The FMCSA motor carrier census lists 196 household goods registrants whose physical address is in Columbus, OH, and 80 of those are classified by FMCSA as interstate operations. BestMovers.info holds no Columbus price measurement, only the Ohio range on the Ohio page. Moves that stay inside Ohio are licensed by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).
Key facts
Local rate, two movers
$85 to $135 per hour
2-bedroom interstate
$2,500 to $6,000
Intrastate regulator
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)
Interstate licensing
FMCSA USDOT and MC authority
Company profiles shown
4
Pricing data as of
May 2026
Quick answer
We do not yet hold a company profile documented as based in Columbus. The companies below are headquartered elsewhere in Ohio, shown separately from movers that publish nationwide service.
Common service neighborhoods: Short North, German Village, Clintonville, Bexley, Upper Arlington.
How far is Columbus from the places people move to most?
Columbus to Chicago, IL is 350 driving miles, about 5 hours behind the wheel, with a typical transit of 2 to 4 days.
Driving distances and transit windows from the routes dataset; transit days are carrier delivery spreads, not guarantees.
Estimate your Columbus 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 Columbus transaction-price dataset.
IRS county migration data for filing years 2022 to 2023 records 35,891 returns moving out of Delaware County, Fairfield County and Franklin County, the counties Columbus sits in, and 34,883 moving in. A return approximates a household rather than a person. Those filings cover 58,389 individuals leaving and 53,671 arriving.
Columbus spans 3 counties, so these figures cover all of them: Delaware County, Fairfield County and Franklin County; returns moving between those counties are removed rather than counted as moves out of Columbus.
The counties receiving the most households from Delaware County, Fairfield County and Franklin County were Licking County (2,675 returns), Union County (1,280 returns) and Pickaway County (1,177 returns).
Arrivals came mainly from Licking County (2,247 returns), Cuyahoga County (1,169 returns) and Montgomery County (784 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 Columbus?
The FMCSA motor carrier census lists 196 registrants carrying household goods whose physical address is in Columbus, and 80 of those are classified by FMCSA as interstate operations. That figure counts companies whose federal registration lists an address in Columbus. 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 Columbus may not.
Moving crews quoting Columbus work Short North, German Village, Clintonville, Bexley, Upper Arlington and the surrounding areas.
Who licenses movers operating in Columbus
Movers working inside Columbus are licensed by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), whose licence, lookup route and complaint channel are set out on the Ohio page.
Bell Moving and Storage Inc files from Fairfield, Ohio, active on the federal census with seven power units and six drivers, and carries docket MC-137495 on the registration. The operating-authority presentation read for this registration shows motor carrier of household goods authority; nothing further is stated, and no property or broker authority is inferred from the household goods entry. The filed address is in Fairfield while the company publishes the Cincinnati area as the market it serves: a filed address and a published market describe different things, and neither value is treated as a correction to the other. No federal safety rating is on file, which is neither a positive nor a negative signal. The company states first-party that it holds a Wheaton certification; Wheaton is a separate registrant and any Wheaton corporate identifier is recorded as a van-line identifier rather than stored on this record. The company states first-party that it was founded in 1922.
Why is this company shown here?
Bell Moving & Storage is headquartered elsewhere in OH. That does not by itself confirm an office in Columbus, and no service claim is made here.
E.E. Ward traces its business to 1881 and describes itself as the oldest continuously African-American owned moving company in the United States. The federal registration behind the brand is E E Ward Moving and Storage Company LLC at 2235 Southwest Blvd in Grove City, the Columbus-area address the site publishes, with 20 power units and 20 drivers on the census and a household goods cargo entry. The licensing record shows common and contract authority both active with household goods authority. Interstate work is routed through the northAmerican network, whose own registration belongs to the van line and is not stored on this record.
Why is this company shown here?
E.E. Ward Moving & Storage is headquartered elsewhere in OH. That does not by itself confirm an office in Columbus, and no service claim is made here.
Mayflower Transit is the second large UniGroup brand alongside United Van Lines and runs full-service interstate moves through an agent network under its own federal registration.
Why is this company shown here?
Mayflower Transit 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.
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.
Which movers are federally registered in Columbus?
50 companies with a Columbus address on their federal registration hold a granted household goods authority from the FMCSA, and 22 of those identify as a moving business in their legal or trade name. The 22 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.
345 active registrants in Columbus tick household goods among their cargo types on the census form, and 223 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 Columbus: a company based elsewhere may serve the city, and a registered address is not a service area.
USDOT 728239 · 2104 CLOVERLEAF STREET EAST, COLUMBUS, OH 43232
It filed 3 power units, registered with the FMCSA on February 4, 1998, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC333311, active as contract carrier.
It filed 43 power units, registered with the FMCSA on July 1, 2003, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC457791, active as common carrier.
It filed 7 power units, registered with the FMCSA on April 22, 2004, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC622491, active as common carrier.
It filed 8 power units, registered with the FMCSA on April 28, 2004, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC631918, active as common carrier.
It filed 7 power units, registered with the FMCSA on March 10, 2005, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC517527, active as common carrier.
It filed 31 power units, registered with the FMCSA on February 2, 2006, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC551232, active as common carrier and contract carrier.
USDOT 3104880 · 2179 E LIVINGSTON AVE, COLUMBUS, OH 43209
It filed 3 power units, registered with the FMCSA on March 5, 2018, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC1010641, active as common carrier.
It filed 8 power units, registered with the FMCSA on February 6, 2023, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC1518406, active as common carrier.
It filed 1 power unit, registered with the FMCSA on December 8, 2023, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC1726962, active as common carrier.
It filed 1 power unit, registered with the FMCSA on March 21, 2025, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC1717617, active as common carrier.
M&S MOVING SERVICES LLC, trading as MY BUDDIES MOVING
USDOT 4520601 · 186 WARREN ST, COLUMBUS, OH 43215
It filed 1 power unit, registered with the FMCSA on January 19, 2026, and holds granted federal household goods authority under docket MC1795310, active as common carrier.
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 Ohio licence?
No. Federal registration and Ohio authorisation are separate. The list above shows the federal record only, and we have not verified whether any company listed holds a Ohio licence or permit.
PUCO publishes no confirmed public household-goods lookup. Verify an Ohio carrier's certificate number through the PUCO call centre on 1-800-686-7826.
Peak demand across Ohio runs May–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 Columbus. 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 May–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 Columbus, 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 Columbus 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 Columbus?
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 Columbus:
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 Columbus. 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 Columbus is estimated at $3,000–$7,000. Final price depends on distance, packing services, and date.
When is the busiest moving season in Columbus?
Late May through August is the peak window in Columbus, 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 Columbus 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 Columbus 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 Columbus move take?
A 1-bedroom local move in Columbus 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 Columbus 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
