How New York is built — and why it changes the price
About 8,478,000 people live in New York across 300 square miles, or some 28,217 per square mile. That is city-centre density: one-way streets, metered curbs and loading zones do more to shape a quote here than the size of the load.
Of the 3,649,896 housing units in New York, 62% are in buildings of five or more and just 9% are detached houses. Expect stairs and carry distance to move the price more than the size of the sofa does.
67% of occupied homes in New York are rented. Rental turnover is the steadiest source of removal work anywhere: the couch that will not fit the next place, the mattress nobody wants to move twice, and whatever was at the back of the closet. The median home here was built around 1952, when lifts were small and service entrances were an afterthought. Measuring the lift door before booking saves an argument later.
Measured from the city centre, our closest other coverage is Jersey City (7.4 miles), Newark (13 miles) and Stamford (35 miles). Pros work across those lines all day, so the bids on a New York job often come from trucks that started the morning somewhere else entirely.