The average U.S. moving company nets 6-10% profit. The best-run companies hit 20%+. That gap — the difference between keeping $80,000 and $200,000 on the same $1 million in revenue — comes down almost entirely to pricing.
Most movers set prices by looking at what competitors charge and going slightly lower. That's not pricing. That's a race to the bottom. Real pricing starts with knowing your actual costs per hour, per truck, per mile — and building rates that cover them with margin to spare.
This guide walks through the math. Every formula, every cost category, every pricing model — with the numbers behind them.
Know Your Costs First (Most Movers Don't)
You can't set profitable rates if you don't know what it costs to run a truck for an hour. Here's where the money goes.
The Big Four Expense Categories
| Expense Category | Annual Cost (Per Truck) | % of Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | Varies by crew size | 30 – 50% |
| Insurance | $23,000+ | 8 – 15% |
| Fuel | $15,000 – $25,000 (local) | 5 – 12% |
| Truck Maintenance | $8,000 – $15,000 (medium duty) | 3 – 8% |
Insurance Breakdown
Insurance is the cost most new movers underestimate. According to Insureon's 2025 data for moving companies:
| Coverage | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| General Liability | $120 | $1,440 |
| Workers' Compensation | $755 | $9,058 |
| Commercial Auto | $876 | $10,512 |
| Business Owner's Policy (BOP) | $183 | $2,196 |
| Total | $1,934 | $23,206+ |
That's $23,206 per year before you move a single box. Workers' comp alone is $9,058 — the highest line item — because moving is classified as high-risk physical labor.
Truck Costs
Maintenance on medium-duty trucks (the 16-26 ft box trucks most movers use) runs $8,000 to $15,000 per year. Fleets under 4 years old spend 40-50% less on maintenance than trucks over 8 years old. Tires alone average $3,687 per truck per year.
Fuel for local operations runs $15,000 – $25,000 per truck annually, depending on your market's geography and gas prices.
The Real Hourly Cost to Run a Crew
Here's the math most movers skip. For a 2-person crew with one truck:
- Labor: 2 movers × $18/hr × 1.42 (benefits/taxes burden) = $51.12/hr
- Insurance: $23,206/year ÷ 2,000 working hours = $11.60/hr
- Fuel: $20,000/year ÷ 2,000 hours = $10.00/hr
- Truck maintenance: $12,000/year ÷ 2,000 hours = $6.00/hr
- Overhead (office, marketing, software): ~$5.00/hr
Total cost: ~$83.72 per hour.
If you're charging $100/hour for a 2-person crew, your gross margin is $16.28/hour — just 16.3%. At $150/hour, it's $66.28/hour — 44.2%. That difference is the gap between a company that barely survives and one that grows.
The Three Pricing Models
1. Hourly Pricing (Standard for Local Moves)
The most common model for moves under 100 miles. You charge per hour for crew plus truck.
Current market rates:
| Crew Size | Hourly Rate Range |
|---|---|
| 2 movers + truck | $100 – $180/hr |
| 3 movers + truck | $125 – $210/hr |
| Each additional mover | +$25 – $50/hr |
Source: FreightWaves, 2025
Set a minimum charge. Industry standard is a 2-4 hour minimum. A 3-hour minimum at $150/hour = $450 minimum charge. This covers fuel, scheduling, travel time, and insurance overhead even on quick jobs. Many companies also add a truck/travel fee ($50 – $150) on top of hourly labor.
Pros: Simple to quote, adjusts to job complexity automatically, easy to explain to customers.
Cons: Revenue capped by hours in a day, customer anxiety about the clock running, disputes about crew efficiency.
2. Flat-Rate Pricing (Best for Large or Complex Moves)
A fixed price based on an in-home or virtual survey of goods. You assess the inventory, calculate labor hours and materials, and quote a total.
Pros: Higher perceived value, encourages crew efficiency (same pay regardless of time), fewer billing disputes, works well for large households and out-of-state jobs.
Cons: Risk of underestimating job scope, requires experienced estimators, harder to train new staff on quoting.
The flat-rate model works best when you have enough historical data to estimate accurately. If you've done 500 local moves, you know that a 3-bedroom apartment with a second-floor walk-up takes 5-6 hours with a 3-person crew. Price accordingly and add a 15-20% margin buffer.
3. Weight-Based Pricing (Required for Interstate)
For interstate moves regulated by FMCSA, pricing is typically based on the weight of goods multiplied by the distance. The truck gets weighed empty, then loaded. The difference is the shipment weight.
FMCSA requires either a binding or non-binding estimate for every interstate shipment. Both must be based on a physical survey — in-person or via video — unless the customer waives it in writing.
Binding estimates: The customer pays exactly what you quoted, regardless of actual weight. You absorb the risk of underestimating.
Non-binding estimates: Final cost is based on actual weight. But at delivery, you cannot collect more than 110% of the estimate. The customer has 30 days after delivery to pay any remaining balance above 110%. This is federal law under 49 CFR 375.405.
What Customers Actually Pay
Knowing the market helps you price competitively without undercutting yourself.
