These numbers are from /dev/urandom or perhaps /dev/null, or maybe they hired white-glove movers and car transporters and flew first class to their destination or something. I moved Chicago to Seattle for like $2-3k all-in (counting plane tickets) in 2017, leaving only couches and beds behind (just wasn't worth bothering to move the cheap Ikea-grade stuff I had). Seattle-Vancouver in 2018 and, a year later, back, were each ~$1-2k all-in by U-Haul and elbow grease, discarding almost nothing either direction.
Moving isn't cheap, but on even relatively junior tech salaries, provided some savings or access to credit, it's truly not a life-altering event the way $40k would be.
Like everything else, moving has gotten more expensive. But I did manage in June of 2022 manage to move from Boston to outside Atlanta for maybe $2500 -$3000 between the hotels, food, shipping my stuff down, gas, etc
That's still considered a luxury moving experience by most. Most people rent a U-Haul for a few hundred dollars and have maybe a few hundred more dollars in gas and hotels.
Moving a true household worth of stuff, good quality furniture, then paying people a living wage who won't treat your stuff like ikea garbage, yeah it's very expensive. My wife got a relocation package that paid for the movers and packing, car shipping, plus $20k cash on top for incidentals, and we burnt through every dollar. I have no idea what the company paid Allied to pack and move all our stuff but it probably wasn't cheap. $40k seems very realistic.
In comparison I moved Dallas to SF as a single guy in a 26' uhaul truck and I think my costs all-in were $5000 for truck/gas/incidentals plus another $5000 for first and last months rent, utility deposits and all the random stuff that comes with relocation. So $10k to move all-in as a single guy.
