Movers in Maryland charge about $105 to $160 per hour for a two-person crew on local jobs, and a two-bedroom interstate move from Maryland is estimated at $2,900 to $6,800. Intrastate movers in Maryland are licensed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit, while any company moving household goods across state lines must hold FMCSA operating authority. Peak demand runs April to September, when quotes sit at the top of those ranges. BestMovers.info compares 182 licensed carriers serving Maryland, with pricing data as of May 2026.
Key facts
Local rate, two movers
$105 to $160 per hour
2-bedroom interstate
$2,900 to $6,800
Intrastate regulator
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit
Interstate licensing
FMCSA USDOT and MC authority
Peak season
April–September
Cities covered
2
Carriers compared
182
Pricing data as of
May 2026
Bottom line
Compare moving companies, Federal Records, and moving resources for Maryland. BestMovers.info publishes no numeric score, star rating or ranked order.
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Updated August 2026 Reviewed by Amanda Brooks7 companies analyzed
What moving in Maryland actually looks like
Moving inside Maryland means working around a April–September peak and a South labour market of roughly 6.2 million people. Off-peak dates in November–March price 15% to 25% below the summer band.
Two crew members at standard rates run roughly $133/hr in most of the state, with downtown high-rise jobs and gated communities pulling toward the upper end. A typical 2-bedroom interstate move out of Maryland settles around $4,850, though distance and packing services swing that meaningfully.
Local quirks worth pricing in: summer heat, hurricane-season reschedules along the coast, and a heavier flow of inbound retirees. None of these are dealbreakers, but they show up in the final bill if you don't ask about them upfront.
Verification in Maryland runs through the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit. A person may not provide or offer household goods moving services in Maryland using a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in 49 C.F.R. 390.5, unless registered as a household goods mover with the Maryland Department of Labor. The authorisation is a Household Goods Mover Registration. Interstate carriers additionally need active FMCSA authority, which you can check on SAFER by USDOT number.
Pay by card, never cash, so a disputed charge has a route back through the issuer.
Maryland runs its heaviest volume April–September, and its 2 covered metros feed most of that demand out of and around Annapolis. Population sits near 6.2 million, which is what sets how deep the local crew pool actually is in November–March.
How we select movers for this state
Nothing appears on this Maryland page without a public record behind it. A company is listed here when it is headquartered in Maryland or its record shows coverage of the state, and when we can describe it from sourced fields: federal registration, operating authority, founding year, and service coverage. We publish no numeric score and rank nobody first.
Which company suits your move is a question of scope and date, not of a score: BestMovers.info publishes no numeric score, star rating or ranked order. The pricing model behind the estimates on this page is dated May 2026.
Pricing
Maryland moving cost snapshot
Two movers, ground-floor access, standard packing. Peak season in Maryland is April–September.
Home size
Local move
Interstate move
Studio
$315–$800
$1,595–$4,080
1 Bedroom
$420–$960
$2,175–$5,304
2 Bedroom
$630–$1,440
$2,900–$6,800
3 Bedroom
$840–$1,920
$4,205–$10,540
4 Bedroom
$1,155–$2,560
$5,655–$14,620
5+ Bedroom
$1,470–$3,200
$6,960–$18,360
How many licensed moving companies are registered in Maryland?
The FMCSA motor carrier census lists 2,340 registrants carrying household goods whose physical address is in Maryland, and 824 of those are classified by FMCSA as interstate operations. That figure counts companies whose federal registration lists a Maryland address, which is not the same as the number of companies that will serve a move in Maryland. An interstate move into or out of Maryland can be performed by a carrier registered in any state.
How many households move out of Maryland each year?
IRS tax return data for filing years 2022 to 2023 records 99,349 returns moving out of Maryland to another state, and 85,152 moving in, a net loss of 14,197 returns. A return approximates a household rather than a person. The same filings cover 160,041 individuals leaving and 139,190 arriving.
The states receiving the most Maryland households were Virginia (15,079 returns), Florida (9,442 returns) and Pennsylvania (8,992 returns).
Arrivals came mainly from Virginia (13,353 returns), District of Columbia (9,213 returns) and Pennsylvania (7,619 returns). These figures count all filers who changed address, not only those who hired a moving company.
