Moving Season 2012 Infographic – Numbers talk

UPDATE: See the amazing new home moving statistics for 2017.

Another moving season flew by. The year of 2012 was marked by a significant milestone for the moving industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration now has the authority to order household goods carriers to release consumer property being held hostage. Ms Anne Ferro, Administrator at FMCSA urges consumers who have complaints to inform the Agency.

As we are always engaged to provide you with interesting facts about the moving business, we decided to reveal the numbers behind the moving season for the year of 2012. We gathered and analyzed all the numbers coming from the reviews that people wrote and quotes filled in during 2012. Then, we organized the information in a few categories. And finally, we made an infographic, so we can draw you the picture. So skipping the fancy talk, let the numbers do the talking.

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Migration Flows

So where did people move to last year? Well figuratively speaking, people moved south and west. Inbound states, with a higher percentage people moved to are  Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Washington. On the other hand, outbound states with a higher percentage of people who moved out are Mississippi, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Now let’s see the most popular routes in the moving business for 2012:

• New York to Florida
• Massachusetts to New York
• New York to Illinois
• California to Texas
• New York to California

And the least busy routes were:

• Texas to Maryland
• Tennessee to California
• New York to Arizona
• North Carolina to Georgia
• Missouri to Texas

And when it comes to local moves, for every American who moved locally, within the state, two others moved interstate. California takes first place when it comes to intrastate relocation. We guess Californians like to move it, move it. The top 10 states with highest percentage local moves for 2012 are  California, New York, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey. As a whole, it seems that those living on the East Cost move more often.

And the ten most common cities to move to, that people who filled our quotes picked, were: New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Atlanta, Austin and Denver. 5 out of the top 10 cities are in California and Texas. Interesting is the case of Los Angeles. The second most populous city in the USA comes to be the sixth most wanted one to move to in 2012 after Houston, TX and Boston, MA. Other  milestones that couldn’t be overlooked in our  top 10 are Atlanta’s 8 and Denver’s 10 place. With a population of less than a million, these cities seem to have what it takes to attract people.

Let’s talk about money

After revealing the most popular routes in the moving business for the year of 2012, let’s see how much, on average, did Americans spend on their move. Those who relocated on the East Coast have paid from $1800 to $3600 on average, depending on the size of their property – 1 or 2 bedroom. Moving on the West Coast seems to be more expensive. For 2012, prices for the moving service started from $1800 to $5000 on average, once again for 1 or 2 bedroom property. As a whole, those who endeavored a cross country relocation paid from $1500 to $6800 on average to move their 1/2 bedroom home.

Time – it’s always about the right time

Now let’s find out when people relocate. What does the data say? 36.4% of the moves happened during Fridays and Saturdays. On the other hand, Sunday and Tuesday were the least preferred days for a move. 51.8% of the moves happened in the period from May to August. The busiest month in the moving industry was June – 14.7% of all the moves happened then. And, the least busy month for movers was (without any surprise) – December – 2.4% of the moving jobs took place in that month.

The moving experience

56.7% of the people who wrote a review on their movers reported that movers managed to arrive on time on moving day, but less than half of the movers kept their agreement and arrived on time to deliver the shipment. 11.1% didn’t show up and 34.8% were late on delivery day. It seems that movers need to work on their punctuality a little more.

More than half of the reviewers reported no issues regarding property damages Actually, 14.7 % of the people who wrote a review on their movers reported stolen items.

So what do you think? What are your predictions for moving season 2013?

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