A local move costs $350 to $2,600 for most households in 2026. A studio runs $350-$700, a 1-bedroom $450-$950, a 2-bedroom $700-$1,700, a 3-bedroom $1,200-$2,600, and a 4-bedroom home $1,800-$3,800. Local moves are billed by the hour — typically $90-$320 per hour depending on crew size, with the truck included. The biggest cost drivers are home size, the number of movers, total hours, stairs, and your city's labor rates.
| Home size | Typical crew | Typical hours | Local move cost (all-in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 2 movers | 2-3 hrs | $350-$700 |
| 1-bedroom | 2 movers | 3-4 hrs | $450-$950 |
| 2-bedroom | 2-3 movers | 4-6 hrs | $700-$1,700 |
| 3-bedroom | 3-4 movers | 6-9 hrs | $1,200-$2,600 |
| 4-bedroom | 4-5 movers | 8-12 hrs | $1,800-$3,800 |
These all-in figures include labor, the truck, and a typical travel-time fee, but exclude packing materials and tips. The hourly nature of local moves means a well-packed, ground-floor home lands at the low end while a multi-story, unpacked home lands at the high end.
Estimate your local move. Choose home size, crew, city tier, and whether you've fully packed (packing status meaningfully changes the hours).
Unlike long-distance moves (priced on shipment weight and mileage), local moves are almost always billed by the hour: a per-hour crew rate that includes the truck, multiplied by the time the job takes, plus a travel-time fee and any add-ons. This makes local-move pricing transparent but also sensitive to how organized you are — every extra hour adds the full crew rate.
| Crew size | Hourly rate (truck included) |
|---|---|
| 2 movers | $90-$160/hour |
| 3 movers | $130-$240/hour |
| 4 movers | $170-$320/hour |
| 5 movers | $210-$400/hour |
Moving locally yourself with a rented truck is the lowest-cost approach. Typical 2026 local DIY costs:
| Item | Studio/1-BR | 2-3 BR |
|---|---|---|
| Local truck rental (1 day) | $30-$90 base + mileage | $50-$130 base + mileage |
| Mileage charge | $0.79-$1.19/mile | $0.79-$1.19/mile |
| Fuel | $30-$60 | $50-$100 |
| Furniture pads, dolly, straps | $25-$60 | $40-$90 |
| Optional labor-only loaders | $150-$350 | $300-$650 |
| DIY total | $130-$560 | $240-$1,000 |
Local truck rentals advertise a low daily base ($19.95-$39.95 is common) but add a per-mile charge of roughly $0.79-$1.19, so a 25-mile round trip adds $20-$30 on top of the base.
The best value for many local moves is renting the truck (or using a portable container) and hiring labor-only loaders at $50-$90 per mover per hour. You skip the moving company's truck markup but still get professional lifting. For a 2-bedroom, two loaders for 4 hours runs about $400-$720 plus your truck rental — often beating a full-service local quote.
| Fee | Typical amount | How to avoid surprise |
|---|---|---|
| Travel-time / trip fee | 1 hour or $75-$150 | Ask if it's included before booking |
| Packing materials | $50-$250 | Buy your own boxes in advance |
| Fuel surcharge | $0-$75 | Confirm it's in the hourly rate |
| Stairs / long-carry fee | $25-$150 | Disclose access up front for an accurate quote |
| Specialty item (piano, safe) | $75-$400 | Flag heavy items when quoting |
| Minimum charge | 2-4 hour minimum | Schedule efficiently to hit close to the minimum |
Priya is moving a fully-packed 2-bedroom apartment about 12 miles across town. One flight of stairs at the old place, elevator at the new one. The company sends 3 movers at $165/hour with a $120 travel fee. The job takes 5 hours.
| Line item | Detail | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | $165/hr × 5 hrs | $825 |
| Travel-time fee | Flat | $120 |
| Packing materials | Bought her own | $0 (DIY) |
| Tip | ~15% labor, split 3 ways | $125 |
| Total | $1,070 |
Because Priya packed everything herself and bought her own boxes, she landed near the middle of the 2-bedroom range. An unpacked home would have pushed the hours — and the bill — 25-30 percent higher.
