How much does
self storage actually cost?
No free primary source publishes US storage rates by unit size, so this page does not print one. What it can show you is which way industry pricing is moving, what the largest owner discloses about its own rents in its annual report, and the twenty minutes of phone calls that produce a number about your street rather than about the country.
What we can show you
sourced
BLS price index
Self-storage operators, September 2026
186.8
Below the December 2023 peak
Peak read 200.6
6.9%
Public Storage realized rent
Annual, per occupied sq ft, same-store, FY2025 10-K
$22.54
Section 01
Every standard size, with what it actually fits
Size is the decision you make before you ring anyone, and it is the one you can settle for free. Each card opens a page on that unit.
5x5
25 sqft
Comparable
Walk-in closet
Holds
10 to 15 boxes plus seasonal kit. No mattress, no sofa.
5x5 in detail →
5x10
50 sqft
Comparable
Studio apartment partial
Holds
Queen mattress, sofa, 20 to 25 boxes. The smallest real furniture size.
5x10 in detail →
10x10
100 sqft
Comparable
1-bed apartment / full garage
Holds
A whole one-bedroom flat, king mattress included.
10x10 in detail →
10x15
150 sqft
Comparable
2-bed apartment
Holds
Two bedrooms plus living and dining rooms and the white goods.
10x15 in detail →
10x20
200 sqft
Comparable
3-bed house partial
Holds
A three-bedroom move, or a car with room behind it.
10x20 in detail →
10x30
300 sqft
Comparable
Full 4-bed house
Holds
A whole house in storage, or a vehicle plus a working aisle.
10x30 in detail →
Section 02
Where storage pricing has actually gone
One national price series exists that anyone can pull for free, and it is not on any operator website. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics runs a monthly producer price index for miniwarehouse and self-storage unit operators, series PCU531130531130, going back to December 2003. It settles the question price pages usually get wrong, which is not what a unit costs but whether the industry is raising or cutting.
The headline most 2026 guides miss: pricing is roughly flat year on year (-0.3% to September 2026) and still well under the top of the cycle. Through 2026 the index has moved between about 185 and 190. Base December 2003 = 100, not seasonally adjusted. Read on 2026-10-16 through St. Louis Fed (FRED); last updated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on 2026-10-15.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, series PCU531130531130, via St. Louis Fed (FRED).
Calendar-year average of the monthly index
| Year | Index average | Change on prior year |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 149.8 | n/a |
| 2020 | 146.9 | -1.9% |
| 2021 | 159.0 | +8.2% |
| 2022 | 184.6 | +16.1% |
| 2023 | 197.0 | +6.7% |
| 2024 | 191.1 | -3.0% |
| 2025 | 185.4 | -3.0% |
September 2026
186.8
Down 0.3% on September 2025 (187.5): roughly flat.
Peak, December 2023
200.6
Still 6.9% under the top of the cycle.
January 2020
149.0
The whole move since: up 25.4%.
Three limits worth stating before anyone quotes this at you. It is an index, not a dollar figure, and we do not convert it into one, because that needs a per-square-foot assumption we would be inventing. It is national and size-blind, so a 5x5 and a 10x30 sit inside it together. And it measures what operators realise across their tenancies, not the promotional number on a listing page.
Section 03
The one rent figure a reader can check
Not from a listing page, from an annual report. Public Storage describes itself in its 10-K as the largest owner of self-storage facilities in the US, and it has to tell its shareholders what it earns per square foot, which makes its Form 10-K, FY2025 a rent figure anyone can check at source.
Realized rent, per occupied sq ft
$22.54
Annual, Same Store Facilities, FY2025. Against $22.43 the year before, a rise of 0.5%.
Average square-foot occupancy
92.0%
Down from 92.4% a year earlier. Occupancy is what moves the quote you are given in a particular month at a particular site.
The promotional rate, in their words
“$1.00 rent for the first month”
The headline is an acquisition price. The tenancy is priced separately, and the filing says so.
Read it as a measure of one company's business, not as a price list. It blends every unit size and every market the company operates in, and it includes tenants who moved in years ago, so multiplying it by a floor area does not produce the rent for a unit. The error even changes direction with size: small units usually sit above the blend, large ones below it. On the rate review that follows the promotion, the filing is explicit. It “We typically increase rental rates to our long-term tenants (generally, those who have been with us for at least five months) every six to twelve months.”
The same filing breaks the figure out by metro, which makes it a relative map of where one big operator's rents run high or low. Annual realized rent per occupied square foot in 2025: Honolulu $55.26, Los Angeles $35.76, Dallas-Ft. Worth $17.41, Charlotte $15.79. Los Angeles runs about twice Dallas-Ft. Worth on this measure. The state and city guide sets out every market in the table.
