Add up a local or interstate move from the rates on your own estimate. Stairs, long carries and packing stay on their own lines. The total is not a quote.
Your ratesnot a national moving averageWe publish no average moving price, because no such measurement exists. You type the hourly rate or the $/cwt you were quoted.
The short answer
A local move usually costs hours × crew size × the hourly rate, plus access and packing. An interstate move usually costs hundredweight × the quoted $/cwt, plus the same extras.
Example: 5 hours, 3 movers at $50 per person-hour, and $150 for stairs comes to $900. Use the rates on your written estimate. This total is not a quote.
Two frames, then a total
Fill the local lines or the interstate lines. Unused stay at 0. Nothing is emailed.
Your figures, never a quote. Binding / non-binding / not-to-exceed is on the estimate. HyreMover does not move household goods.
Why is there no national average moving cost?
Every other cost page on this subject leads with an average. We do not have one, will not invent one, and can explain precisely why the ones you have read are not measurements.
The structural reason. A moving invoice is assembled from a tariff — the carrier’s own published schedule of rates — and tariffs differ by carrier, by lane, by season and by service.
There is no clearing house that collects them, no federal series that indexes them, and no requirement that anyone publish what was actually paid. An "average cost of a 3-bedroom move" is therefore not a statistic with a denominator. It is somebody’s impression, repeated.
The commercial reason. Most published moving averages sit on pages that earn a fee when you request quotes. A number that is slightly low makes the quote request feel worthwhile; a number that is slightly high makes the eventual bid feel like a win.
Neither incentive points toward accuracy. HyreMover takes no referral fee from any moving company, publishes no mover profiles and does not move household goods, which is why this page can tell you the number does not exist.
What does exist. Your own arithmetic, on rates you were actually quoted. That is what this calculator does: it takes the two frames the trade actually prices in and keeps them apart, so you can compare two bids that were built the same way rather than two numbers that were not.
HyreMover recommendation. Treat any figure you find online as a sanity check on the order of magnitude and nothing more. The only number that predicts your bill is one produced after somebody has seen your loft.
How are local and interstate moves priced?
Mixing them is the most common error in moving-cost arithmetic, and it always produces a number that is too low.
Local — usually hours × crew × rate
Priced by labor. Three movers for five hours at a per-person-hour rate, plus travel time to and from the yard, plus materials, plus anything the tariff calls accessorial.
The exposure is the hour count. A crew that has to carry 200 feet from a parking bay, or up three flights, is not slightly slower — it is materially slower, and it is slower for the entire duration rather than for one trip.
That is why access moves the total more than the rate does.
What to ask. Whether travel time is billed, what the minimum is, whether the rate changes after a certain hour, and what happens if the job overruns. All four are ordinary questions and all four are frequently unasked.
Interstate — usually weight × distance, plus services
Priced by hundredweight: the shipment is weighed, and a rate per hundred pounds is applied against the distance band. Packing, valuation, shuttle, long carry, stair carry, storage-in-transit and bulky-article charges are added.
The exposure is the weight and the extras. The weight is checkable — you may watch it and you may demand a free reweigh — but only if you know that before delivery.
"If your shipment is weighed at origin and you believe that the weight may not be accurate, you have the right to request that the shipment be reweighed before it is unloaded. The mover is not permitted to charge you for the reweighing."
Where volume enters. Some movers quote by cubic feet and charge by weight. Where a mover quotes by volume and charges by weight, 49 CFR 375.401(e) requires the conversion to be explained in writing and requires disclosure that the final charge depends on actual weight, subject to the 110 percent rule.
The calculator keeps the two frames in separate fields deliberately. Unused fields stay at zero rather than quietly contributing.
Access is the line that decides the bill
Access is also the line a telephone quote cannot see, which is exactly why the federal rules make a survey the default.
What access actually means. The distance from where the vehicle can legally and physically park to your front door. The number of stairs, and whether there is a lift and whether it can be reserved.
Whether a full-size trailer can turn into the street at all, or whether the load must be transferred to a smaller vehicle — the shuttle, which is the single most expensive surprise in this trade.
Why the shuttle bites so hard. It doubles the handling: every item is loaded, unloaded and reloaded.
