What A Move In
North Park Costs
2 movers at $119 an hour cash, 4 to 5 hours for a 1 bedroom apartment near 30th, which is $476 to $595 in labor. A 2 bedroom craftsman bungalow runs 3 movers at $169, 4 to 5 hours, $676 to $845. Both plus a flat $75 fuel fee, on our own ladder, which runs to $269 an hour cash for five movers.
By the Discount Movers Team · Updated August 2026 · CAL-T #201759 issued by the BHGS · US DOT #4372335 · BBB A+ Rated
The Direct Answer
The Arithmetic,
Done Out Loud
For a 1 bedroom apartment near 30th, plan on 2 movers at $119 an hour cash for 4 to 5 hours, which is $476 to $595 in labor. A 2 bedroom craftsman bungalow is 850 cubic feet, which crosses our 7 hour escalation line on two movers, so it runs 3 movers at $169 for 4 to 5 hours, $676 to $845. Both come with the flat $75 fuel fee, and the three hour minimum is $357 on two movers and $507 on three, if the job finishes early.
That is our own ladder, from $119 an hour cash for two movers up to $269 for five. We publish it, which most San Diego movers do not. There is no deposit at any point, and nothing is charged before move day.
What moves this number in North Park: Contested street parking, narrow doorways in the period stock, and mature canopy limiting truck height on several blocks.
The Local Detail
Why North Park
Is Its Own Number
The alley is frequently a better approach than the street here, and it is the first thing we work out.
Our North Park movers page covers the access street by street, the full rate card is one page, and the instant estimate returns a crew size and an hourly rate in about 30 seconds.
The alley is 20 feet wide, and that decides where the truck stands
North Park blocks are laid out with alleys running behind them, and the garage sits at the rear off the alley rather than facing the street. A City of San Diego alley is improved to 20 feet within a 20 foot right of way, and a box truck fills that width. No passing room, no turnaround, no shoulder. Once we commit to an alley we back it out or run the block, and a parked van or a row of bins can close the approach.
Because the garage is at the alley and the frontage has no driveway, the truck usually stands at the curb rather than on the property. In our estimator that is a long carry, 0.15 off the access factor at the North Park end, and it applies here more often than where a truck reaches a garage door.
On a 1 bedroom at 450 cubic feet with 2 movers, a clean 1.0 both ends is (225 / 120) + (225 / 120) = 3.75 hours. Add the carry and the load side becomes 225 / (120 x 0.85), about 4.08 hours. At $119 an hour cash that is about $486 plus the flat $75 fuel fee, past the $357 three hour minimum.
Bungalow courts: tell us which unit before you take a number
Bungalow courts are a common North Park housing form. Small one story units sit around a shared courtyard or walkway, set back from the sidewalk. The address is one street number, but the units behind it are not equally reachable. When yours is third or fourth back, every trip to the truck is a long carry and nothing shortens it. So we ask which unit before putting hours on a court address.
A studio at 350 cubic feet with 2 movers at a clean factor is (175 / 120) + (175 / 120) = 2.92 hours, under the minimum, so it bills at $357 plus the $75 fuel fee, $432. Set that studio back from the sidewalk and the load side becomes 175 / (120 x 0.85), about 3.17 hours, past the minimum at about $377 plus $75.
The single story is where North Park gives time back
Most of what gets written about older neighborhoods lists things that make the day longer. North Park has one feature running the other way. A one story bungalow takes no stair deduction at all, and that is the offsetting saving.
Compare 850 cubic feet with 3 movers at a clean 1.0 both ends: (425 / 220) + (425 / 220) = 3.86 hours, about $652 at $169 an hour cash plus the $75 fuel fee. Put that load into a second floor unit and one flight up costs 0.15, so that side becomes 425 / (220 x 0.85), about 4.20 hours, roughly $57 more. Two flights costs 0.30, the side becomes 425 / (220 x 0.70), about 4.69 hours, roughly $140 more than the flat version. When both ends are single story you keep the saving twice.
Where a North Park two bedroom crosses to three movers
The 2 movers at $119 an hour cash figure above belongs to the one bedroom end of the range and to the smaller bungalow. A full 2 bedroom does not stay there, and our own estimator says so.
A 2 bedroom is 850 cubic feet. Two movers work at 120 cubic feet an hour, so a clean job is (425 / 120) + (425 / 120) = 7.08 hours, and our rule escalates a two man crew to three at 7 hours. That happens before any North Park access penalty. At three movers the load is (425 / 220) + (425 / 220) = 3.86 hours, about $652 at $169 an hour cash plus the $75 fuel fee.
Add the curbside carry at the North Park end and it is about 4.20 hours, roughly $710 plus $75. Move between two North Park addresses and the carry applies at both ends, 425 / (220 x 0.85) twice, about 4.55 hours, roughly $769 plus $75. The three hour minimum at three movers is $507. A bigger crew finishing sooner is not a markup, it is the same work in fewer hours.
Elevator addresses on the boulevard corridors
Not every North Park address is a bungalow. Apartment buildings along El Cajon Boulevard, University Avenue and 30th Street can have an elevator, which takes 0.15 off the access factor at that end. We do not assume either way about a particular building, so tell us and we will price it.
An elevator and one flight of stairs carrying up cost the same 0.15 here. On an 850 cubic foot 2 bedroom with 3 movers, an elevator at one end makes that side 425 / (220 x 0.85), about 4.20 hours, roughly $710 at $169 an hour cash plus the $75 fuel fee. Such an address often carries a long carry too, since the loading point and the elevator door are rarely the same place. Stacked, that is a 0.70 factor: about 4.69 hours, roughly $793 plus $75.
The load size that becomes two trucks
One truck holds 1,800 cubic feet, and the truck count is the cubic feet divided by 1,800, rounded up. A 3 bedroom at 1,400 cubic feet is one truck. A 4 bedroom at 2,000 cubic feet is two trucks, plainly, and adds a $150 second truck fee plus a second $75 fuel charge, $300 above the labor.
The 3 bedroom with 3 movers and the carry at the North Park end is 700 / (220 x 0.85) plus 700 / 220, about 6.93 hours, roughly $1,171 at $169 an hour cash plus one $75 fuel fee. The 4 bedroom needs 4 movers, since three would run about 9.09 hours and our rule escalates at 9. At four it is 1000 / (275 x 0.85) plus 1000 / 275, about 7.91 hours, roughly $1,732 at $219 an hour cash, plus $75 fuel, plus the $150 second truck, plus the second $75 fuel charge.
City of San Diego, no permit sticker, and how we come in
North Park is inside the City of San Diego, not unincorporated county, and the community plan area runs to Interstate 805 on the east, Park Boulevard on the west, Juniper Street on the south and the hills above Mission Valley on the north.
One thing that costs you nothing here: North Park residential blocks are not in a residential permit parking district, so there is no permit sticker for the truck. Hillcrest, over the far side of Park Boulevard, is a permit area. Customers assume the rule covers both. It does not.
From our yard on Miramar Place the approach is I-805 south to the University Avenue or El Cajon Boulevard interchange, with SR-163 and I-8 as alternates. We will not put a drive time in writing, because we cannot measure yours.
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