Guides
How storage pricing actually works
8 explanations of what the price data shows, written from the same observations as the market pages. Every figure in them is recomputed on each build, so they change when the prices do.
- The advertised price is not what you keep paying Every Public Storage listing shows two prices. Across 52,892 observations the second is 1.5x the first — a pricing rule, not a second quote.
- Why storage prices double inside one city Across 168 US markets, the cheaper and dearer ends of a 10x10 differ by 112% in the median market.
- Bigger units cost less per square foot A 5x5 costs $1.76 per square foot; a 10x30 costs $0.84.
- The cheapest and dearest US storage markets Median 10x10 storage prices across 129 US markets, from $34 to $279 a month.
- What size storage unit do you actually need Storage unit sizes explained, with how common each one is and what it typically costs across US locations.
- How these prices are collected Where Storage Price Index prices come from, what is excluded, and what the figures cannot tell you.
- What a storage quote leaves out What a storage quote leaves out: a $576-a-year reversion on a 10x10, and 53% of listings holding more than one unit.
- Why did my storage unit price go up A rate increase is the end of an introductory price. Across 168 US markets a 10x10 varies 112% inside one city, and the cheapest branch sits 46% under its market median.