Moving Company Revenue Benchmark

Average Moving Company Revenue per Year 2022 Economic Census

The 2022 Economic Census counts every mover of household and office goods with paid employees, local and long distance, and publishes their combined annual receipts. Dividing that total by the number of movers gives the average annual revenue per employer establishment shown below.

≈$1,968,000 /year

Average annual gross revenue per employer establishment

How this is calculated: about $20.1 billion in combined annual receipts divided by 10,223 employer establishments works out to an average annual revenue of $1,968,000 per employer establishment.

Scope: Used household and office goods moving, NAICS 484210. The category covers movers of used household and office goods, local and long distance, including those that also offer storage. General freight and specialized freight trucking are counted in separate categories. Classified separately in group 4842: 484220 Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Local; 484230 Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance. Nothing outside that code is counted on this page.

Source US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Summary Statistics (ECNBASIC): ESTAB, RCPTOT and PAYANN by NAICS · Vintage 2022 Economic Census · Calculation BusinessNES · Accessed September 2026

Employer Establishments at Year Five Industry group

Specialized freight trucking, NAICS 4842, the 2018 starting count compared with the count of five-year-old establishments in 2023.

Across the 2014 to 2018 cohorts, five-year results ranged from 48.7 to 52.0 percent. This benchmark covers Specialized freight trucking, NAICS 4842, as a whole, and this category accounts for 10,223 of the 55,770 employer establishments in it. A count by age is not a survival rate, because the figures compare two headcounts rather than follow one set of businesses.

Payroll as a Share of Revenue Official data

Payroll divided by receipts, both as published for the same year.

Payroll share of receipts, Used household and office goods moving, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

Approximately 23.0 percent of every revenue dollar goes to annual payroll, a modest share for a labor-intensive trade because many movers use seasonal labor, contract drivers and agent arrangements that keep part of the workforce off the payroll the census records.

Payroll here excludes benefits, employer taxes and owner compensation, and it excludes trucks, fuel, insurance, packing materials and payments to contractors and van line partners, which together carry most of a mover's spending.

Business Scale and Ownership Structure Official data

How large the average establishment is, and whether the population is independent operators or multi-site companies.

Scale and ownership, Used household and office goods moving, United States, 2022 Economic Census.

The average establishment employed about 10.6 people, and the industry counted 1.1 employer establishments per firm. A mover of that size runs several crews with drivers, a dispatcher and an estimator, and the establishments per firm figure shows a trade of independent single-location companies, some of which operate as agents of national van lines.

These are arithmetic industry averages. They state the size of the average establishment and show that multi-establishment ownership exists. They do not show the distribution of business sizes and they do not measure market concentration.

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Data Source Notice

This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Figures above are from the 2022 Economic Census reference year, released by the Census Bureau in 2024 and 2025; markets have moved since.

Questions Worth Asking BusinessNES analysis

Moving Company: what a seasonal, labor-heavy trade looks like inside a yearly average.

Before you rely on this benchmark

• Local moves or long-distance? Local moves are usually priced by the hour with same-day crews, while interstate moves follow federal estimate and tariff rules: non-binding charges rest on actual weight and services, binding estimates fix an agreed amount. The two models differ in revenue per job, regulation and equipment, and the average blends them.
• Is the company a van line agent? Agents of national van lines handle moves booked through the network and share revenue with the line, gaining volume and brand recognition in exchange for a share of the fare. An independent mover keeps its revenue but must find its own customers.
• How concentrated is the summer? Moving demand peaks between late spring and early fall and around month ends, so crews and trucks sit idle for much of the winter while fixed costs continue. Annual receipts hide a season that decides the year.
• Where does the labor come from? Seasonal and part-time crews, contract drivers and day labor let movers scale for the summer, but recruiting, training and injury risk follow. The payroll share understates the labor behind each move when much of it is contracted.
• What does a claim cost? Damaged furniture, lost boxes and disputes over estimates lead to claims that the mover pays or insures against, and valuation options for interstate moves are governed by federal rules. Claims and insurance are costs the benchmark does not show.
• Does the company also offer storage? Warehouse storage between moves, container storage and packing supplies add revenue that behaves more steadily than moving itself, but they need warehouse space and inventory control. The share of storage revenue behind a mover's figure varies widely.