Charges of this kind arrive under "impracticable operations", and there is a ceiling on what may be demanded at the door — Charges for impracticable operations are capped at 15 percent of all other charges due at delivery; anything above that is billed later (49 CFR 375.407(d)).
This matters because "impracticable operations" is the line long-carry, shuttle and stair charges arrive under.
Which is why the survey rule exists. 49 CFR 375.401(a) is unambiguous: "You must conduct a physical survey of the household goods to be transported and provide the prospective individual shipper with a written estimate, based on the physical survey, of the charges for the transportation and all related services."
A shipper may waive the survey, but only by written and signed consent given before the shipment is loaded, a copy of which the mover keeps with the bill of lading.
HyreMover analysis. A survey is often presented as a courtesy the mover extends.
It is closer to the opposite: it is the mechanism that converts your bill from an estimate the mover can revise into a document the mover is bound by.
Waiving it, or accepting a phone quote and never signing a waiver, benefits exactly one party and it is not you.
The five access questions to ask before any figure is discussed. Where will the vehicle park at each end? How far is that from the door? How many stairs, and is there a lift?
Does either address need a parking permit or a bay suspension? And is a shuttle likely at either end? Answer those five and most of the variance in your bill is gone.
Which extra charges appear after the estimate?
None of these is illegitimate. All of them should have been found by a survey. The third column is the one worth reading.
Charge
What it is
What it tells you if it appears late
Long carry
A distance charge where the carry from vehicle to door exceeds a threshold set in the tariff.
That nobody measured the walk. Measurable in advance from a photograph; there is no excuse for discovering it on the day.
Stair carry
A per-flight charge above ground level.
That the survey did not cover both ends. Stairs at destination are the ones forgotten, because the survey happened at origin.
Shuttle
Transfer of the load to a smaller vehicle where the line-haul trailer cannot reach the address.
The most expensive omission available. Ask about it explicitly at both addresses, in writing, before booking.
Bulky article
A surcharge on items that consume disproportionate space or handling — pianos, safes, hot tubs, large marble.
That the inventory was incomplete. These items are not subtle and their absence from the estimate means the survey was cursory.
Storage-in-transit
Warehousing where delivery cannot be accepted on schedule.
Not necessarily anyone’s fault — Appendix A to Part 375 contemplates storage in proximity to the destination where you cannot accept delivery in the spread. Understand who pays, and from when.
Packing materials and labor
Cartons, paper, tape, and the labor to use them.
That you are choosing between cost and liability, not just cost — see the packing section below.
Third-party services
Appliance disconnection, crating, dismantling of gym equipment or beds.
That an item needed a specialist. Legitimate, but it should have been identified at survey and priced then.
Valuation above released value
The charge for full value protection.
Not a surprise charge at all — a choice you should make deliberately. It is the one line here that buys you something.
Accessorial definitions live in the carrier’s tariff. 49 CFR 375.213 gives you notice of the applicable tariff sections and a right of access to them; ask for the section that defines any charge you did not expect.
Binding vs non-binding: the estimate type sets the ceiling
The estimate type is one word on the document and it changes what can be demanded from you at the door.
These ceilings are regulation, not negotiation. They apply to interstate household-goods moves; an in-state move is governed by state rules that may set none of this.49 CFR 375.403, 375.407.
Binding. "An agreement made in advance with your individual shipper. It guarantees the total cost of the move based upon the quantities and services shown on your estimate."
A mover may charge a fee for preparing one, and a mover must keep a copy of each binding estimate for at least one year from the date it was made (49 CFR 375.403(c)).
Non-binding. "What you believe the total cost will be for the move, based upon both the estimated weight or volume of the shipment and the accessorial services requested." It may not be charged for.
And it carries the ceiling that makes it survivable: "Under a non-binding estimate, the mover cannot require you to pay more than 110 percent of the non-binding estimate at the time of delivery."
"Binding not-to-exceed" and "guaranteed price". Part 375 defines two estimate types, binding and non-binding. "Binding not-to-exceed" and "guaranteed price" are commercial products layered on top of a binding estimate — a cap that can move down but not up.
