How Much Money Should I Save to Move Out of State
You accepted a job offer that requires you to relocate, you packed your bags to be closer to family or maybe you can’t afford a decent home in your neighborhood, regardless of your reason, you decided to move out of state and are now asking the burning question “How much money should I save to move out of state?”
In this post we are going to answer that question and cover what factors might effect that number, I am personally in the middle of planning an out of state move from my home in the NYC metro area to the Carolinas and will share my thoughts from my personal experience so let’s dive in.
Moving Expenses You Should Budget For
When moving out of state there are so many expenses to be mindful of and it can be easy to underestimate or completely overlook some of these costs so lets take a look at the list below to make sure everything is accounted for:
Moving Costs
Starting with one of the more obvious ones, you will need to make sure you have enough money set aside to hire professional movers from a trusted company with a good reputation. How much these out of state movers cost can vary greatly, it’s no surprise that moving from Pennsylvania to Arizona will be more expensive than moving from Florida to Georgia, but distance isn’t the only factor, it will be more expensive to move all of your stuff from a 3 bedroom house compared to a studio apartment.
In addition to distance and how much stuff you have another factor to consider is convenience, most moving companies, at least the ones I’ve dealt with, charge a premium for expediting your shipment versus offering an estimated delivery window, let me give you an example. When moving our stuff from our storage unit in the NYC metro area to the Carolinas, moving companies offered us two options for shipping our stuff:
An expedited or “direct” option that guaranteed our stuff would arrive at it’s destination within 24-48 hours of pick up. This option was usually twice as much as the next option but offered way more convenience and peace of mind.
A delivery window which couldn’t guarantee a day for our stuff to arrive at it’s destination, instead they gave us a time frame, most were between 3-10 days after picking up our stuff. This option was a lot cheaper but is definitely more stressful as you don’t have a solid idea of when your stuff will arrive, adding to the logistic headache.
In my situation, option 1 was way too expensive and option 2 was way too inconvenient so I chose option 3…do the move yourself! I priced out a U-Haul and decided to have some family and friends help load the truck, drive it down myself and hire some help on Task Rabbit!
Now to answer the original question of how much should you save for moving costs, it really depends on the factors I discussed above, how far is the move, how much stuff you have and if you are hiring professionals or opting to do it yourself. To give you an idea here is a link to a moving cost calculator to help determine which option is the best for you!
Rent or Mortgage Payment
When relocating to your new state it’s important to keep in mind how much your mortgage or rent payment will be and I recommend having enough money saved to cover your living expense for 3 months. This will relieve some pressure in the event you relocate to a new state without having a job lined up, or if you lose your job shortly after relocating you have a safety net while you figure out a plan. When we moved out of state our new rent was $1,700 so leading up to our move we saved about $5,000, but personal finance is exactly that…personal, everyone has different financial obligations so if you can’t swing 3 months worth of savings, try starting with at least 1 month, something is better than nothing!
Transportation Costs
When moving to your new state you’ll have to keep in mind your transportation costs. If you already have a car, you’ll need to have an idea of what gas prices are in your new state, are they about the same, are they noticeably cheaper or more expensive?
Also ask yourself how are you getting your car to your new state, will you hire a company to ship your vehicle? Or will tow it or drive it yourself?
If you rely on public transportation then you'll need to know how much the train pass, bus fare or any other modes of public transit are. Another thing to keep an eye out for is car insurance, it can be significantly cheaper or more expensive depending on the state. Below are two links showing the average gas price per state and car insurance cost per state, keep in mind the timing of the article as these numbers can and will change over time:
Car Insurance Rates by State (2024)
Gasoline Prices by State (2024)
Furniture
When moving out of state will you have to buy new furniture or do you already have furniture that you plan on shipping? Remember the more stuff you have to ship the more expensive your move will be, if you don’t have furniture already then you’ll need to budget for things like a dinning table, couch, TV stand, etc.
Food
Regardless if you dine out a lot or buy groceries to make homemade meals you’ll be spending money on food so do some research to get an idea of what your monthly grocery bill will look like in your new state. If you are moving from New York to Iowa you will be pleasantly surprised at your bill, but if you are moving from Ohio to New Jersey you might be in for some sticker shock. Below is a link to a list of the average cost of groceries per month by state:
