Four sources put a Houston two-bedroom anywhere from $650 to $1,900. We triangulate the 2026 numbers, explain the written maximum-price proposal Texas law guarantees you, and set our labor-only averages beside every range.
Wondering how much it costs to move in Houston? So are we. We can tell you how much it costs to move with Undergrads (read on to learn), but everyone else has wildly different answers. Extra Space Storage's calculator puts a two-bedroom at $700 to $1,400. MoveAdvisor says $650 to $1,050. A national mover network's Houston page says the average local move is about $1,200, with ranges that stretch past $3,000. An older aggregator guide says $900 to $1,900. They can't all be the average, so instead of picking one, we compared all four against each other and against the consumer protections Texas actually gives you, then show what the same move costs when you split the truck from the labor.
That last part is an obvious nod to us. We're Undergrads Moving, and our bread and butter is saving Houstonians money by making labor-only moving easy: you handle the truck, our background-checked university-student crews handle every box, stair, and garage shelf. We'll show our pricing next to the full-service ranges at every home size as a shameless self-promotional tactic.
What Houston movers charge per hour
Full-service movers price local Houston moves by the hour, and Houston's rates run mercifully lower than the coasts: MoveAdvisor puts most local crews at $85–$110/hour for a two- or three-person crew with truck, while an older aggregator stretches the band to $90–$200 depending on the job. Company minimums run 2 to 3 hours (one well-known Houston operator uses 2.5), and the average full-service Houston job runs long. The metro is huge, and cross-town drives eat billable time.
The Texas reality check: movers aren't rate-capped, but they are licensed and policed on paperwork. Every intrastate mover must hold an active TxDMV license (verify any company in TxDMV's motor carrier lookup; an unlicensed mover is an illegal one), must hand you the “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move in Texas” disclosure before loading, and must give you a written proposal before loading that states the maximum price, either binding (exact) or not-to-exceed. A Texas mover legally cannot add charges after the contract is signed unless you agree in writing. If a Houston mover won't put a maximum number on paper, they're not just sketchy, they're out of compliance.
Triangulated, a realistic 2026 planning number for a two-mover, one-truck crew in Houston is $85–$150 per hour, with most reputable quotes at $90–$120.
The Undergrads comparison: our Houston crews work on an hourly rate locked before the move starts, with no stair fees, fuel surcharges, or travel-fee surprises. And because crew speed is the biggest cost variable in hourly moving, our university-athlete crews are staffed to finish in the 3–4 hour window. Most Houston moves land at $200–$500 total.
Average moving cost in Houston by home size
Local, full-service. The triangulated range weights the two current sources most heavily; the 2024 aggregator sets the outer bound.
| Home size | Extra Space | MoveAdvisor | (Older) aggregator guide | Triangulated 2026 range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $200–$400 | $450–$600 (studio/1BR) | Not published | $200–$600 (typical ~$450) |
| 1 bedroom | $300–$600 | $450–$600 | $400–$800 | $300–$800 (typical ~$550) |
| 2 bedroom | $700–$1,400 | $650–$1,050 | $900–$1,900 (2–3BR) | $650–$1,500 (typical ~$900–$1,200) |
| 3 bedroom | $1,000–$2,000 | $1,300–$1,650 | $900–$1,900 | $1,000–$2,000 (typical ~$1,400–$1,700) |
| 4+ bedroom | $1,500–$3,000+ | $1,650–$2,600+ | $1,400–$4,700 | $1,500–$3,000+ |
One useful Houston-specific benchmark from MoveAdvisor: a three-bedroom Inner Loop house moving out to Katy, Spring, or Pearland (the classic Houston move) runs $1,400–$2,200 full-service.
Studio and 1-bedroom moves
The triangulated full-service number for a Houston studio is around $450, and around $550 for a one-bedroom, before the minimums and the drive. Houston's sprawl is the hidden cost driver at this tier: a “local” move from Montrose to Clear Lake spends an hour of billable time on I-45.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: our Houston page publishes the actual averages: a 1-bedroom labor-only move runs about $355. Rent the truck yourself (a 10- or 15-foot U-Haul cross-town usually adds $50–$100 with mileage) and the all-in lands around $410–$460, against a $550 full-service typical. Skip the truck for a same-complex or short-hop move and the labor number is the whole number.
