The honest answer is it depends, and most articles online treat that as a cop-out. Below: the three pricing tiers that actually exist, what each one costs in 2026, and the charges that show up after the quote.
This is for people moving across a state line or further. Local moves price differently and are easier to estimate by the hour.
The three pricing tiers
Long-distance moves come in three pricing models. Pick yours first; the ranges only become useful after.
1. DIY truck rental
You drive. Rent a 16–26 foot truck from U-Haul, Penske, or Budget. You load it, drive it, unload it. Cheapest in dollars, most expensive in time and your back. Pricing is usually a base rental + per-mile + fuel.
For a 3-bedroom household moving cross-country (about 2,400 miles), the pieces are:
| Line item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Truck rental, HireAHelper's 2026 median | $2,949 (U-Haul) to $3,355 (Penske), before fuel |
| Fuel (8–10 mpg in a 26-foot truck) | $1,040–$1,850 |
| The driver's nights and meals, four days | $611 |
| Total, our arithmetic | $4,600–$5,820 |
The fuel row is arithmetic: 2,400 miles at the 8 to 10 mpg U-Haul publishes for its 26-foot gasoline truck and Budget publishes for its 26-foot diesel truck, at the U.S. Energy Information Administration's average prices for the week of October 12, 2026 ($4.331 a gallon for gasoline, $6.179 for diesel). Prices move, so rerun it with today's. The nights row is also arithmetic: four days at about 10 driving hours a day is three nights of lodging at $113 and four days of meals and incidentals at $68, the U.S. General Services Administration's fiscal 2027 standard rates.
The catch: you still need labor at both ends, and that is a separate hourly bill. HireAHelper prints $80 to $120 an hour for a two-mover crew, labor only. The economics get less attractive once you add it.
2. Moving container
A container gets dropped at your house. You load it on your schedule (PODS and 1-800-PACK-RAT include 30 days from delivery; U-Pack includes 3 business days to load), they drive it to your destination, you unload it. Hybrid of DIY and full-service. PODS, U-Pack, and 1-800-PACK-RAT are the main players.
Same 3-bedroom, cross-country:
| Source | Figure |
|---|---|
| HireAHelper's 2026 median, about 2,400 miles | $4,662 |
| MovingPlace, October 2026, 2 to 3 bedroom, 2,000 miles | $4,004 |
| PODS's own sample estimates, 2 to 4 bedroom, 1,695 to 3,050 miles | $3,138–$7,357 |
PODS's samples include one month of rental and leave out insurance and taxes. Loading help at either end is a separate hourly bill, at the $80 to $120 an hour that HireAHelper prints for a two-mover crew.
You skip the driving but keep the schedule flexibility, and in HireAHelper's medians the gap to full service is $4,593.
3. Full-service movers
A van line crew loads, drives, and unloads. Optionally packs. The most expensive tier, and the one where federal rules make the mover liable for your goods: Full Value Protection, which repairs or replaces a damaged item, is the default unless you waive it in writing.
Same 3-bedroom, cross-country:
| Line item | Figure |
|---|---|
| HireAHelper's 2026 median, about 2,400 miles | $9,255 |
| MovingPlace, October 2026, 2 to 3 bedroom, 2,000 miles | $7,955 |
| Packing service (if added) | About $850–$1,100 (HireAHelper, August 2026) |
| Pianos, art and vehicles | Quoted separately, item by item |
| Storage-in-transit (if dates don't align) | Billed by weight and day |
The range is wide here for three reasons: how much stuff you actually have (the biggest factor by far), peak season (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' seasonal factors for moving, storage and freight put July about 6.6% above February), and how the negotiation went.
What actually drives the number
Three variables, in order of impact.
Volume. Pricing is per pound or per cubic foot. Mover guides put a furnished 3-bedroom house at 7,000 to 10,000 pounds, roughly 1,000 to 1,430 cubic feet at the 7 pounds per cubic foot estimators use. No mover or van line publishes a standard volume per bedroom count, which is why bedroom counts are bad proxies for cost: what you own matters more than the house you live in.
Distance. A full-service shipment is priced by its weight and the distance it travels. This Old House's 500 to 600 mile quotes for a 3-bedroom house ran $3,500 to $6,900 full service, against HireAHelper's $9,255 median at 2,400 miles. They are different publishers, so read that as direction, not a ratio. Container pricing follows the lane more than the miles: in PODS's own samples a 1,080-mile move cost more than a 2,790-mile one.
Service tier. Pick wrong and you'll overpay. In HireAHelper's 2026 data for a 3-bedroom move of 2,400 miles, the median container cost $4,662 against $9,255 for full service. The reverse is also true: hiring full-service when you have specialty items (piano, fine art, antiques) is the only tier that protects them.
The hidden numbers
Things that don't show up in the headline quote.
- Long-carry fees. If the truck can't park within ~75 feet of your door, you're billed per 50 feet. Common in city apartments and gated communities. $50–$150 per increment.
- Stair fees. Per flight, per item, or per move. A walkup adds $200–$600 routinely.
- Shuttle fees. When the long-distance truck can't reach your destination (narrow streets, low bridges, residential weight limits), the carrier shuttles your goods to a smaller truck. $400–$900.
- Storage-in-transit. If your move-in date is 10+ days after move-out, your goods sit in a warehouse. The mover's tariff bills it by weight and by day, and hauling the goods out of storage is a separate charge priced by weight and distance.
- Valuation coverage. Full Value Protection, which repairs or replaces a damaged item, is the federal default and costs extra. The $0.60-per-pound option applies only if you waive Full Value in writing: a damaged 50-lb TV worth $1,200 then reimburses you $30. One mover's published 2026 chart prices Full Value on a house-size shipment at $220 to $661.
Ask about each of these in writing before you book.
How to plan defensibly
Three steps that take under 30 minutes total.
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Estimate your cubic feet first, before talking to any mover. Walk room by room with a calculator. Without this number, every quote is opaque, you can't compare service tiers and movers will pad estimates for unmeasured volumes.
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Get three written quotes at the same service tier. FMCSA says to compare written estimates from several movers, and a verbal quote isn't an estimate at all. If one comes in far below the rest, ask what survey it was based on; no regulator publishes how low is too low.
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Read the estimate type. A non-binding estimate bills on actual weight, but at delivery the mover can't require more than 110 percent of it, and bills the rest after 30 days. A binding estimate fixes the price for the quantities and services listed. For a long-distance move, ask for binding first.
A note on the calculator
We built movingcalculator.io because most online moving calculators hand you a single quote from a single mover. That's not a calculator, it's a sales lead form with a calculator stapled on.
Run yours on the calculator without giving anyone your phone number. The cubic-foot number you walk away with is yours, and you can take it to any mover.
It's free, no signup, and we don't sell your data.