Are these movers affiliated with you?

No. We do not currently have affiliated partner movers. Directory listings are public records. A mover can claim a profile; until then the listing is unclaimed and is not an endorsement.

How does a mover get into the directory?

It can be listed as a public record, then claim and update the profile. Before we would accept anyone as a partner we would check authority, insurance, and complaint history. Homeowners never pay us.

Can I verify a carrier's credentials myself?

Yes, and you should. You can verify any carrier's authority at FMCSA's SAFER database (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) using the USDOT number shown on its profile. We run that check as part of the standard, but the record is public and worth confirming before you book.

Are these paid placements?

Members pay for membership and leads, which we disclose plainly. But nobody can pay to skip the standard, and Featured placement never overrides the match logic: fit for your move comes first.

Why does the directory split by move type instead of just listing everyone?

Because the checks that matter change with the job. An interstate carrier needs federal household-goods authority; a labor-only crew needs no motor-carrier authority at all and should be judged on liability and workers' compensation instead; a commercial mover is moving freight, not household goods, so the federal consumer protections don't reach it. One flat list would flatten those differences, and the differences are the point.

A carrier told me it doesn't have a USDOT number. Is that a red flag?

Not by itself. Federal registration attaches to interstate operation, and some states require it intrastate while others don't. A purely local mover in a state with no such rule can legitimately have none, and a load-and-unload crew that transports nothing generally has no reason to hold one. What you want is a straight answer about which authority the company does hold, and the ability to check it.

A public directory, not a partner network

Public listings. Not our staff, not our partners.

Carrier directories publish only claimed, authority-checked members with current billing. Unverified public records stay outside search and are not Union members; any request from one of those records comes to us so we can source an authorized carrier separately. Browse by move type or metro.

Own one of these companies? Claim the listing, verify the USDOT and the facts, then register to buy exclusive leads in your metros and corridors. Claim or add a listing · Register to buy leads.

No member carriers match that search yet.

The network covers more than the published roster.

Tell us about your move and we'll match you with vetted movers who serve your area, including members who haven't published a profile yet, each named before anyone calls.

Get matched instead

Eight categories, eight different checks

Start with the kind of move you're actually making

The directory is split by move type because the questions worth asking change with the job. An interstate carrier and a load-and-unload crew are held to entirely different standards, and lumping them into one list would hide the thing you came here to check. Each category page covers what the work involves, which licensing regime governs it, how carriers of that type bill, and what to ask before you book.

Local Moving

Hourly crews for same-metro moves — the category governed by your state, not by the federal rules most people have read about.

Long-Distance & Interstate

Moves that cross a state line — federal jurisdiction, weight-based pricing, and the one category where broker-versus-carrier decides everything.

Packing Services

Full, partial and fragile-only packing — where the important detail is not the boxes but whose hands filled them.

Moving & Storage

When closing dates do not line up — and the point at which carrier liability quietly becomes warehouse liability.

Senior Moving

Downsizing and later-life transitions — where two very different services share a name and only one of them holds the licence.

Piano Moving

Uprights and grands — a rigging job priced per instrument, where the free valuation is nowhere near the instrument's worth.

Labor-Only Help

You supply the truck or container, they supply the hands — the one category where no USDOT number is the correct answer.

Office & Commercial

Business relocations judged on downtime — commercial freight, where your contract replaces the consumer rules entirely.

The distinction that decides everything

Which rulebook covers your move

Almost every argument about whether a mover is “licensed” comes down to one question nobody asks first: does the move cross a state line? It is the fork in the road for the regulator, the credential, the paperwork you are owed and the protections you can fall back on. Most moving advice on the internet describes the interstate regime and is quietly wrong for the local move you are probably making.

Your move stays inside one state

Which moves: Local and regional moves that begin and end in the same state — the majority of moves in the country, and the ones people research least.
Who regulates it: Your state, not the federal government. Rules differ enormously: some states license household-goods carriers and publish a searchable register, others require nothing beyond ordinary business registration.
What the carrier must hold: Whatever your state issues — a certificate, a licence or a registration number. Several states also require intrastate carriers to hold a USDOT number, so a purely local mover may legitimately appear in federal records, or legitimately not.
What protects you: Set by state law, and thinner than most people assume. There is no federal rights booklet for an in-state move and no federal cap on what you can be required to pay at delivery. Your written estimate and scope do most of the work.
How to verify it: Ask for the state authority number, then check it against your state's register where one exists. If the carrier gives you a USDOT number, verify that too — an active status and a matching legal name, not merely a record that exists.