They are not separate regulatory categories, and the protection they give is the protection of the underlying binding estimate. Ask which of the two federal types the document is; that is the question the rules answer.
What happens after loading. Estimates may be amended only before loading and only by mutual agreement. 49 CFR 375.401(i) prohibits amendment after loading — which is precisely when a shipper is least able to argue.
And "Once you load a shipment, failure to execute a new binding estimate signifies you have reaffirmed the original binding estimate." — so on a binding estimate, loading without a new document strengthens your position rather than weakening it.
Additional services discovered mid-job. Where a mover finds additional services are necessary after the bill of lading has been issued, 49 CFR 375.403(a)(8) requires it to notify the shipper and allow one hour to decide, with written agreement before the work is done.
An hour is not long, but it is a rule with a clock in it, and knowing the clock exists is what stops the conversation being "sign this or we stop".
HyreMover recommendation. Ask every bidder for the same estimate type on the same inventory. Two bids of different types are not comparable, and a non-binding bid will nearly always look cheaper than a binding one for reasons that have nothing to do with the cost of doing the work.
Who packs changes both the cost and the liability
Most cost pages treat packing as a line item. It is also the thing that decides whether a damage claim can succeed.
If the carrier packs
The carton and its contents are the carrier’s work. Damage inside a carton the carrier packed is squarely within what the carrier is responsible for.
It costs more, both in materials and in labor, and it consumes a day you might have wanted for something else.
If you pack
You save the labor. You also take on the argument: damage inside a carton you packed and sealed invites the response that the packing was the cause, and that response is often reasonable.
A common middle path is to pack the low-risk, low-value bulk — books, linen, clothing — and have the carrier pack anything fragile, valuable or awkward.
Either way, the inventory is the evidence
"Your mover must prepare an inventory of your shipment. This is usually done at the time the mover loads your shipment. The mover is required to list any damage or unusual wear to any items."
And at delivery: "At the time your shipment is delivered, it is your responsibility to check the items delivered against the items listed on your inventory. If new damage is discovered, make a record of it on the inventory form."
Noting new damage on the inventory form at destination is not a formality. It is the document a claim will be read against.
And valuation sits underneath all of it
Released value is "Under this option, the mover assumes liability for no more than 60 cents per pound, per article." It costs nothing extra, but you get it by waiving full value protection in writing.
It is the reason many claims settle for a fraction of what the item cost. The unit is the article, not the shipment.
A 35 lb television and a 35 lb box of books are settled the same way under released value, which is why the released rate is punishing on dense electronics and close to irrelevant on a mattress.
Neither option is insurance. Both are the carrier’s own liability under its tariff. Insurance is a separate product sold by an insurer, and a mover that calls valuation "insurance" is describing its own liability limit in someone else’s vocabulary.
Declutter before the survey
You pay to transport volume and weight. Reducing them is the only lever that reduces every line at once.
The sequencing point that saves the most money. Declutter before the survey, not after it.
A survey conducted over a full garage produces an inventory and a weight estimate built on a full garage.
Emptying it afterwards may reduce the actual weight, but on a binding estimate you have already agreed the price of the larger shipment.
The rough conversion, and its honest caveat. Household goods are conventionally planned at about 7 lb per cubic foot. HyreMover editorial figure.
Household goods are conventionally converted at roughly 7 lb per cubic foot for planning.
49 CFR 375.401(e) requires a mover using a volume-to-weight conversion to explain its own factor in writing — so ask for theirs rather than assuming ours.
An illustration. A 900 cu ft household planned at that factor is roughly 6,300 lb; removing a fifth of it takes roughly 1,260 lb off the ticket. HyreMover calculation from our own planning factor — not a measurement of your household.
What actually goes. In practice the volume is in four places: the garage, the loft, the wardrobes and the garden. Books are the density problem; furniture is the volume problem; the shed is the one nobody surveys. Work those four before anyone visits.
The honest counterweight. Decluttering has a time cost and an emotional one, and disposal is not free.
If you are moving in nine days with a job and small children, the right answer may well be to move more than you would ideally like and sort it at the other end. This is a lever, not an obligation.
