moveBuddha says $90 an hour. Great Guys' 60 Tulsa cost reports average $921. HireAHelper's full-service average is $1,101. We sort the spread into numbers you can plan a Tulsa move around, plus the Oklahoma rules your mover is required to follow.
Wondering how much it costs to move in Tulsa? So are we. We can tell you how much it costs to move with Undergrads (read on to learn), but everyone else has different answers. moveBuddha's tracking of 8 licensed Tulsa movers averages $90 an hour and puts a two-bedroom at $483 to $743. Great Guys Moving's 60 Tulsa customer reports average $921 per move. HireAHelper's marketplace says the average full-service Tulsa move runs $1,101. All of those are real numbers from real moves; they just measure different things. Below, we sort the spread into figures you can actually plan with.
We're Undergrads Moving, and labor-only moving is our whole business, so this guide is in part a shamelessly self-promotional tactic. However, we did run the numbers and do our research here.
What Tulsa movers charge per hour
Full-service movers price local Tulsa moves by the hour. moveBuddha's tracked average is $90/hour, 36% below the $140 national average, with a typical 2-hour minimum ($180). Freightwaves' Checkpoint data lands in the same place: roughly $90 hourly, plus a base fee of about $225 that covers the truck and travel. Cheap city, honest hourly market.
The Oklahoma wrinkle worth knowing: intrastate movers here are regulated by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, and the rules have teeth. Every household-goods mover needs an OCC Household Goods Certificate, even for a move that never leaves the city limits, and the rules require a written, signed estimate (binding or non-binding) that states what forms of payment the mover honors at delivery. Oklahoma stopped filing rate tariffs years ago, so nothing caps the price except the market, but the paperwork is not optional. Ask for the certificate and the written estimate; a Tulsa mover offering neither is operating outside the rules.
Triangulated, a realistic 2026 planning number for a two-mover, one-truck crew in Tulsa is $90–$130 per hour, with the data-driven average sitting right at $90.
The Undergrads comparison: our Tulsa crews work on an hourly rate locked before the move starts, with no stair fees, fuel surcharges, or travel-fee surprises. We charge $45–$65 per mover-hour, the same band as the market's honest middle for a two-person crew, and because crew speed is the biggest variable in hourly moving, our university-student crews are staffed to finish in the 2–4 hour window most Tulsa apartments actually take. You rent the truck; we bring the muscle.
Average moving cost in Tulsa by home size
Local, full-service. The triangulated range weights moveBuddha's Tulsa-specific tracking and the customer-report data most heavily:
| Home size | moveBuddha | Freightwaves | Great Guys (movers + truck) | Triangulated 2026 range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | $224–$469 | $352 | $301 | ~$250–$450 |
| 1-bedroom | $224–$469 | $475 | $482 | ~$300–$500 |
| 2-bedroom | $483–$743 | $745 | $1,084 | ~$500–$1,000 |
| 3-bedroom + | $1,093–$1,926 | $1,676 | $1,536 | ~$1,100–$1,900 |
The customer-report data backs the middle of the table: Great Guys' 60 Tulsa reports show a typical move landing between $810 and $1,063, against a $1,004 Oklahoma median and a $1,235 nationwide median. Tulsa is one of the cheaper full-service markets in the country. It is still not cheap.
Studio and 1-bedroom moves
The triangulated full-service number for a Tulsa studio is around $300–$350, and around $475 for a one-bedroom. Small moves carry the industry's worst overhead-to-work ratio: the two-hour minimum and the base fee mean you pay for hours nobody spends carrying boxes.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: studio and 1-bedroom moves with our crews typically run $200–$450. 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 $250–$550. And a neutral referee on this one: HireAHelper's Tulsa marketplace averages $308 for a 1-bedroom apartment's labor, right inside our band.
2-bedroom moves
This is where the sources disagree hardest ($483 on the low end, $1,084 on the high) because a two-bedroom ranges from a Cherry Street flat to a Broken Arrow house with a garage. The triangulated typical is $500–$1,000 for full-service, with most reputable quotes in the $700s.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: 2-bedroom moves with our crews typically run $450–$700, and HireAHelper's Tulsa averages agree the labor itself is cheaper than people expect: $355 for a 2-bedroom apartment, $388 for a 2-bedroom house. Add a 20-foot rental truck (roughly $80–$150 for a local day with mileage) and the all-in lands around $530–$850 against a $745–$1,084 full-service range.
