Renting

Could Boston be in for a milder move-in day this year?

Plus, an interactive map to help you avoid the chaos.

By Caroline Bunnell

August 22, 2023

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email
• 1

It is almost that time of year again, when thousands of college students and renters make the move to new housing in Boston. 

The roads are flooded with moving trucks, sweaty, frustrated, and sleep-deprived people, and excess furniture, making it difficult to navigate the city. That’s not to mention the backups the inevitable “Storrowing” of a truck on Storrow Drive will cause.

To prepare Bostonians for the Sept. 1 crush, RentHop analyzed moving truck permits in Boston.

These were the top 10 ZIP codes with the highest number of permits issued so far this year:

Although Sept. 1 is consistently the busiest moving day in Boston, there are a number of other hot dates. The following table of the top six dates for 2023 reflects not when the permits were taken out, but when they will expire, which typically coincides with the actual moving day:

But could Boston be in for a milder move in day this year?

Overall, there have been fewer permits issued this year than in years past. Looking at the past five years, August 2021 tops the list with 6,198 permits. This month has seen only 2,722.

To help you avoid the madness, the website offered five suggestions:

1. Check when universities and schools have their move-in days.
2. Seek alternate routes using this map, which looks at the daily number of issued moving truck permits from Aug. 1 to Sept. 15:

3. Plan around potential delays.

4. Accept the fact and don’t panic or get angry.😲😡

5. Take advantage of the chaos and snag bargains during “Allston Christmas,” which gives a whole new meaning to the term “sidewalk sale.”