Source: SEC EDGAR, Public Storage Form 10-K, FY2025, filed 12 February 2026 for the period ending 31 December 2025, read at source on 6 September 2026.
Section 04
What actually drives your monthly bill
Four inputs, in the order they move a quote. None of them needs a national average to be useful, and all four are questions you can put to a counter.
01
The biggest lever
Where the site is
Land is one of the biggest inputs in the rent, so the same box of air can price very differently at a city-centre site and one on the ring road. It is often the saving that beats every promotion, and it costs one extra phone call to measure.
State and city guide →02
Falls with floor area
How big the unit is
A door, a lock, a light and a share of the security bill land once per unit whatever its size, so the rate per square foot drops as units get bigger. That is why a 5x10 is rarely double a 5x5, and why the per-foot rate keeps easing as units get larger.
The size ladder →03
Site-specific
Climate or not
Climate space costs more to build and more to run, so it prices above standard. The size of the gap depends on how much of that building was constructed as climate space, which is why it has to be asked for at the site rather than assumed.
When it earns its place →04
Ask three
Who runs it
The chains price differently from each other and independents often undercut all of them, but the spread between two facilities in one city is wider than the spread between brands. Ring a local independent as well as the names you recognise.
Compare providers →Section 05
The charges no one quotes you upfront
The advertised rate is not the bill. The amounts vary by operator and by site, so this ledger lists what to ask about rather than a price for each line. Every row is a question a facility will answer over the phone in seconds.
Ask about each of these before you sign
| Charge | When it lands | How to dodge it |
|---|---|---|
| Admin / setup | Move-in, one-time | Ask for it to be waived. Many sites will, to close. |
| Cover on the goods | Every month | Check whether your renters or homeowners policy has an off-premises rider. |
| Disc lock | Move-in, one-time | Bring your own from a hardware store. Confirm the lock type first. |
| Late payment | After the grace period | Set autopay on day one and diarise the billing date. |
| Post-promotional rate review | Once the introductory period ends | Ring before the letter lands and ask what the retention rate is. |
| Move-out cleaning | Vacate | Sweep the unit yourself and photograph it empty. |
| Returned payment | Per occurrence | Verify funds before the autopay date. |
Section 06
Twenty minutes beats any national average
Two facilities on opposite sides of one city can quote further apart than two cities quote from each other, because the number depends on how full that particular building is the week you ring. That is why a national figure cannot be the answer, and why three phone calls in one week are.
Settle the size first, on the size guide, so you are asking every site the same question. Then work down this list and write the answers next to each other.
The same five questions, three sites, one week
- What is the rate today for the size I need, and what does it become in month two once any introductory offer ends?
- What would the next size up be, quoted the same way? The gap is the decision.
- Is this unit drive-up or indoor, and is it climate controlled? What is the other version at this site?
- What is compulsory on top of the rent: cover on the goods, a lock, an administration charge? What is the full move-in figure?
- When is the first rate review likely to fall, and how much notice do I get?
Compare on the answer to question one, second half. The headline is a customer-acquisition price at every operator that publishes one, and the tenancy is priced separately. Put a diary note five months out, because that is roughly when the first review tends to arrive.
Section 07
Pick your scenario
Storage unit sizes
5x5 through 10x30: what genuinely fits, and the per-square-foot ladder.
Open →
Cost by state and city
How location moves a quote, state by state.
Open →
Climate controlled storage
What the premium buys, and the inventories that need it.
Open →
Public Storage vs Extra Space vs CubeSmart
Side by side on fees, rate reviews and what each discloses.
Open →
What the filings actually say
The rent figures a reader can check in an SEC document.
Open →
PODS vs self storage
Which suits a move, a renovation, and a long hold.
Open →
Car, boat and RV storage
Outdoor, covered and indoor, by vehicle length and height.
Open →
Business storage
Inventory, e-commerce and records, plus the deductibility rules.
Open →
How to pay less
The tactics that move a quote, in the order that they work.
Open →
Storage insurance guide
Facility plan versus renters policy versus third-party cover.
Open →
Frequently asked questions
The questions people ring facilities about, answered.
Open →
Section 08
Common questions
How much does a 10x10 storage unit cost per month?
What does the largest storage owner earn per square foot?
Is climate-controlled storage worth the extra cost?
What gets added to the advertised rate?
How do I get the cheapest self storage price?
How long can you keep a self storage unit?
Are storage prices going up in 2026?
Independent guide
SelfStorageCost.com is editorially independent. It is not affiliated with Public Storage, Extra Space Storage, CubeSmart, U-Haul or any storage operator, and takes no affiliate revenue from any of them. Its price figures come from two places a reader can check: the BLS producer price index and the operators' own SEC filings. No free primary source publishes US self-storage rates by unit size, so always get a live quote, and ask what the rate becomes in month two, before signing a lease.