How Often Do People Move, and Can Movers Earn Repeat Customers?

The short answer: About 11.8% of Americans moved in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and most moved within the same state. Many will move again, often nearby. Movers can earn repeat customers, but the bigger win is staying in touch between moves so past customers also send you referrals.

Key Takeaways

• Mover rates depend on the survey: the ACS put it at 11.8% for 2024, while the Current Population Survey recorded a historic low of 8.7% in 2022.
• Most moves stay close: 53.5% of 2022 movers stayed in the same county, which means your past customers’ next move is likely in your service area.
• Homeowners wait longer between moves: NAR’s 2025 profile found sellers had owned their homes a record 11 years.
• Repeat business is slow; referrals are not: a customer may not move again for years, but they know people moving this year.
• Staying in touch is the whole game: about half of new referrals come from someone who has referred before.

How often does the average American move?

It depends on which survey you use, so always check the source behind the number. Here are the main figures and where they come from.

• American Community Survey, 2024: the Census Bureau’s ACS 1-year estimates show 11.8% of people moved in 2024, down from 12.1% in 2023. Of those, 8.9% of people moved within the same state and 2.1% moved to a different state.
• Current Population Survey, 2022: the Census Bureau’s CPS analysis put the 2022 mover rate at 8.7%, a historic low.
• Lifetime moves: the Census Bureau’s migration expectancy estimate says a person in the U.S. can expect to move 11.7 times in a lifetime. That figure is based on 2007 ACS data, so treat it as a long-run average, not a current rate.

For a moving company, the takeaway is simple. More than one in ten people moved in 2024, and moving is a repeat event across a lifetime.

Where do people move, and why does that matter for movers?

Most people move close to where they already live. That makes a past customer’s next move very likely to land in your service area.

According to the same CPS analysis, 53.5% of 2022 movers stayed in the same county. The most common reasons were housing (41.6%) and family (26.5%): a bigger place, a smaller place, a new baby, an aging parent. Those life changes hit your past customers and everyone around them.

So the customer you moved into a starter home three years ago is a real candidate for the move up. Their sister getting married is a candidate too. The question is whether they remember your name when it happens. That is why it pays to treat your existing customer base as a growth channel rather than a list of closed jobs.

How long do homeowners stay before moving again?

Longer than they used to. Homeowners are the slowest group to move again, which is why repeat business alone cannot carry a moving company.

The National Association of Realtors’ 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found sellers had owned their homes a record 11 years, and buyers expect to stay a median of 15 years. The same profile found 91% of sellers and 88% of buyers used a real estate agent, which is why agents are such valuable referral partners for movers.

Renters tend to move more often than that, and plenty of homeowners move sooner than they planned. But if you only count on the same customer hiring you again, you may wait a decade.

Can movers really earn repeat customers?

Yes, but think of it as repeat relationships, not just repeat jobs. The same customer may hire you again for their next move, a storage need, or a parent’s downsizing, and in the meantime they can send you referrals.

That is the lesson many home service companies learn the hard way about retention marketing in home services: the value of a past customer is not the next invoice. It is every move they influence while they wait for their own.

The numbers support it. Across 300+ moving companies on Snoball, about 50% of new referrals come from someone who has already referred at least once. A customer who sends one friend tends to send another. Keep that relationship warm and one move becomes several.

How do you stay in touch for years without being annoying?

Keep it personal, spaced out, and useful. Most customers welcome a check-in from a company that did good work for them. What they ignore is a generic newsletter.

• Right after the move: check in on how things went and fix anything that went wrong.
• A few weeks later: ask for a Google review while the experience is fresh.
• Every few months: a short, personal note, with a referral ask when the conversation is warm.
• Around life moments: move anniversaries and the start of a new year are natural reasons to say hello.

The slow months are the best time to begin. A simple off-season plan for movers gives you a month-by-month rhythm for those check-ins.

What can you do this week?

Pull every customer you have moved in the last three years and sort them by move date. Anyone who has not heard from you since moving day is the first group to call or text, with a simple, personal check-in.

Then flag the customers who have referred before. They are the most likely to do it again, so thank them first and keep them close. Winning the next move starts long before anyone packs a box.