2026 LA Outbound Moving Cost Index
Full-service mover cost ranges for 21 routes out of Los Angeles, one-way truck rental and container pricing for 9, and route distances — compiled from published carrier tariffs, rate tables, and rental pricing. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.
Table 1 — Full-service movers, by route
Published range for professional full-service moves; low end reflects studio/small 1-bedroom loads, high end large households. Sorted by distance where the underlying sources state one.
| Route | Distance | Full-service range |
|---|---|---|
| LA → San Diego | ≈120 mi | $800 – $1,200 |
| LA → Phoenix | ≈380 mi | $1,350 – $8,300 |
| LA → San Francisco | ≈382 mi | $945 – $8,650 |
| LA → Salt Lake City | ≈700 mi | $1,500 – $4,000 |
| LA → Boise | ≈841 mi | $2,130 – $9,500 |
| LA → Portland | ≈964 mi | $2,290 – $6,530 |
| LA → Seattle | ≈1,140 mi | $2,500 – $6,000 |
| LA → Dallas | ≈1,450 mi | $1,170 – $8,600 |
| LA → Houston | ≈1,548 mi | $2,650 – $11,700 |
| LA → Nashville | ≈2,000 mi | $3,000 – $8,000 |
| LA → Charlotte | ≈2,419 mi | $3,100 – $14,000 |
| LA → Raleigh | ≈2,480 mi | $3,290 – $9,400 |
| LA → Orlando | ≈2,500 mi | $3,000 – $10,270 |
| LA → Tampa | ≈2,526 mi | $1,600 – $14,900 |
| LA → New York | ≈2,800 mi | $3,000 – $18,000 |
| LA → Boston | ≈2,984 mi | $3,220 – $15,900 |
| LA → Chicago | — | $3,460 – $9,890 |
| LA → Denver | — | $1,920 – $5,480 |
| LA → Las Vegas | — | $1,500 – $8,000 |
| LA → Miami | — | $2,500 – $5,000 |
| LA → San Antonio | — | $2,730 – $10,600 |
Table 2 — DIY options: one-way truck rental & moving containers
Routes where sources publish both a one-way truck rental range and (for most) a moving-container range. Truck rental excludes fuel — budget roughly 10–12 mpg loaded.
| Route | One-way truck rental | Moving container |
|---|---|---|
| LA → Phoenix | $430 – $940 | $1,120 – $2,590 |
| LA → San Francisco | $450 – $980 | $1,470 – $2,600 |
| LA → Boise | $700 – $1,530 | $1,400 – $3,380 |
| LA → San Antonio | $990 – $2,400 | $1,690 – $4,110 |
| LA → Houston | $1,090 – $2,550 | $1,790 – $6,330 |
| LA → Dallas | $1,090 – $2,980 | — |
| LA → Charlotte | $1,700 – $4,690 | $2,190 – $8,230 |
| LA → Tampa | $1,760 – $4,960 | $1,560 – $7,940 |
| LA → Boston | $2,010 – $5,880 | $2,420 – $8,900 |
The tax angle: five destination states in this index — Washington, Nevada, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida — charge no state income tax, against California's top marginal rate of 13.3%. Arizona tops out at 4.5%, and North Carolina's flat rate is 3.99% in 2026 (scheduled to fall to 3.14% by 2030). For higher earners, the tax delta can repay the entire cost of the move in the first year.
Transit windows are wide: door-to-door delivery on professional long-haul moves ranges from 2–7 days (LA → Boise) to 7–20+ days (LA → Tampa, LA → Charlotte). Movers quote windows, not dates — plan an air mattress buffer.
Methodology & honest exclusions
Ranges are compiled from published carrier tariffs, mover rate tables, one-way rental pricing, and moving-container quotes collected in July 2026 for each route's research file. Low ends generally reflect studio/1-bedroom loads; high ends large households. We publish a range only when sources state one for that specific route — cells with "—" mean the sources for that route did not publish a usable figure, and three routes in our coverage set (Atlanta, Austin, Sacramento) are excluded from Table 1 entirely for that reason rather than padded with estimates. Car shipping appeared in only one route's sources (LA → Dallas: $1,420 – $1,960) and is noted here rather than tabled.
This dataset is licensed CC BY 4.0 — cite "Move Cost Atlas" with a link. Per-route detail, including destination rents and arrival rules, lives on each linked route page.
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