Moving Cost Calculator
The one-off cost of moving: movers, deposits, transport and setting up again.
Moving is funded from savings and repaid over months, and the bill is always bigger than the van. Deposits, agency fees, temporary accommodation and replacing what does not travel all land in the same four weeks.
Enter your estimates by category and this calculator totals the one-off cost and shows what it takes out of your savings.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Movers or van hire, Travel to the new place, Deposit and agency fees, Temporary accommodation, Setting up the new home, Other costs, Savings you can use
- What you get
- Total cost of the move, Of which never comes back, Share of your savings, Savings left afterwards
- Formula shown
- Yes - every step, right below your results.
- Cost and privacy
- Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.
See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓
Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Moving Cost Calculator
- 1 Enter Movers or van hire
- 2 Enter Travel to the new place
- 3 Enter Deposit and agency fees - Often refundable, but you have to find the money first.
- 4 Enter Temporary accommodation
- 5 Enter Setting up the new home - Utilities, internet, furniture, appliances, cleaning.
- 6 Enter Other costs - Registration, licences, storage, school fees, paperwork.
- 7 Enter Savings you can use
- 8 Press Calculate. You get Total cost of the move, Of which never comes back, Share of your savings, Savings left afterwards, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
- 9 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.
Worked examples
Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.
A short move with a $3,800 bill
Van hire, travel, a deposit and setup costs, funded from $5,000 of savings.
You enter
- Movers or van hire
- $800.00
- Travel to the new place
- $300.00
- Deposit and agency fees
- $1,500.00
- Temporary accommodation
- $400.00
- Setting up the new home
- $600.00
- Other costs
- $200.00
- Savings you can use
- $5,000.00
You get
- Total cost of the move
- $3,800.00
- Of which never comes back
- $2,300.00
- Share of your savings
- 76.0%
- Savings left afterwards
- $1,200.00
The move costs $3,800 in total, and $2,300 of that never comes back because the $1,500 deposit should be returned when you leave. It uses 76% of the savings you set aside and leaves $1,200.
A long-distance move for $8,200
Professional movers, temporary accommodation and a larger deposit, funded from $12,000 of savings.
You enter
- Movers or van hire
- $2,200.00
- Travel to the new place
- $900.00
- Deposit and agency fees
- $2,000.00
- Temporary accommodation
- $1,200.00
- Setting up the new home
- $1,500.00
- Other costs
- $400.00
- Savings you can use
- $12,000.00
You get
- Total cost of the move
- $8,200.00
- Of which never comes back
- $6,200.00
- Share of your savings
- 68.3%
- Savings left afterwards
- $3,800.00
The total is $8,200, of which $6,200 is gone for good once the $2,000 deposit is set aside. That is about 68% of the savings, leaving $3,800 as the buffer for the first weeks in the new place.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is the deposit counted in the total but shown separately?
Because you have to find it either way. The total cost of the move adds every category together, deposit included, since that money has to be in your account on moving day. The line showing what never comes back subtracts the deposit, because a deposit is normally returned when you leave with the place in good order.
Returned is not the same as immediate or automatic. The deposit can be held for weeks after you move out and part of it can be claimed for cleaning, damage or unpaid bills, so keep it in your plan as money that is tied up rather than money you can spend.
Which one-off costs are easiest to forget?
Registration and licence changes, storage between two addresses, a professional clean of the old place, connection or activation fees for utilities and internet, replacing furniture that does not fit or is not worth transporting, and extra travel between the two places before the move happens. None of them is large on its own, which is exactly why they get missed.
The calculator has an other costs field for precisely this. Add the items you already know about, then keep a running list in the weeks before the move and update the field rather than hoping the estimate covered them.
How much of my savings should a move use?
The share of savings line is the one to watch. Spending most of your savings on the move leaves you with no buffer for the first weeks in the new place, when deposits have gone out, the first bills have arrived and any gap in income has not yet been filled.
A move is also the moment when an emergency fund matters most, because a boiler, a car or a job can go wrong while you are still settling in. If the move would take almost everything, the Emergency Fund Calculator shows what rebuilding the buffer takes.
Should the first month of rent go in here?
No, this calculator is for one-off costs. The first month of rent, the first utility bills and the first food shop all fall due immediately after the move and belong in the monthly budget for the new address, not in the cost of getting there.
Treat the savings left afterwards as the money that has to cover both the shortfall while you settle and any month where the new costs arrive before the new income does. If it will not, the honest fix is to cut a category above, most often by moving less furniture.
Terms used here
Short, plain-language definitions of the words this calculator uses.