notice.

Summer is the busiest stretch of the year for moving, and August is its single busiest month. To see what that everyday move actually looks like, Lugg drew on its proprietary booking data — hundreds of thousands of completed local moves across 22 U.S. metro areas over the last 12 months — to break down what they cost, how far they went, when people booked them, and what was in the truck.

Key findings

• August is the single busiest moving month of the year — more local moves happen then than in any other month, as summer leases turn over and students head back to school.
• The couch is America’s most-moved item, named in about 1 in 5 moves — ahead of tables, beds, mattresses, and dressers. The trusty pickup truck is the most-booked vehicle in every metro studied.
• The typical local move costs a median of about $145 — a fraction of the four-figure sum a whole-home or long-distance relocation runs.
• New York City is the costliest metro for a local move at about $155; Salt Lake City is the most affordable at about $95 — nearly half as much.
• Most moves are small and short — 96% fit in a van or smaller, and the median trip is about six miles. They’re also getting shorter: The median move fell from about 8.5 miles in 2022 to 6.4 miles in 2026.
• Moving is an afternoon, spur-of-the-moment habit — bookings cluster around 2 p.m., and a large share happen the same day they’re requested.
• Whether a move is a shopping trip or a household shuffle depends on the metro — moves in San Antonio, Houston, and Phoenix are the most likely to be hauling home a new purchase, while New York, D.C., and the Bay Area skew toward moving furniture people already own.

The move most people make is smaller than they expect

Most sticker shock comes from picturing the wrong move. National cost guides describe a four-bedroom house with professional packing and weeks of lead time; the move you’re far more likely to make is a studio’s worth of furniture, a single big-item pickup, or a cross-town apartment hop. The gap is enormous: Lugg’s booking data shows a single-item move averages about $93, a studio around $404, and a full home about $1,346. Where your move falls on that spectrum matters far more than the city you live in.

Most local moves land at the small end, which is why the nationwide median sits near $145. It helps to know the alternative: Traditional moving companies generally bill $105 to $165 an hour for two movers, with minimums that keep even a quick job from being cheap. The short local moves analyzed in this study are priced by actual minutes worked rather than a padded hourly block.

Why moves are getting shorter

The clearest change over the past four years is distance: The median local move has shrunk from about 8.5 miles in 2022 to 6.4 miles in 2026, a trend that holds even when the same kind of job is compared year to year. The housing market explains much of it.

The share of moves that cross state lines has slipped to about 1 in 5, while a 33% jump in rents over five years and tight supply keep people circling within their own metro rather than leaving it. When a move is a few miles instead of a few states, it stops being a months-long project and becomes a same-day errand.

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A closer look, metro by metro

1. New York City — $155

The country’s shortest typical local move, yet its most costly, happens in New York City — in a dense city, you pay for the stairs and the street, not the distance. New Yorkers also move into storage-sized spaces more than anyone, which is no surprise in a city famous for tiny apartments and closets to match. The metro’s movers are among the country’s most reliable tippers.

• Typical move (all sizes): $154
• Median distance: 4.2 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 95% of moves

2. Los Angeles — $135

This is one of only two metros where the table, not the couch, tops the most-moved list — and it’s the quickest in the country to pull the trigger, booking more moves same-day than any other metro. Most Angelenos are moving furniture they already own rather than hauling home new buys.

• Typical move (all sizes): $148
• Median distance: 8.8 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Table
• Tip rate: 95% of moves

3. Washington, D.C. — $130

D.C. is one of the metros least likely to be a shopping trip — Washingtonians overwhelmingly move furniture they already own. They also plan ahead and are among the least likely in the country to book a move same-day.

• Typical move (all sizes): $153
• Median distance: 5.3 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 94% of moves

4. Atlanta — $130

Atlanta is a Friday-mover’s town where the typical job is a mid-length seven-mile hop, and, like most big coastal metros, one where people move existing furniture more often than fresh purchases.

