Top 10 Longest US Interstate Moving Routes by Distance
Interstate moving route distance rankings derived from the PlainMove route database, ranking city-pair moving routes by total driving miles between origin and destination. Updated automatically as PlainMove's underlying data refreshes.
Research period:
Research question
Across the 2,400+ city-pair moving routes tracked in PlainMove's route database, which routes show the longest driving distances, and how does distance correlate with the modeled cost of moving a typical 2-bedroom household between those city pairs?
Methodology
This ranking is generated live from PlainMove's own route database, sorted by driving distance between city centroids. Distances are calculated using the haversine great-circle formula between US Census Bureau geographic reference points; the associated 2-bedroom move costs are modeled from BLS wage data combined with distance and a typical 2-bedroom household weight estimate. No figure here is hardcoded, every number reflects the current state of PlainMove's database and updates automatically as the underlying data refreshes.
Routes with no available distance data are excluded from this ranking rather than shown with a placeholder value. See the methodology page for the full cost model and update cadence.
Top 10 Longest US Interstate Moving Routes by Distance
Live data, refreshed automatically as PlainMove's underlying data updates
The ranked top 10
These 10 rows update automatically as PlainMove's underlying data refreshes.
| # | Origin | Destination | Distance (miles) | Driving hours | 2-BR move cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honolulu | Boston | 5,082 | 101.6 | $9,462 |
| 2 | Boston | Honolulu | 5,082 | 101.6 | $9,462 |
| 3 | Honolulu | New York | 4,960 | 99.2 | $9,247 |
| 4 | New York | Honolulu | 4,960 | 99.2 | $9,247 |
| 5 | Honolulu | Philadelphia | 4,912 | 98.2 | $9,163 |
| 6 | Philadelphia | Honolulu | 4,912 | 98.2 | $9,163 |
| 7 | Honolulu | Miami | 4,857 | 97.1 | $8,381 |
| 8 | Miami | Honolulu | 4,857 | 97.1 | $8,381 |
| 9 | Honolulu | Baltimore | 4,846 | 96.9 | $9,047 |
| 10 | Baltimore | Honolulu | 4,846 | 96.9 | $9,047 |
Source: PlainMove route distance and cost model, built from US Census Bureau geographic data and BLS wage data. Figures update automatically as PlainMove's underlying data refreshes. PlainMove route distance and cost model, built from US Census Bureau geographic data and BLS wage data. Figures update automatically as PlainMove's underlying data refreshes.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked record in this dataset is Honolulu, with a value of 5,082 on the Distance (miles) column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes directly from the current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the PlainMove publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (5,082) and the 10th-ranked record (4,846) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The distances in this ranking are PlainMove's own calculation, not a third-party publication: haversine great-circle distance between US Census Bureau city reference points, with costs modeled from BLS wage data. PlainMove keeps this current as new federal wage and geographic data becomes available. See the methodology page for the full cost model.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
Route distances are computed as the practical driving distance between city centroids using standard interstate highway routing. They do not reflect alternative routings selected by individual carriers (which can favor different highway corridors for fuel stops, weight restrictions, or hazmat compatibility). 2-bedroom move cost estimates are modeled from a combination of distance, origin and destination hourly rates, and weight estimates for a typical 2-bedroom household (7,500 lbs); actual line-haul charges in published interstate moving tariffs vary by carrier, by season, and by the inclusion or exclusion of packing services, insurance, and accessorial charges. The longest routes in the database are predominantly cross-country pairings (East Coast to West Coast, mainland to Florida and the Northwest); shorter intra-regional routes dominate the actual customer base.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 routes by modeled 2-bedroom interstate move cost
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics - https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- U.S. Census Bureau, geographic reference data - https://www.census.gov/