Your move crosses a state line

Which moves: Any household-goods shipment that begins in one state and ends in another, however short the distance.
Who regulates it: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. One rulebook nationwide, and a public record you can search before you sign anything.
What the carrier must hold: A USDOT number identifying the company, plus active for-hire operating authority for household goods, identified by an MC number. Brokers must register separately and must disclose that they are brokers.
What protects you: Substantially stronger. The mover must give you FMCSA's consumer booklet, must offer a choice between Full Value Protection and released value, is limited in what it can require you to pay at delivery against a non-binding estimate, and must offer a neutral arbitration programme for loss and damage.
How to verify it: Search the USDOT or MC number in FMCSA's public records. Confirm the authority is active, that it covers household goods, that insurance is on file, and that the legal name matches the company on your estimate.

Worked examples of both checks: USDOT number vs MC number, how to check if a moving company is licensed, and broker vs carrier, which is the distinction that turns a legal interstate move into a story about a truck nobody can find.

Use the roster properly

How to read a member profile

Every listing carries verifiable facts and nothing else. There are no star ratings here, no review scores and no invented tallies, because we hold no first-party review data on these companies and a rating we made up would be worth less than nothing. What a profile does give you is the set of identifiers you need to go and check the company yourself in public records.

USDOT number: The federal identifier for a company operating commercial vehicles, and the key you search FMCSA's public records with. Look up the number rather than the name: names and DBAs change, numbers do not.
MC number: For-hire operating authority. A carrier moving household goods across state lines needs it; a purely intrastate carrier normally will not have one. Holding a USDOT number is not the same as holding this.
State authority: The certificate, licence or registration a state issues to household-goods carriers, where the state issues one. This is the credential that governs a local move — the one most people never think to ask for.
Insurance on file: Confirmation that liability and cargo coverage were verified at vetting. It is a point-in-time check, so ask for a current certificate before move day, especially if months have passed.
Years in business: Time trading under the current name and authority. It matters because a pattern of complaints tends to follow a company until it re-registers under a new one, which is why the registration date on a federal record is worth reading alongside it.
Move types and service area: What the carrier is listed to do and where. A carrier that appears under a category it does not genuinely staff is a listing problem, and telling us is the fastest way to get it corrected.

One engine, every page

The band below is the informational national range for a full local household move, computed from the single calibrated source every page on this site reads — so no two pages can quote you different numbers. Moving Union does not price moves; the estimate tool does.

Typical local move

Studio / 1-bedroom: $400 – $900
2 – 3 bedroom home: $900 – $2,200
4-bedroom+ / full service: $2,200 – $5,000+

Informational ranges only, your actual price is set by the mover you hire after an inventory review.

Estimate your move cost

No pay-to-play vetting

How a mover earns the Union Verified badge

The same published 5-point standard behind every match is the bar a carrier clears to appear on this roster. A company can't buy its way in, and we re-check as records change.

License verified
Active USDOT / state operating authority on file.
Insurance confirmed
Liability + cargo coverage checked before matching.
Complaint history
FMCSA and BBB complaint records reviewed.
Review quality
Genuine, recent reviews across independent sources.
Years in business
Established track record, not a fly-by-night broker.

The full standard is documented in how we vet movers, and you can verify any carrier's authority yourself at FMCSA's SAFER database. Homeowners never pay Moving Union.

Directory questions

A roster that still protects your phone number

Are these movers affiliated with you?: No. We do not currently have affiliated partner movers. Directory listings are public records. A mover can claim a profile; until then the listing is unclaimed and is not an endorsement.
How does a mover get into the directory?: It can be listed as a public record, then claim and update the profile. Before we would accept anyone as a partner we would check authority, insurance, and complaint history. Homeowners never pay us.
Can I verify a carrier's credentials myself?: Yes, and you should. You can verify any carrier's authority at FMCSA's SAFER database (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) using the USDOT number shown on its profile. We run that check as part of the standard, but the record is public and worth confirming before you book.
Are these paid placements?: Members pay for membership and leads, which we disclose plainly. But nobody can pay to skip the standard, and Featured placement never overrides the match logic: fit for your move comes first.
Why does the directory split by move type instead of just listing everyone?: Because the checks that matter change with the job. An interstate carrier needs federal household-goods authority; a labor-only crew needs no motor-carrier authority at all and should be judged on liability and workers' compensation instead; a commercial mover is moving freight, not household goods, so the federal consumer protections don't reach it. One flat list would flatten those differences, and the differences are the point.
A carrier told me it doesn't have a USDOT number. Is that a red flag?: Not by itself. Federal registration attaches to interstate operation, and some states require it intrastate while others don't. A purely local mover in a state with no such rule can legitimately have none, and a load-and-unload crew that transports nothing generally has no reason to hold one. What you want is a straight answer about which authority the company does hold, and the ability to check it.