What should a reliable moving quote say?
Read a bid against this list before you read its total. A document that fails most of these is not cheaper — it is less finished.
The estimate type, in the word the rule uses
"Binding" or "non-binding". If the document does not say, you cannot know which ceiling applies, and that is the number that matters at the door.
An itemized inventory, not a room count
The list the price was built from. Without it, "additional items were present" is unanswerable, and it is the most common route to a revised price.
Access described at both addresses
Parking position, carry distance, stairs, lift, permit needs, and an explicit statement about whether a shuttle is anticipated.
The accessorial charges named, with their tariff basis
You are entitled to notice of the applicable tariff sections under 49 CFR 375.213. A charge that cannot be pointed at in a tariff is a charge being made up.
The valuation options set out, with prices
Full value protection and released value, with the released rate stated. If it is described as insurance, ask the question again.
Dates as a spread, described honestly
Long-distance delivery is a window, not a moment. A single promised date on an interstate move is usually a sales device.
Both signatures and a date
49 CFR 375.401(h): Both parties must sign the estimate and the shipper gets a dated copy immediately (49 CFR 375.401(h)).
A price with no inventory behind it
The cheapest-looking bid is normally the one built on the least information. It is not a better price; it is an earlier one.
A total that arrived before anyone saw the property
A survey is the rule, not the exception, and a waiver must be written and signed before loading. A phone number is not a survey.
A deposit demanded in cash, in a large amount, before anything moves
A card leaves a dispute route. Cash leaves nothing. The size and the form together are the signal, not either alone.
How do you compare three moving quotes?
Most people compare totals. Totals are the least comparable thing on the page.
Fix the inventory first. One list, sent to all three. If each mover builds its own inventory you are comparing three different shipments and the exercise is meaningless.
Fix the estimate type. Ask all three for the same type. A non-binding bid and a binding bid on the same goods are not a price comparison; they are a risk comparison wearing a price costume.
Fix the valuation. Price all three at full value protection, or price all three at released value, and say which. The valuation calculator does the released-value arithmetic on your own weights so the comparison is a real one. Valuation is one of the largest genuine differences between bids and it is routinely quoted inconsistently.
Then read the differences, not the total. If one bid is materially lower, find the line that explains it.
Usually it is a missing shuttle, a lower assumed weight, released value where the others quoted full value, or packing excluded where the others included it.
If you cannot find the line, the difference is not a saving — it is a difference you have not identified yet.
And weigh the paperwork. A mover that produced the six required documents promptly and a mover that produced a price are not equivalent bidders, even at the same number.
What this calculator cannot do
Specific blind spots. None of these is fixable by adding a field.
It has no rates. It multiplies numbers you type. If you type a rate nobody offered you, it will produce a confident total for a move nobody will perform.
It cannot see your access. The single biggest driver of the real bill is invisible to any web form. A survey sees it; a calculator cannot.
It cannot weigh your shipment. On an interstate move the weight ticket decides the price, and the weight is determined at a scale, not in a browser.
It does not know your tariff. Accessorial thresholds — how many feet is a long carry, what counts as a flight — are set in each carrier’s tariff and vary. We do not hold them and will not invent representative ones.
It is not a quote and cannot become one. No mover has seen this output, and nobody is bound by it. Only a signed estimate binds anybody.
It does not know whether your move is federal or state. The ceilings quoted on this page are federal, and roughly four in five people who move stay inside one state where different rules apply.
Which figures on this page are federal rules?
110%ceiling on what may be demanded at delivery under a non-binding estimate49 CFR 375.407(a)
15%cap on impracticable-operations charges collectible at delivery49 CFR 375.407(d)
60¢per pound per article under released valueAppendix A to 49 CFR Part 375
1 hourto decide on additional services the mover finds mid-job49 CFR 375.403(a)(8)
How this calculator works
The calculator does not mix the two industries. Kind chooses the frame. Access and packing are added in both cases.
If the local triple (hours, crew, rate) is incomplete, you get a prompt, not a fake $0 job. If interstate cwt or $/cwt is missing, same. Fields you are not using stay at 0 and are ignored by the other frame.
