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Moving industry statistics 2026

How many Americans move, where they go, how big the moving industry is and what the work pays. Official numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, BLS and FMCSA, each with its source and year.

Updated October 24, 2026 · NAICS 484210 (Used Household and Office Goods Moving)

Key numbers

25.6 million
people aged 1 and older moved to a new home within a year.
2023Census, CPS Table A-1 [1]
7.8%
of people moved, the lowest rate since the series began in 1948.
2023Census, CPS Table A-1 [1]
9,436
moving company locations with paid employees.
2023Census, County Business Patterns [2]
$21.97 billion
revenue of moving companies with paid employees.
2022Census Service Annual Survey (FRED) [3]
53.6%
of moving company locations have fewer than 5 employees.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, County Business Patterns (share of all locations) [2]
16.2%
of renters moved within a year, compared with 4.1% of homeowners.
2023Census, CPS Table A-4 [4]

Movers

How many people move

Two Census surveys count movers. The Current Population Survey (CPS) has the long series back to 1948; the American Community Survey (ACS) has a much larger sample and covers every state. They measure differently, so their totals differ. Both are shown, each with its own source.

25,624,000
people aged 1 and older lived in a different home than one year earlier.
2023Census, CPS Table A-1 [1]
7.8%
moved within a year, the lowest rate in the series. The rate was 20.2% in 1948 and 16.1% in 2000.
2023Census, CPS Table A-1 [1]
54%
of movers (13,851,000 people) stayed in the same county.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, CPS Table A-1 (share of all movers) [1]
17.5%
of movers (4,493,000 people) moved to a different state.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, CPS Table A-1 (share of all movers) [1]
16.2%
of people in renter-occupied homes moved, against 4.1% in owner-occupied homes. Renters made up 16,337,000 of the 25,624,000 movers.
2023Census, CPS Table A-4 [4]
39,597,954
people aged 1 and older moved within a year in the ACS, out of 336,636,468.
2024Census, ACS state-to-state migration [5]
11.8%
of people aged 1 and older moved within a year in the ACS.
Calculation2024StrideRank calculation from Census, ACS state-to-state migration (movers divided by population aged 1 and older) [5]
7,157,607
people moved from a different state (margin of error ±75,154).
2024Census, ACS state-to-state migration [5]

Reasons & distance

Why people move and how far

The CPS asks movers for their main reason. Housing comes first by a wide margin, ahead of family and work. Among moves to another county, the largest group covers less than 50 miles; about a quarter cover 500 miles or more.

41.3%
moved for a housing reason, 22.7% for a family reason, 21.0% for a job reason and 15.0% for other reasons.
2023Census, CPS Table A-5 [6]
13.8%
wanted a newer, better or larger home. 12.5% moved for a new job or job transfer, 9.4% for cheaper housing and 6.8% to own a home instead of renting.
2023Census, CPS Table A-5 [6]
40.4%
of moves to another county covered less than 50 miles; 22.7% covered 50 to 199 miles, 12.8% 200 to 499 miles and 24.1% 500 miles or more.
2020–2021Census, CPS Table A-6 [7]

The distance table ends with the 2021 data year; the Census Bureau did not continue it.

States

Where Americans move

Florida and Texas take in the most people from other states. On balance, Texas, Florida and North Carolina gain; California, New York and Illinois lose. Single state-to-state flows have wide margins of error, so read these as rounded.

573,876
people moved to Florida from another state, the most of any state. Texas followed with 556,156, then California (406,873), North Carolina (299,782) and New York (284,868).
Calculation2024StrideRank calculation from Census, ACS state-to-state migration (sum of all origin states per destination (50 states and DC)) [5]
+72,680
people was the net gain of Texas from other states, ahead of Florida (+67,630) and North Carolina (+58,610).
Calculation2024StrideRank calculation from Census, ACS state-to-state migration (moves in minus moves out (50 states and DC)) [5]
−254,332
people was the net loss of California to other states, followed by New York (−130,436) and Illinois (−82,438).
Calculation2024StrideRank calculation from Census, ACS state-to-state migration (moves in minus moves out (50 states and DC)) [5]

The industry

The moving industry in numbers

Moving companies fall under NAICS 484210, used household and office goods moving. Most of them are small: more than half of all locations have fewer than five people on the payroll.

9,436
moving company locations with paid employees, down 3.7% from 9,803 in 2022.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, County Business Patterns; Census, County Business Patterns 2022 (change from 2022) [2][8]
102,745
people worked at moving companies in mid-March, compared with 105,910 a year earlier.
2023Census, County Business Patterns; Census, County Business Patterns 2022 [2][8]
$4.69 billion
in annual payroll at moving companies.
2023Census, County Business Patterns [2]
5,054
of the 9,436 locations (53.6%) had fewer than 5 employees; another 1,536 had 5 to 9.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, County Business Patterns (share of all locations) [2]
$21.97 billion
revenue of moving companies with paid employees, up 12.1% from $19.59 billion in 2021. In 2019 it was $16.49 billion.
Calculation2022StrideRank calculation from Census Service Annual Survey (FRED) (change from 2021) [3]
135,152
active USDOT records list household goods as a cargo type. Companies pick their cargo types themselves, so this is not a count of licensed household goods movers.
CalculationOct 24, 2026StrideRank calculation from FMCSA Company Census File (count of active records with household goods cargo) [9]

Workers & wages

What the work pays

BLS publishes pay by occupation. Hand laborers and material movers are the closest occupation to a moving crew, but most of them work outside moving companies, so this is the occupation, not the moving industry itself.

