The Best Moving Calculators I’d Recommend

The average person moves 11.7 times in their lifetime. So I guess that means they move 11 times, with one failed move and return-back-to-mom-and-dad’s. 

That means the average person has almost 12 opportunities to get things right. In my experience, “getting things right” starts with using a moving calculator to figure out just how much moving will cost. 

Why use a moving calculator? 

There are a ton of reasons:

1. Firstly, many people move for the first time when they go away to college, and if you are moving as a student, you are on a tight budget, but you also get access to a lot of discounts if you know where to look.
2. Secondly, after college, most people move for work. In some cases, your job might reimburse you some of the moving costs, so you need to know approximately how much it’s going to cost if you box everything up yourself versus hiring a professional mover (and which one falls under the compensation your job is giving).
3. Thirdly, you might be deciding whether moving back to your hometown to take care of Mom and Dad is cheaper than having them move out to you, and depending on the sizes of your respective homes, a moving calculator can help you make that decision.

While there are a lot of options out there, not all of them work the same way, and not all of them give you the same information. Chances are, you might end up using more than one calculator for more than one need, and that’s totally fine. But these are the top moving calculators I would recommend:

1. MoveBuddha
2. U-Haul
3. ExtraSpace
4. Home Depot
5. Moving
6. This Old House

MoveBuddha

MoveBuddha is the best moving calculator I would recommend because it isn’t just one type; it has a ton of different moving and packing calculators, like:

1. Moving Cost Calculator: The moving cost calculator lets you see side-by-side comparisons of freight movers versus container moves versus truck rentals versus professional movers, all without entering personal data
2. Moving Cost by State: The state moving calculator lets you compare costs for different states. This can be very useful if you are looking into moving to a new state as a digital nomad or checking out which states will pay you to move there and how affordable that is.
3. International Moving Costs: No other moving calculator will compare international rates for you the way MoveBuddha does, taking into consideration the cost of overseas shipping for personal goods as well as vehicles.
4. Moving Box Calculator: The moving box calculator breaks down the number of boxes you might need based on the size of your home.

MoveBuddha not only has a lot of actionable information, but it also breaks down all of your comparable options without requiring a phone number or email address.

I think MoveBuddha is the best place to start if you are thinking about a move, but you don’t know exactly which way you want to go, whether that’s hiring professionals, hiring a POD, or moving things yourself. 

If you want to get super technical, you can combine it with other cost calculators. You can see side by side what the cost difference is for each moving method. Then, you can use the moving box calculator to determine your supply needs and other moving cost calculators, like Home Depot’s, to figure out the cost of those moving supplies. Finally, you can bring it all together in an overly complicated spreadsheet to decide which way you want to go.

The moving calculator also lets you adjust things like the date, so you can see how the costs compare if you are moving on the weekend versus a weekday, whether it saves you money to travel in October versus September, and what discounts might be available as a student or military member. 

Best for:

People who want quotes from different types of moving services, people who want International quotes, and people who don’t want to give their email in order to get those quotes. 

Extra Space

Extra Space breaks down your move based on four factors:

1. Moving distance
2. Boxes and supplies
3. Moving truck costs
4. Storage unit costs

When you put in your distance, email is optional, which I appreciate. Sticking with my move example, if going from Eugene, OR to Wichita, KA, it breaks down my costs based on an average number of boxes and supplies for a 2-bedroom home, the cost of a 22-foot moving truck, and potential storage unit costs. 

The downside is that, as a storage company, their main drive isn’t connecting you to movers or anything, but rather letting you know how much a storage unit is for your personal goods. This means you get a clean estimate, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. Like, you have no companies listed or links anywhere. So I guess it helps you plan for:

• The size moving truck you might need (other companies don’t list the size, just the price)
• The number of boxes of various sizes
• The storage unit costs

Best for:

People who want a breakdown of their moving truck size/cost, storage costs, and boxes costs without any links anywhere. 

U-Haul

U-Haul is a moving calculator I would recommend for people who are looking at boxes and supplies. Where some moving calculators have specific details on the cost of moving companies versus the cost of storage, U-Haul kind of does it all: storage, supplies, local labor, and truck rentals. 

Given that, you can search their website for a lot of different moving calculators. If you are looking for the number of boxes and supplies, go with U-Haul; other moving calculators only give you the number of boxes, and even the best ones only break it down by the number per box size. U-Haul gives you the boxes, the packing material, the tape, the pens, and everything in between.

They also have things like the “moving labor” feature, which calculates the service cost based on location for things like loading and unloading.

Best for:

People who want specific calculations for labor, truck rentals, moving supplies beyond just boxes, and other options in a single place.

Home Depot

If you are planning to do any part of your move on your own, you need to calculate boxes and supplies. So many of my other recommended moving calculators help you with boxes based on your home size, but they forget about things like TV boxes, artwork boxes, or mattress covers. 

That’s why I would recommend Home Depot for a more realistic estimate on moving supplies. When you put in your information, you can actually adjust not just for the number of bedrooms, but also the sizes of your mattresses and any extra spaces you have, like garages, home offices, kitchens, and more.

When you are done, it gives you a breakdown, and you can actually increase or decrease all of the items that are listed in the cart.

So, for example, if it lists 20 small boxes for your two-bedroom home, but you know you have a lot of heavy books for work, those are going to need extra boxes, so you can increase it to 30 boxes.

Then, you aren’t even on the hook for buying all those supplies. You can choose to add them all to your cart and check out immediately, save them for later, or just print out a list and look elsewhere to see if you can cut down costs with things like used box services from U-Haul.

It’s a pretty comprehensive moving calculator. Whereas most moving calculators give you a general estimate based on the number of rooms you have, Home Depot gives you a much more specific estimate based on the types of rooms you have, in addition to bedrooms and the sizes of your mattresses.

Best for:

People who want a detailed breakdown of their supplies for moving themselves, particularly boxes, moving supplies, mattress covers, and the like. 

This Old House

I definitely still have an entire closet of This Old House magazines and watch them on TV on Sundays. I really like how useful their information is, especially when it comes to restoring a house. But before you can get started on the restoration, you need to get there.

Their website offers a moving cost calculator, one which lets you see how much it’s going to cost for large-scale moving companies. Now, this is a very resourceful website full of a lot of articles that might help you better understand the moving process, like non-binding versus binding estimates. 

However, be advised that once you click on any of the affiliated non-binding estimates they generate for you, you will be redirected to input your personal contact information so that a sales representative from the respective moving company can contact you.

Best for:

People who want quotes for long-distance moves from the major professional moving companies that pack/load/transport for you. 

Moving

Moving.com is another moving calculator I would recommend if none of the others work out. They are worth mentioning because they offer some of the same features and functions as MoveBuddha, This Old House, and U-Haul. You can use them to generate quotes based on:

• Location
• Size 
• Move date
• Type of packing service

The downside is that you have to be ready to commit to contacting moving companies directly before you get real quotes. 

Best for:

People who want to see what their costs will be, including otherwise hidden fees for pianos, stairs, etc. 

Summing Up

What are the best moving calculators I would recommend?

1. MoveBuddha: This is the best one for comparing different types of moving services or getting International quotes.
2. U-Haul: This is the best for comparing the cost of rentals, as well as storage units and local labor.
3. Home Depot: This is the best for generating the cost of moving supplies in addition to boxes.
4. ExtraSpace: This is the best for seeing approximately how many boxes you might need, as well as what size truck you might want to rent.
5. This Old House: This is best for getting estimates for long-distance moves.

Moving: This is best if none of the others work for you and you just want a simple estimate from one location to another.