As broad planning ranges, published industry figures put a short, transport-only move of a single-wide mobile home in the low thousands of dollars, a full-service single-wide move (transport plus disconnect and setup) commonly in the mid four figures to around the high four figures, and a full-service double-wide move typically from the high four figures well into five figures. Long routes, wide homes, and difficult sites push past every one of those brackets. The honest answer is a range until a professional quotes your exact home and route, and anyone who hands you one flat number before asking how wide the home is has told you something important about their quote.
This guide breaks the bill into the four families of cost that appear in nearly every quoted move, explains what moves each number, and shows you how to sanity-check any quote you receive. Where rules and fees vary by state, and most of them do, we say "typically" and point you to the authority that controls your case.
Why is there no single answer?
Because a mobile home move is not one service. It is a bundle of at least four:
- Transport: a toter rig, a qualified driver, and your home rolling on its own frame, axles, and tires.
- Permits: oversize authorization from each state the route crosses, because nearly every livable mobile home is wider than the standard legal load limit.
- Escorts: pilot cars that many states require once a load passes certain widths.
- Setup: everything that happens after the wheels stop, from blocking and anchoring to utility reconnects and inspection.
Each piece has its own price logic. Distance mostly drives transport. Width mostly drives permits and escorts. The destination site and local rules mostly drive setup. Two moves of the same distance can land thousands of dollars apart because of the tape measure and the county line, which is why our Move Cost Estimator asks for width before anything else.
What does transport itself cost?
Transport is usually priced as a hookup base plus a per-mile rate. The base covers mobilization: the rig, the crew, prepping the home to roll, insurance, and the first stretch of road. Typical published planning figures put the base in the range of roughly one to a few thousand dollars, with per-mile rates commonly in the mid single digits to low double digits for a single-wide and roughly double that for a double-wide, because a double-wide travels as two separate loads with two toters and two crews.
Three things reliably move the transport number:
- Width and length. Wider and longer homes need bigger equipment, more careful routing, and more time.
- Running gear condition. A home that has sat for fifteen years often needs tires, bearings, sometimes rented axles or a hitch repair before any transporter will hook on. This is the most common surprise line item in real moves, and it lands before the first mile.
- Access. Tight park lanes, soft ground, low branches, and steep driveways add crew time on both ends. Some of the hardest feet of a 200-mile move are the first hundred.
How much do permits add?
Federal rule sets the standard maximum vehicle width on the National Network of highways at 102 inches, which is 8 feet 6 inches; you can read the regulation yourself at 23 CFR Part 658. Nearly every livable mobile home is wider than that, so the move needs an oversize permit from each state it crosses. Permits are sold per state and per load, and each state prices by its own formula. As a planning figure, individual trip permits commonly run from tens of dollars to a couple hundred dollars per state per load.
The multiplication is what catches people. A double-wide is two loads, so a route across three states can mean six permits. The permit also controls more than the fee: it names the roads you may use, the hours you may travel, and the escort configuration required. Your state DOT's oversize and overweight permit office publishes the actual numbers, and our guide to permits and escort vehicles walks through how those rules scale with width.
When do escort cars enter the bill?
Escort requirements are set state by state, and they typically begin as loads pass about 12 feet wide, with more escorts, and in some cases police escorts, as widths climb toward 16 feet. Escort cars bill by the mile, commonly a few dollars per mile per car as a planning figure, so escorts scale with both width and distance. A wide home on a long route can carry an escort line item that rivals the base transport charge, and on a double-wide the requirement can apply to each half separately.
Because thresholds genuinely differ by state and even by road type within a state, treat any escort number as provisional until the transporter has run your actual route against the actual permits. That is not evasion; it is how the system works.
What does setup cost on the far end?
Setup is the half of the budget people most often forget, and it is not optional: transport ends with a home on wheels in a field. A setup crew blocks and levels the home, anchors it against wind, joins and seals the halves of a multi-section home, reconnects utilities, and sets steps and skirting, and most states require a final inspection before the home is occupied. The federal floor for how this work is done is the Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards at 24 CFR Part 3285, and most states license installers on top of it.
As planning ranges, published figures commonly put single-wide setup in the low-to-mid four figures and double-wide setup from the mid four figures into five figures, with soil conditions, anchor counts, skirting material, and local permit fees moving the number. Our Setup Cost Guide itemizes the far end line by line, and our article on what setup crews actually do explains each step in plain language.
What do the totals look like in practice?
Putting the families together, honest planning brackets look like this:
- Single-wide, short route, transport only: commonly low thousands.
- Single-wide, full service: commonly mid to high four figures once permits, any escorts, and setup are included.
- Double-wide, short route, full service: commonly high four figures to low five figures.
- Double-wide, long route, full service: five figures, sometimes well into them, because per-mile rates, permits, and escorts all run twice.
Treat those as brackets for planning, not promises. Published industry figures differ by source and by year, markets differ by region, and a single condition issue, a rural detour, or a difficult site can move a real quote outside any published range. The number that matters is a written, itemized quote for your home and your route.
How do you sanity-check a quote?
Ask for the quote broken into the four families: transport, permits, escorts, setup. An honest quote can always be decomposed that way, and the decomposition tells you where the money is going and what might change it. Then check three things:
- Is the width on the quote the width of your home? Everything downstream keys off it. Measure the box, not your memory of the listing.
- Who pulls which permits? The transporter typically pulls the state oversize permits; the destination placement or installation permit often lands on the homeowner. It should be in writing.
- Is the carrier real? Any interstate transporter should have an active USDOT number you can look up in FMCSA's public SAFER system, along with insurance they will document.
Frequently asked questions
Is it ever cheaper to sell the home and buy near the destination?
Sometimes, honestly, yes. When a long-distance double-wide move prices into the high five figures, comparing the quote against the home's market value on both ends is the responsible math. A good quote gives you the real number to make that call with, which is exactly why we push for itemized quotes instead of teaser figures.
Why do double-wides cost so much more to move than single-wides?
A double-wide separates at the marriage line and travels as two oversize loads, each with its own toter, driver, permits, and, where required, escorts. Much of the cost structure literally runs twice, and then the setup crew has to rejoin and seal the halves at the destination, which is skilled work single-wides never need.
Does the age of the home change the price?
Often, in two ways. Mechanically, older homes are more likely to need tire, bearing, axle, or frame work before they can roll. Legally, homes built before the federal HUD construction standard took effect on June 15, 1976 face placement restrictions in many parks and jurisdictions, which can constrain where the home may legally go. Our guide on whether a home can be moved covers both sides.
Can I save money by doing part of the move myself?
The realistic self-serve items are the ones around the move: clearing access, removing skirting and additions, packing out contents, and scheduling utility disconnects. The transport itself and the anchoring and utility work at setup are licensed, insured, specialized work in most states, and that is not where to economize. Use our Moving Readiness Checklist to see which items are genuinely yours.
When you are ready for a real number instead of a bracket, request a free haul quote. We review the width, the route, and the details, and a person answers honestly, including telling you plainly if we cannot cover your route yet.