Facts & Industry Statistics
U.S. domestic transfers: Relocation statistics
Worldwide ERC members represent the large majority of organizations that manage significant relocation programs. 2009 U.S. domestic relocation statistics:
- $25 Billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation
- $15 Billion: amount spent annually in U.S. on corporate relocation by Worldwide ERC® member corporations
- $16,110,641: average annual amount each company spends to transfer its employees.
- 287,000: annual number of U.S. domestic transfers from ERC member companies
- Of the 287,000, approximately 1/3 are new hires (94,710) and 2/3 are current employees (192,290).
- Of the 287,000, approximately 50% are homeowners and 50% are renters.
Costs of U.S. domestic transfers*:
Current Employee Homeowner $90,017
New Hire Homeowner $66,610
Current Employee Renter $20,750
New Hire Renter $17,877
Based on 2009 data
U.S. domestic transfers: Cost of shipping household goods
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 over 2 weeks (16 days) to accept a formal transfer offer.
Once an employee accepts the transfer offer, employers are allowing the transferee an average of slightly over weeks (29 days) to move to 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.
U.S. domestic transfers: Companies that buy homes from relocating employees
Most companies offer to purchase at least some employees’ homes if the employees’ cannot sell the home
on their own. To do this, most (about 70 percent) outsource the management of the homesale program.
About 10 percent keep it in-house.
Another 10 percent of organizations reimburse employees’ selling expenses only—they don’t offer to buy
the employees’ homes. About 5 percent doesn’t provide any type of homesale assistance to employees.
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.