3-bedroom and larger moves
Full-service pricing jumps hard at three bedrooms, $1,100 to $1,900 triangulated, because the crew grows to four and the hours stretch to a full day. This is also where full-service earns its keep if nobody in the household can drive a truck: a 26-footer swallows most 3-bedroom homes in one trip.
Labor-only moving with Undergrads: larger moves with our crews typically run $450–$700 for the labor (HireAHelper's Tulsa averages: $453 for a 3-bedroom house, $543 for a 4-bedroom). With the 26-foot truck, the all-in lands around $550–$900, the 40–60% gap between paying for a truck-and-overhead operation and paying for the part that is actually hard: the labor.
Long-distance moving costs from Tulsa
Leaving Green Country costs real money: moveBuddha puts long-distance moves from Tulsa at $1,275 to $7,225 and up, averaging $2,890–$3,825 for 2–3 bedrooms. Their route-level quote data (updated this week) shows the spread by method:
| Route | Full-service (2–3BR) | Container | Rental truck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tulsa to Dallas (257 mi) | $1,798–$5,055 | $941–$3,047 | $345–$877 |
| Tulsa to Denver (692 mi) | $2,681–$6,531 | $1,112–$3,771 | $596–$1,527 |
The Undergrads comparison: for moves leaving Oklahoma, the cheapest structure that still involves professionals is a rental truck or container plus a loading crew on the Tulsa end and an unloading crew at the destination. Our crews handle the load-only and unload-only halves at the same locked hourly rate as any local job.
The costs that don't show up in the headline number
Packing. Full packing service adds $425 (1-bedroom) to $4,250 (4–5 bedrooms) in Tulsa per moveBuddha, and every tracked Tulsa mover offers it. Packing yourself is the single biggest lever on the bill; materials for a 2–3 bedroom run $100–$350.
Stairs and elevators. Tulsa movers commonly charge $50–$75 per flight and $50–$100 for elevator handling. (We charge neither; the locked rate is the rate.)
Peak season. May through September runs 20–30% higher across the industry, and more than 60% of U.S. moves squeeze into that window. Tulsa adds its own spike when University of Tulsa and ORU move-ins land on top of August lease turnover.
Storage. Mover-provided storage runs $170–$1,020 a month in Tulsa. A self-storage unit runs $50–$300 nationally; if there is a gap between homes, price both.
The 60-cent rule. Oklahoma writes basic valuation into state rule: on an intrastate move your mover pays $0.60 per pound per damaged article unless you select full-value protection in writing, and the mover may not charge extra for the released-value option. Sixty cents a pound means a 100-pound dresser is worth $60 on paper. If your things are worth more than their weight, ask about full-value coverage (typically about 1% of declared value) before move day, not after.
Tips. Not required, always appreciated: the going rate is $4–$5 per mover per hour on local moves.
How to keep your Tulsa move cheap
Move mid-week and mid-month if you can; weekends and month-end book out first and price highest, and October through April is the calm season. Book spring moves with a company that reschedules without penalty, because May and early June are storm season and a supercell does not care about your lease date. Declutter before you pack; every box you don't move is labor you don't pay for. Source free boxes from liquor stores, Nextdoor, and the Tulsa Buy Nothing groups. And rent the truck yourself: Tulsa rental bases run just $17–$60 a day per moveBuddha, which is exactly why labor-only moving is the cheap way through.
The bottom line
Tulsa is one of the most affordable major-metro moves in the country: about $90 an hour for a full-service crew, $250–$500 all-in for a typical apartment done labor-only, $500–$1,000 for a full-service two-bedroom, and $1,100+ once the house gets big. The spread between doing it all yourself and paying full freight is the labor model you pick, not the city.
That's the part Undergrads' Tulsa movers are built for: background-checked university-student crews at $45–$65 per mover-hour, locked before we start, with no stair fees and no surprises at the door, backed by the $50 Show-Up Guarantee and $1,000 damage protection. Rent the truck, get a Tulsa quote for the muscle, and keep the difference. The math is the argument.