Kind is a label for the arithmetic, not a legal determination. Crossing a state line is the FMCSA household-goods trigger. Mileage alone is not. A 50-mile "long-distance" headline on a moving-company website is a marketing threshold, not the federal definition. Use the local vs long-distance tool if origin and destination sit near a border.
The total is not an estimate type. Binding, non-binding and binding not-to-exceed are sentences on the written estimate under 49 CFR 375 for interstate household goods. This box does not change them.
What each input means
Inputs on this tool, in the order they appear on the form.
Input
What it is actually asking
Kind
Local hourly, or interstate weight frame. Changes which triple is multiplied. Does not decide whether your actual shipment is interstate.
Hours
Clock time for a local crew. Travel time is often billed; ask. 0 on interstate.
Crew
Number of people on the hourly rate. If the quote is one crew rate, put 1 and the crew total in the rate field.
Local $/hour
Quoted per person-hour, or a crew rate typed as $/person with crew = 1. From a written local estimate. 0 until you have one.
cwt
Hundredweight: pounds / 100. From a visual or video survey, not from a phone guess and not from the volume tool’s editorial 150 cu ft/room.
Interstate $/cwt
The dollars-per-hundredweight on the interstate estimate. Your figure. No national $/lb lives in this engine.
Access
Stairs, long carry, elevator, shuttle, parking permit. The homepage already names this as the surprise line. Same name on both frames.
Packing
Labor and materials to pack, or 0 if you pack. Carrier-packed cartons carry different liability treatment from owner-packed ones.
Worked examples
Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.
A local job with a real hourly rate and stairs
Kind local. Hours 5, crew 3, $50 per person-hour, access $150, packing $0. Arithmetic: 5 × 3 × 50 = $750, plus $150 access = $900. That is the default engine test.
Replace $50 with the number on your local estimate. If the crew sits in traffic or you are not packed when they arrive, the hours move and this total moves with them.
An interstate weight frame plus packing
Kind interstate. 80 cwt (8,000 lb), $35 per cwt from a written estimate, $200 access, $600 packing. Line: 80 × 35 = $2,800. Plus $800 access and packing = $3,600. The $/cwt is yours.
If the survey missed the garage, the cwt is wrong and the total is wrong in the same direction. Non-binding means actual weight can still change the transportation line under 49 CFR 375.405; this box will not notice.
The one where a national $/lb misleads
A blog "average" of $1.25 per pound on an 8,000 lb house produces $10,000 and looks like knowledge.
The same house, moved six miles across town, is an hourly job: if it is 8 hours, 3 people, $55/h plus $250 of stairs, the honest typed total is $1,570.
Applying a long-distance pound rate to a local hourly move, or applying a local hourly story to an interstate cwt tariff, is how two quotes for "the same house" stop being comparable. Type the frame you were actually quoted.
If you do not know the frame, stop and use the local vs long-distance tool first.
What changes the result
Hours and crew move a local total linearly. Being packed when an hourly crew arrives is worth real money; that is why the homepage treats readiness as a cost driver. A rate you guessed from a national roundup moves the total just as linearly, and just as falsely.
Access does not scale smoothly with hours or with cwt. A third-floor walk-up and a ground-floor garage load are different jobs at the same mileage. Keep the access line visible at $0 until someone who has seen both ends prices it, rather than hoping it is "in the hourly."
Packing is a product choice, not a rounding error. Full pack on interstate work is often a large line. Owner-packed saves the line and changes how damage inside a carton is treated. The checklist is where that decision sits on the calendar.
Estimate type does not change this arithmetic. It changes how firm the number is after the truck is weighed. Do not treat a non-binding total in this box as a cap.
Local considerations
Local moving is typically regulated by the state, not by FMCSA household-goods rules. Hourly rates, whether a written estimate is required, and what a "local" license looks like all vary. We do not ship a 50-state rate table. Your quoted hourly rate and your state regulator are the local data.
Interstate household-goods moves are federal. The survey, the written estimate, the booklet and the valuation election are 49 CFR Part 375. A long in-state haul can still be a state-law job. Neighboring towns on opposite banks of a river can be federal. Confirm the state line, then type the matching frame.
