How are local moving costs calculated in Georgia, and why does the 50-mile line change the math?

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A licensed Georgia mover prices an in-state move one of two ways, and distance decides which. If the move is 50 miles or less, you pay an hourly rate for a van and crew. If it is more than 50 miles, you pay a rate per 100 pounds of your shipment, set by mileage band. Both formulas come from DPS Maximum Rate Tariff No. 7, effective January 13, 2026.

How the distance is measured

The 50-mile test is not the mover’s estimate of the trip. Under Rule 570-38-3-.07(1), the distance comes from Google Maps or a similar mapping service giving the shortest driving directions, or from truck routing software such as Rand McNally. If you specifically ask the crew to take a longer route, the carrier may use the actual miles driven, and it may add a surcharge of up to 10 percent to the rate if the move could have been made over the shorter route without unreasonable risk of damage or loss to your goods.

A move of exactly 50 miles stays on the hourly side. The tariff applies hourly rates to moves “over a distance of 50 miles or less” and weight-and-distance rates to moves “over a distance of more than 50 miles”. Check the route yourself before you compare quotes, because two quotes built on different sides of the line are not comparable.

Fifty miles or less: van, crew, and hours

The hourly rate covers a van and a crew of a stated size in one figure. There is no separate truck charge on the hourly side. The ceiling for a van and two movers during regular weekday hours is $196.93 an hour, and it rises with each added mover; the full schedule, including the overtime ceilings, is in Georgia’s Maximum Rate Tariff and what it caps.

Your total is that rate times the billable hours. For example, imagine a four-hour weekday job with a van and two movers. At the ceiling, the labor and transportation would be four hours at $196.93, or $787.72. If the carrier bills the full hour of travel the rules allow for reaching your home, the most it could charge is $984.65.

What counts as billable time is fixed by rule rather than left to each company: when the clock starts, when it stops, how partial hours round, and which minimums apply. Those rules are explained in where the clock starts and stops on an hourly move. Because the bill follows the clock, the things that save money on this side are the ones that save time: boxes packed and sealed before the crew arrives, a clear path to the truck, and a crew sized to the job.

More than 50 miles: weight and distance

Past 50 miles, the same household is priced as freight. The carrier multiplies the weight of your goods by the tariff rate per 100 pounds for your mileage band. A shipment that weighs less than 1,000 pounds can be charged as 1,000 pounds.

One rule works in your favor. Heavier shipments get a lower rate per 100 pounds, and the tariff says that where your actual weight at your rate would cost more than the minimum weight of the next weight bracket at that bracket’s rate, the carrier “shall charge the customer for transportation at the next highest rate using the minimum applicable weight for that rate.” The tariff’s “Break Point” column shows where that starts. For a move of 51 to 60 miles, as read from the published tariff:

Shipment Rate per 100 pounds Charge
1,900 pounds at its own weight bracket $73.38 19 × $73.38 = $1,394.22
Charged as 2,000 pounds at the next weight bracket $59.79 20 × $59.79 = $1,195.80

The carrier must use the lower figure, $1,195.80. The break point for this bracket is 1,630 pounds, so any shipment from 1,630 up to 1,999 pounds is charged as 2,000 pounds at $59.79.

The weight has to be measured a specific way under Rule 570-38-3-.07(5):

  • The truck is weighed empty (tare) and again loaded (gross) by a certified weighmaster on a certified scale, and the difference is your net weight.
  • The weights go on the bill of lading, with a weight ticket attached.
  • If no qualifying scale exists within 10 miles of the origin, the carrier may use a constructive weight of seven pounds per cubic foot of properly loaded space.
  • You can ask for one reweigh before delivery, in your presence. The lowest net weight is used, and you pay the tariff’s reweigh charge only if the result does not change the weight by enough under the rule.

On top of the transportation charge, the tariff allows a fuel charge of no more than $1.51 per mile while your goods are on the road, and caps listed extras such as added stops, packing materials, and bulky articles like cars or boats. The tariff states the fuel rate per vehicle, while Georgia’s rules say the surcharge is assessed “once per shipment, regardless of the number of vehicles used”, so on a two-truck move ask how the fuel line was figured. On longer hauls, some waiting time is free: the first hour on moves of more than 100 but less than 200 miles, and the first three hours on moves of 200 miles or more.

Moving between Georgia metros

A move from Atlanta to Savannah, Augusta, or Columbus lands on the weight-and-distance side. Atlanta to Savannah is roughly 250 miles, Atlanta to Augusta roughly 150, and Atlanta to Columbus roughly 110, according to the Atlanta.com distance guide. For those moves, ask each mover for its estimated weight, the mileage it is using, the per-100-pound rate, and the fuel line, and compare those four numbers rather than the total alone.

Why the line changes the math

The 50-mile line is not a fee. It changes what you are buying. On the hourly side you are buying crew time, so preparation and access drive the bill. On the weight side you are buying hauling capacity, so what you choose to ship drives the bill, and an hour saved on loading does little to the total. A move of 48 miles and a move of 52 miles can look identical in your driveway and still be calculated under different rules.

A flat price that binds both you and the mover on an in-state move takes one specific form: a binding estimate written on DPS’s Uniform Estimated Cost of Services Form, under Rule 570-38-3-.08. Otherwise, measure the route, decide which side of 50 miles you are on, and read every quote against that formula. A move to or from a rural county adds its own travel and access questions, covered in how a rural Georgia move changes logistics and pricing.

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