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit regulates household goods movers operating inside Maryland, and sits within the Maryland Department of Labor. Movers are licensed under Maryland household goods movers registration law, effective 1 October 2019. Moves crossing the Maryland state line fall under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration instead, a separate authorisation with separate requirements.
A mover doing work inside Maryland must hold the Household Goods Mover Registration, issued by Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit. It exists specifically for household goods movers, whatever its title. The requirement sits in Maryland household goods movers registration law, effective 1 October 2019. An interstate carrier holding only a federal USDOT number is not authorised for Maryland intrastate work by that number alone.
Search the company by name or licence number in the Search for a licensed household goods mover, and confirm the record shows an active status. For a move leaving Maryland, check the company's USDOT record in FMCSA SAFER as well. Holding one authorisation does not imply the other.
Maryland licence lookupMaryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit: 100 S. Charles Street, Tower I, Baltimore, MD 21201Verify by phone: 410-230-6174Verify by email: hhg.labor@maryland.govFMCSA SAFER
How do I file a complaint against a Maryland mover?
Complaints about a move inside Maryland go to Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit through Maryland Attorney General Consumer Protection Division, for damage, contractual and monetary disputes, 410-230-6174, for registration, insurance or workers' compensation failures. A complaint about a move that crossed the Maryland state line goes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration through the National Consumer Complaint Database instead.
What does a Maryland mover have to prove before it is registered?
Insurance, workers' compensation and good standing. A Maryland household goods mover registration application requires an insurance carrier and policy number showing liability and cargo coverage meeting 49 C.F.R. Part 387.303, proof of workers' compensation coverage for all covered employees, and a certificate of status from the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation dated within 30 days of the application. The applicant must also name every person holding at least 25% of the business, and disclose earlier applications by those people for other entities.
Two different offices, depending on the problem. Maryland routes damage to property, damage to a home or vehicle, late arrivals, contractual and monetary disputes, detained property and missing property to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division complaint form. A mover operating without registration, without proper insurance or without workers' compensation coverage goes instead to the Department of Labor on 410-230-6174. Sending the wrong complaint to the wrong office is the usual way a Maryland claim stalls.
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit publishes what applies to a company moving household goods in Maryland. Each of the following comes from the agency's own pages:
Maryland registration runs for a one-year period from the date of issuance, and all Maryland registration fees are nonrefundable.
What is different about an interstate move from Maryland?
Moves crossing a state line are authorised by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under a USDOT number and interstate household goods operating authority. A Maryland state licence does not cover that work, and the federal record is the one to check: confirm the USDOT number is active and authorised for household goods before paying a deposit.
What should you check before moving out of Maryland?
A move that leaves Maryland is an interstate move and falls under federal authority, so the company needs active operating authority for household goods rather than only a Maryland licence. A move that stays inside Maryland is different: it is regulated by Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit, and the company needs Household Goods Mover Registration. Check which kind of move you are booking before you compare quotes, because the two are verified in different places.
Distance — local moves under 50 miles are billed hourly; cross-state jobs are billed by weight + mileage.
Home size — going from a 1-bedroom to a 3-bedroom roughly doubles crew time and truck space.
Stairs and access — every flight above the first commonly adds $25–$100; long carries from truck to door add similarly.
Packing — full-pack service usually adds 30–45% to a base move; partial packing (kitchen + fragiles only) adds 10–20%.
Season — book a Saturday move in late June and expect to pay 20–30% more than the same job mid-week in February.
Specialty items — pianos, gun safes, large aquariums, and oversized art each carry their own line item.
Maryland season — quotes inside April–September run at the top of the $105–$160 hourly band; November–March quotes sit near the bottom.
Weekend premium — Saturday slots in Maryland price above the same job on a Tuesday.
Maryland licensing — Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit handles intrastate oversight, which changes what paperwork you can demand before deposit.
Full-service, labor-only, container, or rental truck
Labor-only is the entry point in Maryland: you supply the truck, the crew supplies the muscle. Two movers for a small apartment usually total $315 to $640, since the $105 to $160 hourly band still applies.