If your move crosses a state line, it's an interstate move regulated by the FMCSA and priced on weight and mileage — not hourly — even if it's only across a metro that straddles two states (think Kansas City, or the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area). Long in-state moves over roughly 100 miles may also be billed as long-distance. If either applies, see our long-distance and out-of-state cost guides instead.
Local-move pricing tracks each metro's labor rates. Representative 2026 all-in cost for a 2-bedroom local move (a few miles across town, one flight of stairs, fully packed):
| City / market | 2-bedroom local move |
|---|---|
| New York City | $1,100-$2,000 |
| San Francisco / Bay Area | $1,050-$1,900 |
| Boston | $1,000-$1,800 |
| Los Angeles | $900-$1,700 |
| Chicago | $850-$1,600 |
| Dallas / Houston / Atlanta | $750-$1,450 |
| Phoenix / Denver | $800-$1,500 |
| Smaller cities / rural | $650-$1,300 |
New York City sits at the top in part because of building-specific requirements — certificates of insurance, elevator reservations, and long carries from the curb — that add both time and fees on top of the higher base labor rate.
Local movers price by demand, which is highly seasonal and concentrated on certain days. To pay the least:
Build your local-move budget from these line items so nothing surprises you on the day:
A common rule of thumb: take the headline hourly quote, estimate the hours honestly (rounding up), then add 35-45 percent for travel, materials, and tip to approximate the real out-the-door total.
A local move costs $350-$2,600 for most households. A studio runs $350-$700, a 1-bedroom $450-$950, a 2-bedroom $700-$1,700, a 3-bedroom $1,200-$2,600, and a 4-bedroom $1,800-$3,800. Local moves are billed hourly, typically $90-$320/hour by crew size with the truck included.
Generally a move within the same metro area, typically under 50-100 miles, that stays within one state. Local moves are billed by the hour rather than by weight and distance. Anything crossing state lines is an interstate move regulated by the FMCSA and priced on weight and mileage, even over short distances. Long in-state moves over ~100 miles may be billed as long-distance.
DIY with a rented truck is cheaper on paper — about $130-$450 for a 1-3 bedroom home versus $450-$2,600 for movers — but costs your time and labor and risks injury. A common middle path is renting the truck and hiring labor-only loaders at $50-$90 per mover per hour, which saves the company's truck markup.
Common add-ons: a travel-time/trip fee (one extra hour or $75-$150), packing materials sold separately, fuel surcharges in some markets, specialty-item charges for pianos or safes, long-carry fees, stair or elevator fees, and tips. Always ask whether the truck is included and whether a travel-time fee applies.
A studio or 1-bedroom takes 2-4 hours, a 2-bedroom 4-6 hours, a 3-bedroom 6-9 hours, and a 4-bedroom 8-12 hours. The biggest time factors are stairs vs elevator, how well everything is packed, the distance from home to truck, and heavy specialty items. A fully packed home can cut hours off and lower your bill.
The biggest controllable factor is your own preparation. Movers are paid by the hour, so a home that's fully boxed, with furniture pre-disassembled and a clear path to the truck, can finish in two-thirds the time of a disorganized one — directly lowering your bill.
One more planning tip worth repeating: get three written quotes and insist each one spells out the hourly rate, the crew size, the minimum, and whether a travel-time fee and fuel surcharge apply. Local movers vary widely in how they package these line items, and the lowest advertised hourly rate is frequently not the lowest final bill once the extras are added. The calculator above is built to approximate that all-in figure rather than just the headline rate, so use it as your baseline, then ask each company to beat or explain the difference. A little comparison shopping on a local move routinely saves $150-$400 for an hour of phone calls — one of the best returns on time in the entire moving process.