When not to use this
Do not use this as a quote, a budget for a lender, or proof that a low phone number is honest. It cannot see inventory, access, season or a broker who has not named the carrier.
Do not use it to pick between local and interstate. Mileage is not the federal definition. Use local vs long-distance.
Do not type a $/lb or $/cwt you found in a roundup of "average moving costs." If you cannot name who priced it, on what inventory, for which route, leave the rate at 0.
This is not a junk-removal or dumpster estimator. HyreMover matches moving companies. We do not price trash.
HyreMover does not move household goods. Matching is still being built. The inquiry form is not a booking.
Related on this site
What a move costsVolume, distance, access, packing, specialty, date, valuation, storage.
It depends on your own quote. Local moves are usually hours × crew × a quoted rate. Interstate moves are usually hundredweight × a quoted $/cwt. Access and packing are added to both. Volume, access, date and valuation move the number too far for a national average to be useful.
Why will you not give me a dollars-per-pound?
Because we do not have a sourced national tariff, and a blog’s average $/lb pretends access, packing, season and stairs are in the pound. They are not. Type the rate from a written estimate. Leave it at 0 until you have one.
What is hundredweight (cwt)?
One hundred pounds. An 8,000 lb shipment is 80 cwt. Interstate household-goods estimates are commonly framed this way. Convert pounds to cwt by dividing by 100, then type the $/cwt that is on the estimate, not a number from this page.
Is this a quote?
No. It cannot see your stairs, a long carry, a piano, a parking permit, a delivery window or a crew that sits in traffic. It adds the lines you typed. Binding versus non-binding versus not-to-exceed is decided on the document, not here.
What is the difference between binding, non-binding and not-to-exceed?
A binding estimate is a fixed price for the listed inventory and services. A non-binding estimate is an approximation; at delivery you pay at most 110 percent of it, with the rest billed later. Binding not-to-exceed usually means you pay the lower of the estimate or the actual cost. These are interstate rules.
Why is access its own line?
Stairs, elevators, long carries from the truck, narrow streets and parking restrictions are the most common source of charges people did not expect.
Baking them into a "per pound" or "per hour" headline hides them until move day.
Type what the estimate shows for access, or a number you were quoted for stairs and carry, and keep it visible.
Does packing belong in the same total?
Yes, as its own line, because full pack, partial pack and owner-packed are different products with different liability treatment. Owner-packed cartons are cheaper and treated differently if the contents are damaged. Type the packing number from the estimate, or 0 if you are packing yourself.
Is released-value coverage in this total?
No. Basic released-value liability is included on interstate moves at no extra charge and is calculated by weight, not by what the item is worth. Full-value protection costs extra. Neither is insurance in the ordinary sense. Check the estimate and your own homeowners or renters policy for the gap.
Should I use the local frame for a 200-mile move?
Only if it stays inside one state. Crossing a state line is the FMCSA trigger, not a 50-mile marketing rule. A 40-mile hop across a river can be interstate; a 200-mile hop inside Texas is not. Use the local vs long-distance tool if you are unsure, then come back with the right frame.
Does HyreMover move household goods?
No. HyreMover is an information and matching layer. Matching is still being built. The inquiry form is not a dispatch line and not a quote.
Sources and methodology
Figures dated August 26, 2026. Last reviewed .
Protect Your Move (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, retrieved 2026-08-26. Interstate consumer program. Cited for estimates, scams and the requirement to give you the booklet, not as a price table.)
Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move (FMCSA, retrieved 2026-08-26. Required booklet for interstate household-goods moves. Binding and non-binding estimates, valuation, delivery windows and claims.)
49 CFR Part 375, Transportation of Household Goods in Interstate Commerce (eCFR / FMCSA, retrieved 2026-08-26. Physical survey and written estimate (375.401); binding (375.403); non-binding and the 110 percent at-delivery cap (375.405). Applies to interstate household goods, not to an in-state hourly job.)
Company registration lookup (FMCSA SAFER System, retrieved 2026-08-26. Look up a USDOT number. This cost tool does not do that lookup.)
Related
Volume estimatorDeclutter before you type hours or cwt. Volume is the base of the bill.