U.S. domestic transfers: Relocation statistics
Worldwide ERC members represent the large majority of organizations that manage significant relocation programs. 2011 U.S. domestic relocation statistics:
- $10 billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation by Worldwide ERC® member corporations
- $15,110,135: average annual amount each company spends to transfer its employees.
- 216,143: annual number of U.S. domestic transfers from Worldwide ERC® member companies
- Of the 216,143, approximately 1/3 are new hires (77,811) and 2/3 are current employees (138,332).
- Of the 216,143, approximately 38% (82,134) are homeowners and 62% (134,009) are renters.
Costs of U.S. domestic transfers*:
Current Employee Homeowner $90,081
New Hire Homeowner $69,020
Current Employee Renter $23,497
New Hire Renter $20,168
*Based on 2010 data
U.S. domestic transfers: Cost of shipping household goods
2010 - $12,230
2009 - $11,900
2007 - $11,680
2006 - $10,342
2005 - $9,514
2004 - $10,387
2003 - $9,745
2002 - $9,658
These costs vary by family size (bigger families typically have more household good to move) and homeowner status (homeowners typically have more household goods vs. renters).
U.S. domestic transfers: Number of days moving within the U.S.
On average, organizations permit their employees an average of just less than 2 weeks (12 days) to accept a formal transfer offer.
Once an employee accepts the transfer offer, employers are allowing the transferee an average of slightly over 4 weeks (30 days) to move and report to their new job.
U.S. domestic transfers: Relocation bonus
Transferees typically receive some type of miscellaneous allowance that they can spend as they see fit to
take care of incidentals they will incur in the new location such as getting new vehicle registrations, utility
hook-ups and carpet/drapery installations. This allowance is most often equal to one month of the employee's salary but did decrease 4 percent from the previous year.
U.S. domestic transfers: Outsourcing
Half of responding organizations fully outsource the mobility function and another 38 percent outsource selected aspects of the mobility function. Only 12 percent indicated that no aspects of the mobility function were outsourced.
The homesale program was the most commonly outsourced element of the mobility function—90 percent of organizations outsourcing one or more aspects of their mobility function, outsourced the homesale program. Other segments which were outsourced by a majority of respondents included household goods shipping, destination services and expense management.
U.S. domestic transfers: Cost per employee for in-state and out-of-state moves
Companies don’t typically look at moving costs based on in-state vs. out-of-state status. Companies move their
people wherever their facilities/offices are located or where project work is based. In addition, whether those
other offices/project work are in-state or out-of-state, the costs incurred would be similar given the fact the
employee’s household goods would still have to be packed and shipped, the employee would have to sell their
home and find and purchase a new one (or incur costs of lease breaking and get a new lease with deposits), etc.