Choose full service when the inventory is large, the access is bad, or the destination is out of state. The cost sits at two to three times labor-only and includes the truck, padding, and fuel that labor-only leaves to you.
Portable containers sit between the two on price. Providers such as PODS, U-Pack, and 1-800-PACK-RAT drop a unit at the curb. You load on your schedule, the company drives. On a Maryland interstate move the container route is usually cheaper than a full-service van line, because you are supplying the loading labor the carrier would otherwise charge for. Bestmovers.info holds no container rates, so price the provider quote for your own lane and dates. The catch is the delivery window, which is set by the provider rather than promised to you, and limited recourse for damage during loading, since you packed it.
Companies
Moving Companies Based in Maryland
These companies have a verified headquarters or documented company location in Maryland. Placement is based on documented location information, not a numeric ranking.
B. Von Paris & Sons Inc, trading as Von Paris Moving & Storage, files from Larkin Road in Savage, Maryland, active on the federal census with household goods and general freight cargo entries, thirty-one power units, thirty-seven drivers, a current MCS-150 filing and docket MC-42334 on the registration. The filed contact email uses the company's own domain, so registrant and consumer-facing brand agree inside the federal data. The licensing record carries more than one authority role on this docket, and the roles are reported separately rather than merged: active common carrier authority and active broker authority, with property and household goods both checked. Holding broker authority is a fact about the docket and is not a statement that any particular household move is brokered. The company is a northAmerican Van Lines agent; the federal identifiers printed in the company's own footer belong to North American Van Lines Inc and are disclosed as that van line's identifiers rather than stored as Von Paris numbers. Any state permit number the company publishes is a state identifier and is not recorded as a federal registration. FMCSA safety rating on file: Satisfactory, dated 2 November 2009, following a compliance review dated 8 October 2009; that is a dated federal snapshot rather than a current assessment. The company states it was founded in 1893.
Why is this company shown here?
Von Paris Moving & Storage is headquartered in Maryland according to its published company location.
Zip Moving and Storage Inc files from 20 Southlawn Court in Rockville, Maryland, active on the federal census with three power units, four drivers, a household goods cargo entry and an MCS-150 filed 14 April 2026. Docket MC-906669 sits on the census row. The FMCSA licensing mirror returned no operating-authority rows for this registration at the time of reading, so no authority role is stated in either direction and the cargo entry is treated as a registration flag rather than as proof of active household goods authority. No federal safety rating is on file. A second active registrant, filed in Norcross, Georgia under the Atlanta form of the same name and carrying the same company email domain on its federal filing, is disclosed separately as a related registration with the relationship left unresolved. The company's own site states no founding year, so none is published here.
Why is this company shown here?
Zip Moving and Storage is headquartered in Maryland according to its published company location.
American Van Lines states first-party that it staffs moves with W2 employees rather than day labour. It requires a deposit to hold a move date, so ask what portion is refundable and by when before you pay it. We publish no BBB grade and hold no complaint dataset, so nothing here rates the company's service.
Why is this company shown here?
American Van Lines publishes broad nationwide moving service on its own site. It is shown separately from companies based in this area and its presence here is not evidence of a local office.
USDOT 614506Pompano Beach, FL2BR est. $2,900–$6,800
One of the oldest moving brands in the US, Bekins runs an agent-affiliate model similar to Allied, with interstate shipments booked under the Bekins registration and performed by affiliated agents.
Why is this company shown here?
Bekins Moving Solutions publishes broad nationwide moving service on its own site. It is shown separately from companies based in this area and its presence here is not evidence of a local office.
USDOT 2256609Indianapolis, IN2BR est. $3,000–$7,000
North American Van Lines is part of SIRVA and moves interstate household goods through an agent-affiliate network. The federal registration shown here belongs to the van line, not to the local agent that loads the truck.
Why is this company shown here?
North American Van Lines publishes broad nationwide moving service on its own site. It is shown separately from companies based in this area and its presence here is not evidence of a local office.
United Van Lines is the largest brand under UniGroup and publishes the annual National Movers Study. It offers shipment tracking and a published claims process; we hold no dataset that compares its claims outcomes with other carriers.
Why is this company shown here?
United Van Lines publishes broad nationwide moving service on its own site. It is shown separately from companies based in this area and its presence here is not evidence of a local office.
