A coast-to-coast full-service move can reasonably start around $3,700 for a studio and reach $8,500 or more for a three-bedroom home. The useful number is a range because inventory, dates, traffic, buildings, and included services change the work.
These ranges come from a July 23, 2026 Moveline calculator snapshot for a New York City-to-Los Angeles scenario. The point results were rounded and given room for ordinary planning variation; they are not provider quotes. Use them to compare service models under one route and inventory assumption, then replace the benchmark with written estimates for the actual shipment, addresses, date, access, and services.
Cross-country full-service price ranges by home size
Home size is a starting input, not a substitute for an inventory. A lightly furnished two-bedroom apartment can cost less than a packed one-bedroom with books, gym equipment, and storage. Ask for an actual or virtual survey before relying on the final price.
The underlying calculator results were about $4,100 for a studio, $6,100 for two bedrooms, and $7,700 for three bedrooms. Showing $1 precision would imply certainty that does not exist before the addresses, shipment, date, and services are confirmed.
Choose a service by the work you can safely perform
A rental can have the lowest reservation price and the highest physical demand. A container removes the long drive but still leaves loading and unloading to the household unless labor is hired. Full service moves the most work to the provider, but only the services written into the estimate are included.
Distance sets the scale; the two addresses shape the work
A coast-to-coast route requires thousands of miles of equipment and driver time, fuel, tolls, dispatching, and delivery coordination. The same mileage can still price differently by direction and week because equipment and crews are not evenly available everywhere.
- Traffic and legal loading: Manhattan curb access, Los Angeles traffic, street width, truck restrictions, and local parking rules can change crew time or require a smaller shuttle truck.
- Building policies: elevators, certificates of insurance, loading docks, weekday-only hours, and move reservations can add labor or force a different date.
- Shipment: weight or volume, box count, bulky pieces, fragile items, stairs, and packing determine how much labor and equipment the move needs.
- Timing: exact dates, month-end demand, summer demand, pickup flexibility, and the delivery window affect available capacity.
- Added services: packing, crating, appliance preparation, extra stops, storage, redelivery, valuation, long carries, and shuttles must be priced explicitly.
Build the complete household price, not just the transport price
Add travel for household members, vehicle shipping, pet transport, temporary housing, storage, meals, utility overlap, deposits, cleaning, tips, and an emergency reserve. For a rental, also add fuel, tolls, lodging, parking, hired labor, equipment, and the cost of returning or replacing anything not included.
Use the Moveline moving calculator with your route and home size, then use the moving-company question guide to compare licensing, estimates, protection, and reviews.
Turn the range into a price you can book
- Create one room-by-room inventory with photos and identify items that need packing or special handling.
- Record the exact addresses, stairs, elevators, parking, carry paths, gates, loading hours, and possible truck-size limits.
- Give the same facts and workable dates to at least three registered interstate movers.
- Compare estimate type, shipment basis, services, delivery window, valuation, payment terms, and every possible extra charge.
- Verify the USDOT record and keep the signed estimate, inventory, order for service, and bill of lading together.
