Governor Schwarzenegger - The Costs of Moving To or Renting in Sacramento

This release details the costs of moving Schwarzenegger's household goods and personal effects to Sacramento. It also mentions the costs of renting a house in the area for an extended period of time.

In many respects, incoming Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is no different from any other employee relocating. There are basic costs involved in his relocation which will have to be incurred around the time of his inauguration in two weeks. At the most basic level, he will need a moving company to transport his household goods and personal effects, and temporary housing for several months if a residence is to be purchased. We will explore these issues to give a better idea of the costs involved in a move to Sacramento for this new governor.

Typical moving allowances for many California state employees is 11,000 lbs and federal employees are limited to 18,000 lbs of personal effects (clothing, furniture, and any other types of household goods). Exceptions can be made with form # Std256. Someone with four children is bound to have a larger amount of household goods. So by taking into account the family size and the estimated annual income of our incoming Governor, his family may have close to 34,000 lbs. A move from Malibu to Sacramento is 402 miles. So the cost for this type of move would cost approximately $10,500.

Another option instead of moving everything to Sacramento might be to rent a house suitable for the Governor. To rent a 4 bedroom house within 15 minutes of the Capital (in the Natomas area) might cost $4200 per month. This would have room for the children and also have room for cabinet members and security that might be with with the Governor.

Other factors include which schools his children will attend (he has four children). Of course, Governor Schwarzenegger may choose to have a trailing spouse, who will stay in Southern California for several months while the children finish out the school year. Almost 50% of relocations occur in the months between Memorial Day and Labor Day, largely due to the break in school for those children not attending year round school.

The Move Management Center offers employee relocation services to a wide number of corporations and government agencies. The company was founded in 1963 and has its headquarters in Burlingame, CA.