Moving Companies in Portland, ME
Moving into or around Portland means dealing with narrow peninsula streets, old triple-decker stairwells, and unpredictable New England weather, all of which shape what movers charge.
The statewide average hourly rate is around $135 an hour for a truck and a two- to three-person crew, though the total depends heavily on home size.
| Home size | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| Studio / 1-bedroom | $550 - $900 |
| 2-3 bedroom | $1,200 - $2,500 |
| 4+ bedroom | $3,000 - $4,500+ |
| Long-distance (regional) | $3,500 - $5,500+ |
Local pitfalls to plan around
If you are moving on or off the peninsula, ask the city about a temporary parking permit so the truck has a legal spot on a narrow one-way street. Many historic buildings have steep stairwells with no elevator, so be upfront about your floor and hallway width when getting a quote, since tight stairs slow a crew down even at the same hourly rate. Most local companies also add a separate travel fee, often equal to about an hour of labor, to cover getting the truck to your address and back.
Winter and early spring moves add another wrinkle: icy walkways and snowbanks slow loading and raise the risk of injury, so keep paths shoveled and salted ahead of time.
To see who covers your neighborhood, check the movers listed below.
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Quotes from movers in Portland, ME
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Best Movers in Portland, ME
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What customers say in Portland, ME
Who's moving to Portland, ME
Federal tax-filer migration data for Cumberland County.
62% arrived from another state. Long-haul moves need a carrier with active interstate operating authority — plenty of local companies don't hold one.
See licensed movers38% of departures stayed under 50 miles. Short local moves are usually priced by the hour, so a regional company is often the cheaper call.
See the full picture — 5-year trend, state flows and top routes
Portland refills from a distance: nearby counties pull households out, and the rest of the country more than replaces them. Head count stayed flat all the same — arriving households are smaller (1.43 people on average) than the ones leaving (1.49), so the city gained homes without gaining residents.
Each bar shows that state's in/out split — rows are ranked by total volume.
Households arriving from another state report $99,053 in average annual income; those relocating from elsewhere in Maine report $64,806. Long-distance arrivals are the higher-budget half of the market.
How this works: IRS SOI County-to-County Migration Data, 2022-2023. The IRS compares the address on consecutive tax returns, so every move here is a real filed household. The catch: it publishes annually with about a two-year lag, counts Cumberland County rather than city limits exactly, misses people who don't file a return, and leaves 28% of moves unattributed to a specific county, because flows too small to publish are grouped into regional buckets instead. See the whole state on the Maine migration page →
How much truck space do you need?
I’m moving a that’s .
Industry rules of thumb — about seven pounds per cubic foot, and published rental-truck capacities. Not our carrier records, not a quote. Bring both numbers to the call and what you get back will finally be comparable.