The structure of the estimate
Interstate household goods carriers price transported weight over distance, then add service at each end. Our model follows that structure:
- Line haul — assumed shipment weight × distance × a rate per 1,000 lbs per mile that falls as distance rises.
- Origin and destination service — crew time for loading, unloading, protection, and basic assembly, weighted by local labor cost.
- Transport and fuel — equipment, fuel surcharge, and en-route handling.
- Optional services — packing, storage in transit, specialty handling.
- Seasonality — applied only when a move month is chosen.
Distance
We do not license a road-network dataset, so we do not publish road distance as a sourced fact. Distances shown as "est." are computed from city-center coordinates using the great-circle distance and a circuity factor (distance-v1.0) that reflects how much longer real interstate driving routes are than straight lines: 1.28× under 100 miles, tapering to 1.14× above 1,500 miles. Values are rounded to the nearest 5 miles.
Line-haul rate bands
Rate per 1,000 lbs per mile, applied to the whole distance:
- Under 150 miles: $1.05
- 150–399 miles: $0.74
- 400–799 miles: $0.56
- 800–1,199 miles: $0.48
- 1,200–1,799 miles: $0.43
- 1,800–2,499 miles: $0.38
- 2,500 miles and above: $0.35
A full-service interstate move is floored at a $950 minimum charge, which is what keeps small shipments on short corridors from producing implausibly low numbers.
Home-size shipment assumptions
These are estimating assumptions, not measured national averages, and they are the single largest source of variance between our estimate and a surveyed quote.
- Studio — 1,500–2,600 lbs (210–370 cu ft), 2 movers, 2–4 hours
- 1 Bedroom — 2,400–3,800 lbs (340–540 cu ft), 2–3 movers, 3–5 hours
- 2 Bedroom — 4,200–6,200 lbs (600–890 cu ft), 3 movers, 4–6 hours
- 3 Bedroom — 6,800–9,500 lbs (970–1,360 cu ft), 3–4 movers, 6–8 hours
- 4 Bedroom — 9,500–13,000 lbs (1,360–1,860 cu ft), 4 movers, 7–10 hours
- 5+ Bedroom — 13,000–18,000 lbs (1,860–2,570 cu ft), 4–6 movers, 2 days typical
Market labor index
Each metro carries an internal index describing relative crew cost and access difficulty, where 1.00 is the national baseline. Dense markets with parking restrictions, elevator buildings, and higher wage floors sit above 1.00; lower-density markets sit below. The origin index is weighted at 60% and the destination at 40%, because loading is the more labor-intensive half of a move. This index is our own construct and is not presented as a published statistic.
Seasonality
June, July, and August apply a 12% premium; May and September apply 5%; late December applies 2%. No premium is applied when the move month is unknown, which means an unspecified estimate is closer to an off-peak figure than a peak one.
Optional services
- Full packing: materials and labor scaled to shipment weight.
- Partial packing: roughly 40% of full packing in our model.
- Storage in transit: warehouse handling in and out plus one month of storage.
- Specialty items: crating or additional crew for pianos, safes, and oversized art.
Alternative methods
Moving containers are priced at about 62% of the equivalent full-service figure because you supply loading and unloading labor. Rental trucks are priced at about 38%, covering equipment, mileage, and fuel but not your time. These are model relationships, not vendor price lists; we do not publish named-company pricing.
Why every result is a range
The published range is the modelled midpoint minus 13% to plus 16%. That asymmetry is deliberate: real invoices overrun estimates more often than they undercut them, usually because of access conditions and inventory discovered on move day. A single-figure price would imply precision no estimator can offer before a survey.
Versioning and recalculation
The model version is stamped on every page that shows a price. When rate bands, home-size profiles, or market indices change, the version increments and all affected pages recalculate. Displayed dates reflect real recalculation activity; they are not refreshed on a schedule to appear current. Current version pricing-v1.0, last reviewed 2026-08-01.
What this model does not do
See accuracy and limitations for the specific cases where these estimates should not be relied on, including moves to and from Alaska and Hawaii, local hourly moves under 180 miles, corporate relocations, and shipments with significant specialty or high-value contents.