Moving to Adelaide from interstate: a practical guide

Adelaide in numbers

The Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the estimated resident population of Greater Adelaide at 1,491,015 at 30 June 2025. The city grew by 18,600 people, or 1.3%, in 2024-25, while the rest of South Australia grew by 1,900, or 0.5%.

Greater Adelaide, 2024-25 (ABS)	People
Estimated resident population, 30 June 2025	1,491,015
Growth over the year	18,600 (1.3%)
Natural increase (births less deaths)	3,248
Net overseas migration	17,824
Net internal migration (to and from the rest of Australia)	-2,425

Most of the city’s growth came from overseas migration. More people moved out of Greater Adelaide to other parts of Australia than moved in during 2024-25, so a move into Adelaide from another state goes against the current of the last year’s figures.

How far Adelaide is from the other capitals

By road on the highway routes trucks use, measured to the Adelaide GPO on OpenStreetMap road data in October 2026:

From	Road distance	Driving time, no stops	Route page
Melbourne	726 km	About 9 hours	Melbourne to Adelaide
Sydney	1,374 km	About 16.5 hours	Sydney to Adelaide
Brisbane	About 2,000 km	About 25 hours	Brisbane to Adelaide
Perth	About 2,700 km	About 31.5 hours	Perth to Adelaide
Canberra	1,161 km	About 14 hours	Other routes
Darwin	3,022 km	About 32.5 hours	Other routes

Your furniture takes longer than the driving time: a removal truck is slower than a car and its driver must rest, and rail freight runs to its own timetable. Ask for the delivery window with your quote, and plan to arrive first.

The suburbs Moveall delivers to

Adelaide spreads from the Hills in the east to the beaches in the west. Moveall’s service list covers 28 suburbs, grouped the way Moveall groups them:

Area	Suburbs
Adelaide City	Adelaide City
Northern suburbs	Prospect, Walkerville, Mawson Lakes, Salisbury, Elizabeth, Paradise, Modbury, Golden Grove, Tea Tree Gully
Eastern suburbs	Norwood, Payneham, Magill, Campbelltown, Burnside
Southern suburbs	Unley, Goodwood, Mitcham, Blackwood, Marion
Western suburbs and beaches	Glenelg, Brighton, Plympton, Henley Beach, West Lakes, Semaphore, Port Adelaide
Adelaide Hills	Mount Barker

Moveall’s interstate service also names the Adelaide Hills, the Fleurieu Peninsula, Mount Gambier, Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island in regional South Australia. When you send your details, tell us the suburb you are moving to and anything about the access: a steep Hills driveway, a narrow street, stairs, or an apartment building’s lift.

Moving into the city centre

Apartments in Adelaide City need a little more planning than a house with a driveway. Ask the building manager how moves are booked, whether there is a loading dock, and the size of the lift. In the city, we check parking and loading rules with the building and the council before moving day.

Rundle Mall has its own rules. Under City of Adelaide rules, vehicles are not allowed in the mall from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Thursday, 9:00 am to 9:15 pm on Fridays and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekends. Permit holders may enter only outside those hours, for loading and unloading at businesses with no other access point, for up to 30 minutes. It rarely affects a home move, but it matters if your new address opens only onto the mall.

What you cannot bring into South Australia

South Australia protects its fruit and vegetable growers from fruit fly, and the rules apply to everyone crossing the border, removal trucks and family cars alike. PIRSA, the state’s primary industries department, says some fruit, vegetables, plants, plant products and other items cannot be brought into South Australia from interstate, and its page lists the requirements for each state you might be coming from.

• Eat or dispose of fruit and vegetables at risk from fruit fly before entering South Australia or the Riverland.
• People caught with restricted items are fined, at Yamba quarantine station or at random roadblocks set up after the disposal bins.
• PIRSA runs a Fruit Fly Hotline around the clock for questions about a particular item.

Your deadlines after moving to South Australia

What	Deadline	Where
Transfer your interstate driver’s licence	Within 3 months of moving to SA	A Service SA centre; a photo is taken and the card comes by post
Register an interstate car in SA	Within 3 months; an interstate-registered car can be driven in SA for up to 90 days	Service SA
Update your address after any later move within SA	Within 14 days of the change	mySAGOV in a web browser, or a Service SA centre
Update your electoral enrolment	Once you have lived at the new address for a month	The AEC

Service SA’s address update covers your driver’s licence, vehicle and boat registrations, boat licence, disability parking permit and other SA cards in one go. The article on licence, rego and address changes after moving to SA goes through each step.

Planning the removal itself

Every move into Adelaide follows the same plan with Moveall Interstate, Moveall’s door-to-door service for moves into and out of South Australia:

1. Moveall’s customer care team asks about your bedrooms and living areas, the access at both homes and any heavy or bulky items, then emails a quote made for your move.
2. You pack, or Moveall’s Wrap & Pack service supplies the boxes and materials and packs your approved household items.
3. Furniture is wrapped in moving blankets and loaded to Moveall’s strict handling and packaging procedures.
4. Your home travels by road or rail freight, as the quote sets out.
5. Furniture and cartons are carried into your Adelaide home and set in the rooms you name.

Each main route into Adelaide has a page of its own: Melbourne to Adelaide removalists, Sydney to Adelaide removalists, Brisbane to Adelaide removalists and Perth to Adelaide removalists. For Darwin, Canberra, the Queensland coasts and Tasmania, see other routes.

Your first week in Adelaide

• Connect power, water and internet before the delivery day, so the house works the night the beds go up.
• Keep documents, medicines and chargers with you on the trip, not in the truck.
• Unpack the first-night box first: bedding, towels, the kettle, a few plates and cups.
• Find your nearest Service SA centre for the licence transfer, and diarise the 3-month deadlines.
• Change your address with your bank, employer, insurers and health fund.

The interstate moving checklist has the full list from eight weeks out.

Questions people ask