2,940,300
jobs as hand laborers and freight, stock and material movers.
2025BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook [10]
$40,240
median annual pay for hand laborers and material movers, against $50,980 for all occupations.
May 2025BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook [10][11]
$45,600
payroll per employee at moving companies.
Calculation2023StrideRank calculation from Census, County Business Patterns (annual payroll divided by employees) [2]

Survey data

How customers find a local business

These numbers come from consumer surveys, not from official statistics. They describe local customers in general, including people looking for a mover, and are labeled as surveys.

97%
of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
41%
of consumers “always” read reviews when browsing for businesses.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
71%
is Google’s share as a review source, down from 83% in 2025.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
45%
use ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6% the year before.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
47%
won’t use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or more.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
89%
expect business owners to respond to reviews; 74% only care about reviews written in the last three months.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
54%
are most likely to visit a business’s website after reading positive reviews.
Survey2026BrightLocal survey [12]
76%
of people who searched on a smartphone for something nearby visited a business within a day, and 28% of those searches led to a purchase.
Survey2016Google survey, 2016 [13]

The Google numbers are from 2016, so read them as a direction, not as today’s share.

Cite this page

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Sources

Sources and method

All sources accessed October 24, 2026. Each number above links to its source by number.

How we built this page

Only official or primary sources: federal agencies and the original publisher of a survey.
Numbers StrideRank worked out from a source, such as shares, changes and pay per employee, are labeled “StrideRank calculation”.
Survey results are labeled as surveys, with the publisher and year.

Left out on purpose

Market-size figures from paid research firms, because their methods cannot be checked.
FMCSA complaint and enforcement figures, until we can read them on the agency’s own pages.
A split of household goods carriers into interstate and intrastate, because the field coding is not documented in the dataset.

U.S. Census Bureau, Table A-1. Annual Geographic Mobility Rates, By Type of Movement: 1948-2023 (CPS ASEC)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (U.S. file, establishments with paid employees)
Official datacensus.gov(opens in a new tab)
Employment as of mid-March; establishments with paid employees only.
U.S. Census Bureau via FRED, Total Revenue for Used Household and Office Goods Moving, All Establishments, Employer Firms (REVEF48421ALLEST)
Official datafred.stlouisfed.org(opens in a new tab)
Service Annual Survey; 2022 is the latest value before the Annual Integrated Economic Survey replaced it.
U.S. Census Bureau, Table A-4. Annual Geographic Mobility by Tenure: 1988-2023 (CPS ASEC)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
U.S. Census Bureau, State-to-State Migration Flows: 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (Tables 1 and 2)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
Released January 21, 2026. Single state-to-state flows carry wide margins of error.
U.S. Census Bureau, Table A-5. Annual Reason for Move (Collapsed and Specific Categories): 1999-2023 (CPS ASEC)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
U.S. Census Bureau, Table A-6. Distance of Intercounty Move: 2003-2021 (CPS ASEC)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
The Census Bureau did not continue this table after the 2021 data year.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2022 (U.S. file)
Official datawww2.census.gov(opens in a new tab)
FMCSA via data.transportation.gov, FMCSA Company Census File (dataset az4n-8mr2)
Official datadata.transportation.gov(opens in a new tab)
StrideRank query: active records (status A) that list household goods as a cargo type. Cargo types are self-reported.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Hand Laborers and Material Movers
Official databls.gov(opens in a new tab)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Automotive Body and Glass Repairers
Official databls.gov(opens in a new tab)
Also the source for the median pay of all occupations.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (published February 11, 2026)
Surveybrightlocal.com(opens in a new tab)
Industry survey: representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers via SurveyMonkey.
Google / Think with Google, How Mobile Search Connects Consumers to Stores (Purchased Digital Diary, May 2016)
Surveythinkwithgoogle.com(opens in a new tab)
Survey of 1,000 smartphone users, of them 634 local searchers. Older data, dated 2016.

FAQ

Common questions

Run the free audit

How many Americans move each year?

About 25.6 million people aged 1 and older moved in 2023, according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. That is 7.8% of the population, the lowest rate since the series began in 1948. The larger American Community Survey counted 39,597,954 movers in 2024.

How many moving companies are there in the US?

The Census Bureau counted 9,436 moving company locations with paid employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 484210), with 102,745 employees. 53.6% of those locations had fewer than 5 employees.

How big is the moving industry?

Moving companies with paid employees had $21.97 billion in revenue in 2022, according to the Census Bureau’s Service Annual Survey. Paid market-size reports are not used on this page, because their methods cannot be checked.

Why do people move?

In 2023, 41.3% of movers gave a housing reason, 22.7% a family reason and 21.0% a job reason (Census, CPS Table A-5). The most common single reason was wanting a newer, better or larger home, at 13.8%.

Can I use these statistics?

Yes. Every number links to its original source, so you can check it and cite the agency directly. If this page helped you, a link back to it as the place you found the numbers is appreciated.