• Typical move (all sizes): $143
• Median distance: 7 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 94% of moves

5. Seattle — $125

Seattleites are among the most generous in the study, tipping movers on nearly every job, with one of the higher rates of donation drop-offs and junk-and-recycling runs. A lot of people here are clearing out as they’re moving in.

• Typical move (all sizes): $150
• Median distance: 5.7 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 96% of moves

6. Miami — $125

This is the only metro in the study where Wednesday is the busiest moving day, and the second (after Los Angeles) where the table outranks the couch as the most-moved item.

• Typical move (all sizes): $137
• Median distance: 6.3 miles
• Busiest day: Wednesday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Table
• Tip rate: 91% of moves

7. Bay Area — $125

This is one of the quickest metros in the country to book, and the one most likely to be a cleanup — it logs the highest rate of junk-and-recycling runs, with a recycling center as its single most common drop-off. Most moves here are existing belongings, not new purchases.

• Typical move (all sizes): $145
• Median distance: 5.3 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 96% of moves

8. Chicago — $125

This is the only metro where Monday is the busiest moving day, and one of the shortest-hop metros in the study, at just over five miles a move.

• Typical move (all sizes): $149
• Median distance: 5.1 miles
• Busiest day: Monday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 94% of moves

9. Sacramento — $120

Moves here peak in August, when leases turn over, and Sacramento State students arrive for the school year.

• Typical move (all sizes): $141
• Median distance: 6.6 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: August
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 95% of moves

10. San Diego — $120

Moves here are a mix of shopping hauls and household moves, at a steady 7.3-mile median — no single moving story dominates here.

• Typical move (all sizes): $139
• Median distance: 7.3 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 94% of moves

11. Denver — $120

Denver is one of the priciest metros once every move size is counted, with a $152 all-in median — a sign Denverites book bigger trucks more often than most.

• Typical move (all sizes): $152
• Median distance: 7.5 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 93% of moves

12. New Haven — $120

New Haven is a Yale town through and through: Moves peak in August with the university’s move-in and the wider student influx, and it’s one of the more shopping-heavy metros, with students furnishing apartments as they arrive.

• Typical move (all sizes): $134
• Median distance: 8.5 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: August
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 91% of moves

13. Austin — $115

Austin is one of the quickest metros to book, and among those most likely to be hauling home a new purchase, a profile that fits a fast-growing city constantly furnishing new places.

• Typical move (all sizes): $132
• Median distance: 8.4 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: June
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 93% of moves

14. Philadelphia — $115

This is the donation capital of the country — more moves end at Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity ReStore here than in any other metro. Philadelphians give away a lot on the way out.

• Typical move (all sizes): $133
• Median distance: 6 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 93% of moves

15. Dallas — $115

There are lots of long hauls and heavy shopping in Dallas, with a 9.4-mile median trip, many of which are hauling home new purchases, as sprawl stretches even a “local” move across town.

• Typical move (all sizes): $134
• Median distance: 9.4 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 92% of moves

16. Las Vegas — $115

This is the only metro where the mattress tops the most-moved list, and it is one of the most shopping-driven metros in the country. It’s also the country’s most reluctant tipper — it’s still common, just less automatic than elsewhere.

• Typical move (all sizes): $147
• Median distance: 8.5 miles
• Busiest day: Friday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Mattress
• Tip rate: 72% of moves

17. Houston — $115

Houston is one of the most shopping-driven metros in the country, with a long 9.6-mile median trip in this sprawling metro.

• Typical move (all sizes): $134
• Median distance: 9.6 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 88% of moves

18. Boston — $115

Boston moves on the academic calendar. Its August peak is the run-up to Sept. 1 — Allston Christmas, the near-universal lease-turnover day when the city’s 150,000-plus students move all at once, and the curbs fill with cast-off furniture for the next tenant to claim. Bostonians lean toward moving furniture they already own, and are among the most likely in the country to book ahead rather than same-day.

• Typical move (all sizes): $131
• Median distance: 5.4 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: August
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 93% of moves

19. Phoenix — $110

This is one of the most affordable metros for a move, and a shopping town through and through. It’s packed with furniture outlets and sprawling weekend markets like Mesa Market Place and the Park ‘n Swap, where the finds rarely fit in a car.