2-bedroom moves
The sources put a full-service Houston two-bedroom anywhere from $650 to $1,900, with the typical around $900–$1,200. The spread reflects the difference between a Midtown apartment and a Cypress house with a garage full of tools.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: a 2-bedroom labor-only move averages about $410 in Houston. Add a 20-foot rental truck (roughly $80–$150 for a local day with mileage) and the all-in lands around $500–$560. Against a $900–$1,200 full-service typical, that's the 40–60% savings the labor-only model exists to deliver.
3-bedroom and larger moves
Full-service pricing accelerates here: $1,400–$1,700 typical for a three-bedroom, $1,500–$3,000+ for four-plus, and the add-ons (piano, gun safe, garage, attic) stack fast. This is also the tier where full-service earns its price for many families.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: a 3-bedroom labor-only move averages about $580 and a 4-bedroom about $800 in Houston. Add your 26-foot truck at roughly $100–$180 local and you're still at half or less of the full-service typical. Keep in mind that 26 feet is the largest truck you can rent without a commercial license. For a big household that won't fit in one load, plan multiple trips or get a full-service quote and compare the two numbers.
Long-distance moving costs from Houston
Past the local threshold, pricing shifts to weight-and-distance:
| Route / distance | Typical range | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| In-Texas (Austin, San Antonio, Dallas) | $545–$4,945 by size | Extra Space |
| ~1,000 miles | 1BR $3,000–$6,400; 4BR $5,700–$9,200 | MoveAdvisor |
| Cross-country (LA, NYC, Seattle) | 2BR $3,900–$8,200; up to $15,400 for large homes | MoveAdvisor, Extra Space |
The in-state triangle is Houston's sweet spot for doing it yourself: Austin is three hours up 290, San Antonio three hours down I-10, Dallas four hours up I-45.
The Undergrads comparison: who wants to take a road trip? The Texas triangle is exactly the distance where driving a rental yourself makes sense, and our model puts a crew on each end: one loads at your Houston door, a second unloads in Austin, San Antonio, or Dallas. For a 1-bedroom in-state move, labor on both ends plus a one-way truck typically totals well under half the full-service quote. Past a day's drive, be honest about whether you want to pilot a big truck. That's where full-service carriers earn their premium.
The costs that don't show up in the headline number
The 60-cents-per-pound problem. The default liability on a Texas move is 60 cents per pound per item. TxDMV's own example: lose a 50-pound TV, get $30. If your household has real value on the truck, price full-value protection during diligence, not after something breaks.
Peak-season premiums. May through September runs 15–20% higher and books out weeks ahead. Houston summer adds a physical tax too: crews start at 7 AM for a reason, and afternoon moves run slower and longer.
Building logistics. Downtown, Midtown, and Galleria-area high-rises require Certificates of Insurance and freight-elevator reservations; some charge move-in fees ($200–$500) that have nothing to do with your mover. Elevator moves add $50–$100 at companies that itemize.
Flood-season timing. Hurricane season is a scheduling risk from June through November. If a named storm is in the Gulf during your move week, have a plan B date, and never let a loaded truck sit overnight in a flood-prone lot.
Packing and storage. Both are add-ons from full-service movers; packing your own non-fragile items saves hundreds on a mid-size move.
Tips. Customary at $5–$10 per mover per hour, or 10–15% of labor. Same math whichever model you book.
How to keep your Houston move cheap
The levers, in order of impact: move less stuff (declutter the garage first; it's where Houston moves go over), split the labor from the truck (the 40–60% lever this guide keeps returning to), pack your own boxes, book a weekday-morning slot in the off-season, source free boxes from liquor stores, Nextdoor, and Houston Buy Nothing groups instead of paying for new cardboard, and demand the written not-to-exceed proposal Texas law entitles you to before anyone touches a box.
The bottom line
Compared across four sources, a full-service local move in Houston in 2026 costs roughly $450 for a studio, $550 for a one-bedroom, $900–$1,200 for a two-bedroom, and $1,400–$1,700 for a three-bedroom, at crew rates of $85–$150/hour under TxDMV's disclosure-based rules. Long-distance runs from several hundred dollars inside the Texas triangle to five figures for a coast.
The same moves with Undergrads' Houston movers (locked hourly rate, background-checked university-student crews, $50 Show-Up Guarantee) average $355 for a 1-bedroom, $410 for a 2-bedroom, $580 for a 3-bedroom, and $800 for a 4-bedroom, plus a rental truck if your move needs one. That's the 40–60% gap between paying for a truck-and-overhead operation and paying for the part of the move that's actually hard: the labor. Get a Houston quote and check it against the table above. The math is the argument.
