The FMCSA motor carrier census lists 58 household goods registrants whose physical address is in Washington, MD, and 22 of those are classified by FMCSA as interstate operations. BestMovers.info holds no Washington price measurement, only the Maryland range on the Maryland page. Moves that stay inside Maryland are licensed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit. DC's August Federal-employee turnover and military PCS season tighten supply; many Capitol Hill rowhouses need parking permits from DDOT 5+ days ahead.
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
Company profiles shown
4
Pricing data as of
May 2026
Quick answer
Bookstore Movers is based in Washington. Companies below are grouped by where they are documented to be located: companies based in or near Washington, companies based elsewhere in Maryland, and movers that publish nationwide service. No numeric ranking is applied.
Common service neighborhoods: Capitol Hill, Dupont, Logan Circle, Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Navy Yard.
How far is Washington from the places people move to most?
Washington to New York City, NY is 230 driving miles, about 4 hours behind the wheel, with a typical transit of 1 to 3 days.
Driving distances and transit windows from the routes dataset; transit days are carrier delivery spreads, not guarantees.
Estimate your Washington moving cost
Get a personalized estimate before any sales call. Editorial estimate based on broader national moving-cost data; BestMovers.info does not maintain a separate Washington transaction-price dataset.
IRS county migration data for filing years 2022 to 2023 records 32,142 returns moving out of District of Columbia, the county Washington sits in, and 33,508 moving in. A return approximates a household rather than a person. Those filings cover 45,451 individuals leaving and 42,408 arriving.
The counties receiving the most households from District of Columbia were Prince George's County, MD (4,089 returns), Montgomery County, MD (3,120 returns) and Arlington County, VA (2,000 returns).
Arrivals came mainly from Prince George's County, MD (3,479 returns), Montgomery County, MD (2,420 returns) and Arlington County, VA (1,789 returns).
These figures come from federal tax return data and cover all household moves, not only those using professional movers.
How many licensed moving companies are registered in Washington?
The FMCSA motor carrier census lists 58 registrants carrying household goods whose physical address is in Washington, and 22 of those are classified by FMCSA as interstate operations. That figure counts companies whose federal registration lists an address in Washington. It is not the number of companies that will serve a move there: a mover registered in a neighbouring city can take the job, and a company registered in Washington may not.
Moving crews quoting Washington work Capitol Hill, Dupont, Logan Circle, Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Navy Yard and the surrounding areas.
Who licenses movers operating in Washington
Movers working inside Washington are licensed by the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit, whose licence, lookup route and complaint channel are set out on the Maryland page.
These companies have a documented headquarters or company location in Washington or its metro. Placement is based on documented location information, not a numeric ranking.
Editorially independent, funded by referral fees. We may be paid when you request a quote from a company listed here. Payment does not decide who is listed or the order they appear in, and we publish no score or star rating. Advertising disclosure
Bookstore Movers files from Hyattsville, Maryland with twenty-three power units and twenty-three drivers on the federal file, an unusually even fleet-to-driver ratio for an independent of its size. Maryland is the address on the federal filing; the Washington DC geography the company markets is a service market rather than a competing headquarters claim, and no location discrepancy is recorded from service-area marketing. No parent, franchise network, van-line relationship or related registration was located. The exact operating-authority classes on the registration were not readable in the sources reviewed, so none is asserted. No federal safety rating is on file. The company states first-party that it started in 2005.
Why is this company shown here?
Bookstore Movers publishes its headquarters in Washington, DC.
USDOT 2005212Hyattsville, MD2BR est. $1,100–$4,400
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.
Which movers are federally registered in Washington?
10 companies with a Washington address on their federal registration hold a granted household goods authority from the FMCSA, and 3 of those identify as a moving business in their legal or trade name. The 3 listed below are the ones registered with the agency longest, ordered by the federal registration date, earliest first. Registration age is the agency's own record. It is not a ranking, it is not a quality judgement and it is not a recommendation.
82 active registrants in Washington tick household goods among their cargo types on the census form, and 33 of those carry any authority row at all. The cargo tick box is filled in by the registrant, so this list uses the agency grant instead, then sets aside general freight, trucking, logistics and courier registrants that hold the authority without presenting themselves as household movers. It is not every mover serving Washington: a company based elsewhere may serve the city, and a registered address is not a service area.
APL MOVE LLC
USDOT 3351761 · 1667 K ST NW STE 400, WASHINGTON, DC 20006
It filed 0 power units, registered with the FMCSA on October 29, 2019, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket FF035475.