• Typical move (all sizes): $139
• Median distance: 9 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 90% of moves

20. Portland — $110

Portland has the second-shortest median move in the country at 4.6 miles, and its movers are among the most generous tippers. Most Portlanders move their own belongings rather than fresh buys, and the city peaks a little later than most, in July.

• Typical move (all sizes): $130
• Median distance: 4.6 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: July
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 96% of moves

21. San Antonio — $110

It’s the haul-it-home capital of the country — more moves here haul home a new purchase than in any other metro — and they travel the longest median distance in the study at 11.4 miles.

• Typical move (all sizes): $140
• Median distance: 11.4 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 82% of moves

22. Salt Lake City — $95

This is the most affordable metro in the country for a local move at about $95 — far below New York’s median cost. It’s also one of the more shopping-heavy metros.

• Typical move (all sizes): $121
• Median distance: 9 miles
• Busiest day: Saturday
• Peak month: May
• Most-moved item: Couch
• Tip rate: 91% of moves

Why the price changes from city to city

The differences between cities come down to a few familiar factors. Local labor rates are the biggest factor, and they follow regional wages, so higher-wage metros sit higher on the list. Building access matters too — walk-ups, elevators, permit-only loading zones, and traffic all add working minutes, and minutes are what a local move is priced on. Distance matters least: Because most local moves are short, mileage rarely decides the bill. New York makes the point — the country’s shortest typical move, yet its most costly, because the money goes toward the time it takes to carry a couch down five flights and load a truck on a crowded street.

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Where moving is quickest and shortest

Distance swings almost as much as price, and it tracks the shape of each metro. The shortest moves happen where everything is stacked close together: a median of just 4.2 miles in New York, 4.6 in Portland, and just over five miles in Chicago, D.C., and Boston. The longest distances turn up in the spread-out Sun Belt, where “across town” covers real ground — 11.4 miles in San Antonio, 9.6 in Houston, 9.4 in Dallas.

Same-day moves are common everywhere, but most common out West — Los Angeles and the Bay Area lead the country, while planners in Boston and D.C. are the most likely to book ahead. Short, quick, and spur-of-the-moment is simply how a lot of the country moves now.

What it means for your next move

For most people, moving is a smaller, more predictable expense than you might believe — it’s a mid-three-figure afternoon, not a four-figure ordeal, and increasingly one that happens just a few miles away and on short notice. Simply knowing your city’s going rate can turn a vague dread into a number you can plan around, and it makes an out-of-line quote easy to spot.

Methodology

The core figures come from Lugg’s proprietary booking data — a review of more than 250,000 completed local moves across 22 U.S. metro areas in the 12 months ending July 2026. A “local move” is a within-metro move booked through Lugg — whether same-day or scheduled in advance — as opposed to an interstate or long-distance relocation; the median trip runs about six miles. Cost, distance, timing, most-moved-item, and use-case figures — along with the move-size averages ($93 single-item, $404 studio, $1,346 full home), the busiest-month finding, and the year-over-year distance trend — are all drawn from this dataset. Dollar figures are medians unless noted as averages; city rankings use the median for the most-booked move type (a pickup truck with two movers) to keep the comparison consistent, while “typical move” reflects all move sizes. Distance is the median trip between pickup and drop-off, and pickup times are converted to each metro’s local time zone. “Most-moved item” is based on keyword analysis of customer move descriptions, and each move is classified by type (retail delivery, storage, donation, junk-and-recycling) from its origin or destination. Every ranked city is based on a large sample of moves, and year-over-year comparisons use the same January-through-July window in each year (2022–2026). Comparison figures for traditional moving companies come from ConsumerAffairs and ExtraSpace; national mobility and cross-state move figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau and Redfin; the rent increase is from Zillow. These figures describe local moves and do not represent interstate or cross-country relocation costs.

This story was produced by Lugg and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.