The latest complete Census business-size release counts 105,910 employees at 9,803 U.S. used-household-and-office-goods moving establishments. Those locations belonged to 9,083 employer firms and produced $4.71 billion in annual payroll and $20.08 billion in receipts in 2022.
A newer 2023 Census establishment release counts 102,745 employees at 9,436 locations with $4.69 billion in payroll. The measures show a large, mostly small-business industry whose employment is spread across firms of several sizes.
The moving-industry employment snapshot
SUSB is the better source for comparing enterprise size because it connects firms, locations, employment, payroll, and receipts. CBP supplies a newer establishment and employment snapshot but does not provide the same firm-size table.
What the industry classification includes
NAICS 484210 covers establishments primarily engaged in local or long-distance trucking of used household, institutional, or commercial furniture and equipment. A company whose main business is truck rental, self-storage, brokerage, parcel shipping, or another service may be classified elsewhere.
Most firms are small, while employment is more distributed
About 85% of employer firms had fewer than 20 employees, but those firms accounted for about 31% of employment. Firms with 20–99 employees held the largest employment group, about 43%. The industry therefore combines many small local businesses with regional and national organizations.
Payroll and receipts describe scale, not take-home pay or profit
Annual payroll covers wages and salaries paid by the employer businesses in the release. Receipts measure business revenue. Neither figure is industry profit, household moving spending, or the wage of a particular driver, crew member, estimator, dispatcher, warehouse worker, or manager.
Employment is measured for a reference pay period, while payroll and receipts cover the year. Use a wage source designed for a specific occupation and location when comparing career pay.
Keep unlike industry estimates separate
The Better Business Bureau’s 2023 industry report presents a broader market snapshot with 109,062 employees and $21.69 billion in revenue. Its figures come from a different reporting source, reference period, and coverage definition, so they should not be spliced into the Census time series.
When two sources differ, first check the industry code, reference year, coverage of employer and nonemployer businesses, definition of a company or location, and employment reference period.
What the numbers mean for moving customers
The industry contains thousands of providers and locations, but size alone does not establish service quality. A small mover may have strong local access knowledge; a larger carrier may offer a broader network. The customer still needs the exact legal company name, interstate authority when applicable, written estimate, service documents, protection choice, reviews, and claims process.
Use Moveline’s company-verification guide to evaluate a provider. The moving-cost driver guide explains how the individual move is priced.
How to keep the statistics current
Update the business-size section when Census releases a newer six-digit SUSB table, and update the establishment snapshot when new CBP data arrives. Preserve the reference year beside every number so a newer release does not turn a historical statistic into a false live count.