Wheaton World Wide Moving shares a parent company with Bekins and moves interstate household goods through an agent network under its own federal registration.
Why is this company shown here?
Wheaton World Wide Moving publishes broad nationwide moving service on its own site. It is shown separately from companies based in this area and its presence here is not evidence of a local office.
A demand for cash deposit over $100 before move day. Reputable carriers bill on or after delivery.
A quote without a USDOT number on the paperwork. No USDOT means no FMCSA accountability if something goes wrong.
A "binding" estimate with no inventory list attached. Without inventory, the binding part is meaningless.
Refusal to do a video survey or in-home estimate for moves over 5,000 lb.
A blank Bill of Lading on move day. Sign nothing blank. Ever.
A name change in the last 12 months on the FMCSA record. It often signals a previous carrier under a complaint cloud.
No Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit credential on an intrastate Maryland job. State-licensed work requires it, and the agency publishes the register.
An hourly quote far under $105 in Maryland. Below-market rates on a local job usually reappear as stair, carry, or materials charges on the invoice.
An eight-week timeline that actually works in Maryland
Eight weeks out: get three written quotes. Two should be in-home or video surveys. One online quote is fine for comparison only — it will rarely be the binding number.
Six weeks out: book the carrier. Ask for binding-not-to-exceed pricing in writing. Confirm valuation coverage (released vs. full-value protection — there is a real difference if a TV gets dropped).
Four weeks out: order packing supplies if you're self-packing. Boxes go on sale at U-Haul and Home Depot in late winter and late summer.
Two weeks out: confirm parking, building COIs, and elevator reservations at both ends. Maryland buildings vary wildly here — some need 72 hours notice, some 30 days.
One week out: pack a personal essentials box (medications, chargers, three days of clothes, toilet paper, coffee, scissors, the lease/closing folder) and keep it with you, not on the truck.
Move day: walk the truck before driver pulls away. Sign the Bill of Lading only after the inventory list matches. First week in the new place, file any damage claim within nine months — that's the federal interstate window.
Where in Maryland you're moving matters
Maryland pricing varies city by city. Downtown cores with high-rise residential typically run 10–20% above the state median because of COI requirements, freight elevator wait time, and tighter parking. Suburban single-family moves usually land near the median. Rural pickups outside metro service areas often add a per-mile travel fee from the nearest depot.
Local moves in Maryland are estimated at $315–$2,480 depending on home size, while an interstate move out of Maryland is estimated at $3,000–$7,000 for a two-bedroom household. Distance, packing services, and the time of year all shift those numbers.
When is the cheapest time to move in Maryland?
October through April is generally the cheapest window in Maryland — most movers cut rates 15–25% outside the May-to-September peak. Mid-month, mid-week pickups give the biggest discounts.
Are moving companies in Maryland licensed and insured?
All interstate moving companies must register with the FMCSA and carry a USDOT number. Maryland also requires intrastate movers to register with the state — verify any quote against the FMCSA SAFER tool before signing.
Should I tip movers in Maryland?
Tipping is customary but not required. A typical tip in Maryland is $20–$40 per mover for a half-day local job, or $50–$100 per mover for a full day or long-distance move.
How far in advance should I book a mover in Maryland?
Book 4–6 weeks ahead for moves between May and September. For off-peak fall and winter moves in Maryland, two weeks is usually enough notice.
What's the difference between binding and non-binding estimates?
A binding estimate locks in your price based on the inventory at the time of the survey — the mover can't charge more on move day for the same items. Non-binding estimates can change based on actual weight or volume. For MD interstate moves, request binding-not-to-exceed quotes whenever possible.
Who licenses movers in Maryland
Intrastate household-goods movers in Maryland are licensed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit. A person may not provide or offer household goods moving services in Maryland using a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in 49 C.F.R. 390.5, unless registered as a household goods mover with the Maryland Department of Labor. The authorisation is a Household Goods Mover Registration.
How we evaluate moving companies: we verify federal registration and operating authority against FMCSA records, record carrier or broker classification, note state licensing where a state regulator publishes it, and state the limits of what we could source. No numeric score, star rating or ranked order is produced from those checks. Read full methodology
