Does an interstate mover have to be based near me?

No. Any moving company with active federal household goods authority can legally move you between any two states, regardless of where it is based. The address a carrier files with FMCSA is its business address, not a service area. A nearby company may be easier to meet in person and easier to pursue through your own state’s consumer-protection office, but being nearby is not a licence, and being far away is not a red flag.

What does “based near you” mean on this page?

It means the carrier reports a business address to FMCSA within the distance shown. Distances are measured from the centroid of that ZIP code, which is accurate to roughly half a mile to two miles in a city and can be more than fifteen miles out in rural areas. That is why results are grouped into distance bands rather than given as exact figures.

Why are results not sorted by distance?

Because a list ordered by distance reads as a ranking, and this site publishes no ranking of carriers. Results are grouped into distance bands and ordered alphabetically within each band. Being nearer is not a rating and not a recommendation.

What if no carriers are registered near me?

Nothing is wrong. Interstate carriers are unevenly distributed, and a place with no registered carriers is not a place without movers. Any of the 8,351 carriers holding active household goods authority nationally can handle a move between any two states.

Is my location sent anywhere?

No. The search runs entirely in your browser against a file downloaded from this site. Your coordinates are rounded before use, are never written into the page address, and are never sent to this site or anyone else — there is no server here to send them to.

Interstate household goods carriers

Which registered interstate movers are based near you?

8,351 moving companies currently hold active federal household goods authority. Search by ZIP code, city or state to see which of them report an address near you — along with what the federal record says about each one.

Moving within one state? Interstate authority doesn't apply — your state regulates that move. Start with your state’s regulator instead — here’s who that is and why.

Does a mover have to be near you?

No — and it is worth knowing why, because the assumption costs people money in both directions.

Interstate household goods authority is national. FMCSA does not issue a regional version of it, so a company holding active authority can legally move a household between any two states, wherever it happens to be based. The address on a carrier’s federal record is the business address it reports for registration and inspection. It is not a service area, and no federal dataset records one — because for interstate authority, there is nothing to record.

So a list of carriers “near” a place is a list of carriers registered there. That means:

What the address tells you

One ZIP code, in one state. The address a carrier files with FMCSA for registration and inspection.

What the authority allows

Any two states. Interstate household goods authority is national. FMCSA issues no regional version of it.

This is why a carrier being far away does not disqualify it, and why a place with no registered carriers is not a place without movers — all 8,351 authorized carriers can take the job.

A company two states away may quote your route more cheaply and is exactly as licensed. Excluding it costs you the better quote.
A place with no registered carriers is not a place without movers. Any of the 8,351 authorized carriers nationally can take the job.

Proximity is still worth something, just not as a licence. A nearby company can send an estimator to walk through your home — which produces a far better quote than a sight-unseen phone estimate — is somewhere you can visit before paying a deposit, and answers to a state consumer-protection office you can actually reach.

Read the full explanation, including who regulates a move inside one state →

Browse by state

Carriers by home state

Grouped by the physical address each carrier reports to FMCSA. An interstate carrier can move you anywhere in the country; its home state is where it’s based, not a limit on where it works.

Counts show carriers currently holding active authority.

Common questions

About searching by location

Does an interstate mover have to be based near me?: No. Any moving company with active federal household goods authority can legally move you between any two states, regardless of where it is based. The address a carrier files with FMCSA is its business address, not a service area. A nearby company may be easier to meet in person and easier to pursue through your own state’s consumer-protection office, but being nearby is not a licence, and being far away is not a red flag.
What does “based near you” mean on this page?: It means the carrier reports a business address to FMCSA within the distance shown. Distances are measured from the centroid of that ZIP code, which is accurate to roughly half a mile to two miles in a city and can be more than fifteen miles out in rural areas. That is why results are grouped into distance bands rather than given as exact figures.
Why are results not sorted by distance?: Because a list ordered by distance reads as a ranking, and this site publishes no ranking of carriers. Results are grouped into distance bands and ordered alphabetically within each band. Being nearer is not a rating and not a recommendation.
What if no carriers are registered near me?: Nothing is wrong. Interstate carriers are unevenly distributed, and a place with no registered carriers is not a place without movers. Any of the 8,351 carriers holding active household goods authority nationally can handle a move between any two states.
Is my location sent anywhere?: No. The search runs entirely in your browser against a file downloaded from this site. Your coordinates are rounded before use, are never written into the page address, and are never sent to this site or anyone else — there is no server here to send them to.

Authority and insurance records last pulled Sep 8, 2026. Carrier locations are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau ZIP Code Tabulation Area Gazetteer ZCTA file ; 59 carriers have no coordinate because their ZIP code has no Census boundary, and are omitted from proximity results only. How this is derived.