What Counts as a Local Move
Most people booking a mover in this city are making a local move and do not think of it as having a category. It does, and the category decides how you are charged.
A move of under about fifty miles is treated as local and priced by the hour. Beyond that it becomes a long-distance move and is quoted differently, because the cost stops being about how long the crew works and starts being about distance and load size. If you are leaving the state entirely, see our long distance movers page instead.
Inside that fifty-mile radius sit all five boroughs, plus Westchester, Long Island, Rockland and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey. We cover all of it, and the borough pages below go into the specifics of each.
Local Moving Across the Five Boroughs and Beyond
Each area moves differently. The brownstone belt is a stairs-and-parking problem; Manhattan is a service-lift-and-paperwork problem; the outer counties are a distance problem. Pick your area for what actually applies.
Manhattan
Service lifts, strict move windows and the strictest building paperwork in the city. Manhattan movers.
Queens
Everything from walk-ups to lift buildings, and generally the easiest parking in the city. Queens movers.
New Jersey
Local moves across the Garden State and moves from anywhere in the city into New Jersey. The crossing is toll-free westbound.
Jersey City
Waterfront high-rises, downtown brownstones and the Heights. Our most requested New Jersey destination.
Hoboken
Walk-ups, a square mile of contested curb space, and the strictest moving-day parking rules in the state.
Not listed? We cover the whole metropolitan area. Tell us the two addresses and we will price it.
What a Local Move Costs
Two movers from $150 an hour, three movers from $195, truck included either way, and no minimum number of hours. Fuel and tolls are in the rate. Or take a flat fee — a binding estimate agreed before the day, with the access priced in.
As a guide, a studio usually takes two to three hours with two movers and a one-bedroom three to five, so most local apartment moves start from around $300 and $450. A two-bedroom runs four to six hours and often needs a third mover.
Two things move those numbers more than anything else in this city. Stairs add roughly an hour a flight, and a brownstone staircase is slower than the average flight because of the turns. Distance to the truck matters as much: if we cannot park within about twenty feet of the door, add around an hour, and more than fifty feet can add two.
Neither is a surcharge. On an hourly move they are simply time; on a flat fee they are priced into the number and itemised before you agree to it.
Who Is Allowed to Move You in New York
This is worth two minutes of your time before you book anyone, because the rules are not obvious and they are the main protection you have.
Moving inside New York State
An intrastate move — anywhere inside the state, all five boroughs included — requires active New York State DOT authority. Ours is NY DOT #T9942.
Crossing a state line
An interstate move is regulated federally and the mover needs a USDOT number. Ours is USDOT #382368, with interstate operating authority ICC MC-205240. Federal rules also give you binding estimate rights and a formal claims process.
Check before you book
Ask any mover for their numbers and check them. It takes a few minutes on the federal SAFER database and the New York State DOT register, and it is the most effective thing you can do to avoid the moving scams this city is known for.
Ours are NY DOT #T9942, USDOT #382368 and ICC MC-205240. We have been licensed and operating here since 1979. Any mover who will not give you their numbers has told you what you need to know.
How a Local Move Runs
Floor, lift or stairs, and whether a truck can get near the door. That is what makes an estimate accurate, and it is what most people leave out.
Hourly suits a straightforward move in a lift building. A flat fee suits a walk-up, a big load, or any month where the number has to hold. We will tell you which we would pick.
Included in your price, usually the same business day, made out to your building. Send us the managing agent’s details and we deal with them.
We wrap, disassemble what needs it, carry, load, transport, unload and reassemble. Nothing is added at the end that was not in the estimate.
Why New Yorkers Book Us for Local Moves
We have been moving this city since 1979 and have completed more than 220,000 moves. That is not a slogan — it is why the crews already know your building type, your street and what the managing agent is going to ask for.
No minimum number of hours. A one-hour job is billed as a one-hour job, which matters in a city full of studios.
Fuel and tolls are in the rate, not added to the invoice at the end.
Your certificate of insurance is included, usually issued the same business day, against an industry norm of five to seven.
Two ways to pay, and we will tell you which is cheaper for you — including when that is the cheaper of the two for us.
Other Services You Might Need
Apartment moving
Walk-ups, lift buildings and the paperwork that goes with them. Apartment movers in NYC.
Get a Free Quote for Your Local Move
Tell us both addresses and both buildings and we will give you a real number. From $150 an hour for two movers with no minimum, or a flat fee locked before the day. Certificate of insurance included.