Data as of 2026-08-15 from the FMCSA company census, with authority status as of 2026-08-16. The query behind this list. Information provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Does a federal registration mean a Maryland licence?
No. Federal registration and Maryland authorisation are separate. The list above shows the federal record only, and we have not verified whether any company listed holds a Maryland licence or permit.
A mover operating inside Maryland needs the Household Goods Mover Registration from the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, Household Goods Movers Registration Unit.
Peak demand across Maryland runs April–September. Dates outside that window, and dates away from the last and first few days of any month, are where carriers have spare capacity — and spare capacity is what makes a crew negotiable on price.
We do not publish a percentage saving for moving off-peak in Washington. We hold no month-by-month booking price data for this city, and a discount figure taken from a national average would not describe this market. What we can say is structural, and it holds in every market:
Mid-month beats month-end. Leases and closings cluster at the turn of the month, so that is when crews are fully booked and least flexible.
Mid-week beats the weekend. Saturday is the single most requested moving day; a Tuesday or Wednesday competes with far fewer households for the same trucks.
Off-peak beats April–September. Outside the peak window, carriers are trying to keep crews working rather than turning jobs away.
Flexibility is the lever, not the calendar alone. On an interstate move, giving the carrier a pickup window of several days rather than one fixed date is usually worth more than any single date choice, because it lets them combine your shipment with another on the same lane.
The only reliable way to price a specific date is to put the same date in front of several licensed carriers and compare written estimates. Ask each one what the same move costs two weeks earlier or later — the gap between those two numbers is your real off-peak saving in Washington, measured on your move rather than on an average.
A tip is never part of a written estimate and never part of a binding price. It is discretionary, it is paid per mover rather than per crew, and it is handed to each mover directly at the end of the job rather than to the foreman to divide. Our working guideline scales with hours rather than with the value of the shipment, because that is how moving labour is actually priced:
$10 to $20 per mover for a job of two hours or less.
$20 to $40 per mover for a local move under four hours.
$40 to $60 per mover for a full day, meaning six hours or longer.
These are a BestMovers.info editorial guideline, not a survey result. We hold no tipping survey for Washington and no federal record covers gratuities, so nothing here is a local figure. Read the full tipping guide for stairs, long carries, storage and interstate deliveries, where the crew that loads is not the crew that unloads.
Where can you get free moving boxes in Washington?
Free boxes come from businesses that receive stock in cartons and throw the cartons away, and from households that finished moving last week. The sources are the same in every city, including Washington:
Liquor stores, which have the sturdiest small boxes with dividers
Bookshops, for small boxes rated for weight
Grocery stores, for produce boxes
Offices, for paper boxes with lids
Appliance and furniture retailers, for large flat cartons
Buy Nothing groups and Facebook Marketplace
Craigslist free listings
The U-Haul box exchange
Anyone in your building who has moved in recently
Ask in the morning, when the overnight delivery has just been unpacked and the cartons have not yet been flattened. Skip anything damp, greasy or previously used for produce that leaked. The free boxes guide covers how many you need by home size — those counts are BestMovers.info planning estimates rather than measured figures — and which boxes are worth buying rather than scavenging.
There is no separate cost dataset for Washington. Using the national estimate, a one-bedroom local move is estimated at $420–$930 and a two-bedroom local move at $630–$1,395, while a two-bedroom interstate move from Washington is estimated at $3,000–$7,000. Final price depends on distance, packing services, and date.
When is the busiest moving season in Washington?
Late May through August is the peak window in Washington, with the heaviest volume around month-end weekends. Established companies commonly book out several weeks in advance during this period.
Should I get an in-home estimate or an online quote?
For local moves under 2,500 lb, an online or phone estimate is usually accurate. For interstate moves out of Washington or 3+ bedroom households, request a video survey or in-home estimate so the binding price reflects your actual inventory.
What's the most reliable way to verify a Washington mover?
Check the company's USDOT number on the FMCSA SAFER website, look at their BBB profile and current accreditation, and read recent reviews on Google and Yelp. Avoid any mover unwilling to share a USDOT number on request.
How long does a typical Washington move take?
A 1-bedroom local move in Washington usually takes 3–5 hours with two movers. A 3-bedroom local move runs 7–10 hours, and most movers won't book a same-day move past 4 PM start time.
How we evaluate Washington movers: we verify federal registration and operating authority against FMCSA records, record carrier or broker classification, and note state licensing where the state regulator publishes it. The list above is not ranked and carries no numeric score. Read the full methodology
