The 2026 San Diego Moving Report
What 600+ completed moves reveal. An analysis of local, commercial, and long-distance moves completed across San Diego County between August 2025 and August 2026.
Key findings
- Local moves dominate. 60% of the moves analyzed were local, 37% commercial, and under 4% long-distance.
- Residents and businesses move on different days. Saturday was the single most popular day for residential moves (18%), and about 30% happened on weekends. Commercial moves clustered midweek, with only 9% on a weekend.
- Most local moves are short. Among local moves with a recorded door-to-door distance, the median was about 8 miles.
- Demand is steady year-round, with only a mild summer lift once labor and clean-out jobs are set aside.
What San Diegans hire movers for
Of the 611 completed moves in the dataset, six in ten were local household moves. Commercial and office relocations made up a large minority, and long-distance moves were a small share.
When San Diego moves
A common assumption is that everyone moves on weekends. The data tells a more specific story: it depends on whether the mover is a household or a business. Residential moves were spread across the week and peaked on Saturday, while commercial moves concentrated midweek to avoid disrupting business.
| Day | Residential | Commercial |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | 10% | 12% |
| Tue | 13% | 16% |
| Wed | 13% | 26% |
| Thu | 17% | 17% |
| Fri | 16% | 19% |
| Sat | 18% | 6% |
| Sun | 12% | 4% |
Residential n = 365 · Commercial n = 224. Bars scaled for readability.
How far a San Diego move travels
For local moves with a recorded origin-to-destination distance, the typical (median) move covered about 8 miles door to door, with the middle half falling between roughly 2 and 19 miles. Long-distance moves in the dataset ran a median of about 350 miles.
About 27% of local moves had no recorded door-to-door distance (same-site relocations or missing geocoding) and are excluded from the distance figure. The long-distance sample is small (n = 22), so treat that median as directional.
Is there a moving season?
For moves specifically (setting aside labor-only and clean-out jobs), monthly volume was fairly steady, ranging from about 39 to 63 completed moves per month, with a modest lift in the summer. This is a milder seasonal pattern than the industry's reputation suggests, at least within this dataset.
Methodology
Figures are drawn from Gorilla Movers' own operating records (its Supermove CRM) and cover 611 completed moves with a job start date between August 2025 and August 2026. A “move” is a completed project categorized as a local, commercial, or long-distance move. The following were excluded: labor-only, packing-only, and storage-only jobs; clean-outs and junk removal; survey appointments and equipment pickups; partner/white-label work; and cancelled or incomplete records. All figures are aggregates; no individual customer, address, or price is reported.
Limitations
- This is a single company's dataset. It reflects Gorilla Movers' customer mix, not an industry-wide survey of San Diego.
- It covers a trailing 12 months during a period of business growth, which affects month-to-month volume comparisons.
- The local distance figure excludes the 27% of local moves with no recorded mileage.
- The long-distance sample is small (n = 22).
Journalists, researchers, and others are welcome to cite this report as “Gorilla Movers, 2026 San Diego Moving Report.” Questions about methodology: 619.600.5000.
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