The Cheapest Day to Move in NYC: Day-of-Week & Time-of-Month Data From 3,504 Real Moves
Updated September 2026 · 3,504 priced NYC moves with scheduled dates · 9,591 dated move requests · Free to cite with attribution
Key numbers
In real MOVD move data, Sunday is the cheapest day of the week to move in NYC — a $733 median vs $819 on Friday, the priciest and busiest day. But the calendar date matters more than the weekday: moving at the turn of the month (the last 3 days plus the 1st) costs a $943 median — 32% more than every other date ($713), because 31% of NYC moves are squeezed into that lease-cycle window. Mid-month (the 11th–20th) is the cheapest stretch at $674, and weekend moves actually run ~4% cheaper than weekdays. Every figure comes from real, anonymized MOVD quote and booking records — not surveys or estimates.
Key Findings
The date of the month moves the price more than the day of the week. The whole day-of-week spread is 12% (Sunday $733 to Friday $819). The turn-of-month spread is 32% ($713 to $943). If you can only change one thing about your moving date, move it off the 1st.
The lease cycle crams 31% of moves into ~4 days. The last three days of the month plus the 1st hold 31.3% of all scheduled moves — about 2.4× the normal daily volume. That crunch is when trucks, crews, and freight elevators are scarcest, and the prices show it.
Weekends are not the expensive choice in NYC. Weekend moves run a $753 median vs $784 on weekdays — about 4% cheaper. The standard national advice to move midweek assumes demand peaks on weekends; in NYC demand peaks at the lease turn, whatever weekday it lands on.
Sunday is the quiet day. Only 10.9% of NYC moves are scheduled on a Sunday — the lowest share of any day — and it carries the lowest median price ($733). Friday is the opposite corner: the most-booked day (19.9%) and the priciest ($819).
Mid-month is the value window. Moves on the 11th–20th run a $674 median — 26% below the late-month stretch ($852) — and only a quarter of moves happen then, so good crews have real availability.
What a Move Costs by Day of the Week
Median flat-rate price, typical range (25th–75th percentile), and share of scheduled moves for each day of the week, across 3,504 priced NYC moves in 2025–2026:
| Move day | Median price | Typical range | Share of moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | $759 | $563–$1,104 | 15.4% |
| Tuesday | $812 | $602–$1,258 | 12.9% |
| Wednesday | $761 | $572–$1,099 | 11.9% |
| Thursday | $749 | $565–$1,029 | 12.5% |
| Friday | $819 | $610–$1,116 | 19.9% |
| Saturday | $768 | $597–$1,059 | 16.6% |
| Sunday | $733 | $582–$982 | 10.9% |
Share of moves uses the wider 9,591-request sample with scheduled dates. Tuesday's high median reads as a turn-of-month artifact — 1st-of-the-month dates land midweek as often as not — rather than anything about Tuesdays; the day-of-week spread is small next to the date-of-month spread below.
Time of Month: Where NYC Prices Actually Swing
The same moves grouped by when in the month they happen — first the broad thirds of the month, then the turn-of-month lease-cycle window specifically:
| Time of month | Median price | Typical range | Share of moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early month (1st–10th) | $720 | $560–$1,019 | 28.4% |
| Mid-month (11th–20th) | $674 | $534–$953 | 24.7% |
| Late month (21st–end) | $852 | $640–$1,212 | 47% |
| Lease-cycle window | Median price | Typical range | Share of moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn of the month (last 3 days + the 1st) | $943 | $712–$1,345 | 31.3% |
| All other dates | $713 | $544–$983 | 68.7% |
Nearly half of NYC moves (47%) happen in the last third of the month, and the four-day turn window alone holds 31% — the single most crowded, most expensive stretch of the moving calendar. Larger apartments also cluster at lease turns, so part of the premium is bigger jobs, not only tighter supply — the medians report what movers actually paid on those dates.
What This Means If You're Picking a Date
Lease starts on the 1st? You usually have a few days of overlap — use them. Moving on the 3rd–5th instead of the 1st puts you on the cheap side of a 32% price gap and out of the scramble for trucks and freight-elevator slots.
Have real flexibility? Aim mid-month, and don't pay extra to avoid the weekend — a mid-month Sunday is the cheapest square on the NYC moving calendar. Stack it with a cheap month (October's median is $495 in the full MOVD data study) and the savings compound.
Stuck with a turn-of-month date? Book earlier than you think you need to — that window runs 2.4× normal volume and crews sell out first. A flat-rate quote also matters most here: the price you book is binding, so the day-of scramble can't inflate your bill the way an hourly clock can.
Methodology
Figures are aggregated and anonymized from real MOVD quote and booking records for New York City moves, 2025–2026: 9,591 move requests with a scheduled move date, of which 3,504 carry a locked flat-rate price — a subset of the 10,233-request dataset behind the MOVD NYC moving-cost study. Prices are the flat-rate tier the customer selected (the mid-tier where none was chosen), grouped by the scheduled move date. All figures are medians with 25th–75th percentile ranges; demand shares use the wider dated-request sample. Observational data: MOVD flat rates carry no day-of-week surcharge, so date-to-date differences reflect what actually moves on those dates — apartment size, season, and demand mix — not a calendar fee. The turn-of-month window is the last three calendar days of a month plus the 1st.
Cite This Data
This dataset is free to use for journalism, research, and analysis with attribution. Please credit "Movd NYC moving data" and link to this page:
Source: Movd NYC moving-day trends data, 2026 — https://www.movd.nyc/nyc-moving-day-trends