Local Move Averages
| Home Size | Cost Range |
|---|---|
| Studio / 1BR | $200 – $600 |
| 2BR | $700 – $1,400 |
| 2-3BR (full-service) | ~$2,300 average |
Source: This Old House, 2026
Long-Distance Move Averages
| Distance | 1-2 BR | 3-4 BR |
|---|---|---|
| 100-250 miles | $600 – $2,400 | $1,300 – $4,000 |
| 500-1,000 miles | $1,650 – $6,150 | $2,350 – $7,750 |
| 1,000+ miles (cross-country) | $3,150 – $13,650 | $3,850 – $15,250 |
Source: This Old House, 2026
If your pricing falls significantly below these ranges, you're likely undercharging. If you're above them, you need to justify the premium with service quality, speed, or specialty capabilities.
Seasonal Pricing: The 20-30% Swing
Moving demand isn't constant. About 60-70% of all moves happen between May and September, creating a massive pricing opportunity most movers don't fully capture.
The mistake most movers make: keeping the same rates year-round. You're leaving 20-30% of peak-season revenue on the table while struggling to cover costs in January.
Publish your peak and off-peak rates. Customers understand seasonal pricing — they see it from airlines, hotels, and every other service industry. The movers who charge $150/hour year-round are subsidizing January losses with July profits.
Margin Targets: What to Aim For
Industry benchmarks from IBISWorld and industry analysis:
| Metric | Industry Avg | Target | Top Performers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross profit margin (per job) | 25% | 40%+ | 45%+ |
| Net profit margin | 6 – 10% | 10 – 15% | 20%+ |
| Labor as % of revenue | 45 – 50% | 30 – 40% | <30% |
| Marketing as % of revenue | Varies | ~9.6% (SBA) | Depends on growth stage |
If your net margin is below 10%, the problem is almost always one of three things: pricing too low, labor costs too high, or too many unprofitable small jobs that eat scheduling capacity.
The Pricing Mistakes That Kill Margins
Mistake 1: Pricing Based on Competitors
Checking competitor rates is market research, not a pricing strategy. If your competitor charges $120/hour and their trucks are older, their insurance is cheaper, and they skip workers' comp — matching their price means you're losing money on every job.
Price based on your costs plus your target margin. If the market won't support that number, the answer isn't to lower your price — it's to lower your costs or differentiate your service.
Mistake 2: No Minimum Charge
A 1-hour job and a 6-hour job cost you the same in scheduling, dispatch, travel, and truck wear. Without a minimum charge, small jobs destroy your per-hour profitability. Set a 3-4 hour minimum. Customers who only need 90 minutes of labor will pay for 3 hours — which barely covers your fixed costs for deploying a crew.
Mistake 3: Not Charging for Extras
Stairs, long carries, piano moves, packing materials, storage, and assembly/disassembly all have real costs. If you don't charge for them separately, they eat into your margin. FMCSA regulations actually require you to document and charge for extra services on interstate moves that weren't part of the original estimate.
Mistake 4: Same Price Year-Round
If you charge $140/hour in July and $140/hour in January, you're underpricing peak season and potentially overpricing slow season. Dynamic pricing isn't gouging — it's matching supply and demand. Your crew works harder in July (longer hours, more physical strain, more jobs). The pricing should reflect that.
Mistake 5: Quoting Without Surveying
Blind quotes over the phone lead to underestimates, which lead to price disputes on moving day, which lead to 1-star reviews. FMCSA requires physical surveys (in-person or video) for interstate moves, and the same principle applies to local moves. See the inventory before you quote the price.
Building Your Rate Card
A rate card removes ambiguity from your pricing. Publish it on your website and hand it to every customer at the estimate stage.
What to include:
- Hourly rates by crew size (2-person, 3-person, 4-person)
- Minimum charge (hours × rate)
- Travel/truck fee (if applicable)
- Stair carry surcharge (per flight)
- Long carry surcharge (75+ feet from truck to door)
- Piano/safe/specialty item surcharge
- Packing materials (boxes, tape, wrap — itemized)
- Storage rates (if you offer it)
- Peak season dates and rates
- Payment terms and accepted methods
Transparent pricing builds trust. The movers who hide their rates until moving day are the ones who get BBB complaints about "bait and switch." Show your prices upfront and you'll attract customers who are willing to pay for quality — not the ones shopping purely on price.
The Revenue Math: What's Possible
Here's what a single 2-person crew can generate:
- Billable hours per day: 6-8 hours (accounting for travel, breaks, load/unload)
- Working days per year: ~250
- Average hourly rate: $140/hour
- Average utilization: 70% (not every day is fully booked)
Annual revenue per crew: 250 × 7 × $140 × 0.70 = ~$171,500
With a 3-truck operation, each running a crew, that's roughly $515,000 in annual revenue. At a 15% net margin, the owner takes home $77,000. At 20%, it's $103,000. Scale to 5 trucks and those numbers nearly double.
The companies that hit these targets do three things consistently: they price based on costs (not competitors), they capture peak-season premiums, and they minimize unprofitable small jobs.
The Bottom Line
Pricing isn't a spreadsheet exercise you do once. It's an ongoing process of tracking costs, adjusting rates, and measuring margins on every job. Most movers land at 6-10% because they set prices and forget them.
The movers earning 15-20% net margins:
- Know their exact hourly cost to deploy a crew
- Set minimum charges that cover fixed costs
- Adjust rates seasonally
- Charge separately for extras
- Survey every job before quoting
- Review margins monthly and adjust
Start with the math in this guide. Calculate your real costs. Set rates that cover them with margin. Then track whether you're hitting your targets — and adjust when you're not.
Need to track job profitability and crew costs? MoverGrid gives you real-time visibility into revenue per job, crew utilization, and margin by service type — so you can price with confidence.