Guide · updated
How these prices are collected
53,002 price observations from 4,619 locations. Here is exactly how they are gathered, what gets thrown out, and what these numbers cannot answer.
- market_outlier (warn) 897
- size_price_inversion (warn) 142
- intra_facility_ppsf (error) 62
- duplicate_facility (warn) 4
- facility_geo_outlier (error) 2
Where the data comes from
Public Storage publishes structured pricing on each location's own page, in the standard
schema.org format search engines read. We read the same published data, one
request at a time with a pause between them, only on paths the operator's
robots.txt permits. We do not create accounts, submit forms, or touch any
booking or account page.
What each figure means
Each listing carries an online rate and a regular rate. We store both. The online rate is promotional; the regular rate is what the unit reverts to, and it is consistently 1.5× the online rate — see the analysis. Tables label which is which. Neither figure includes insurance, administration fees, or taxes.
How locations are grouped
Locations are grouped into markets by distance — every location within 35 km (about a 30-minute drive) of the market centre, never crossing a state line. A market takes the name of its best-known city, and each market page lists the other places it covers. We use driving distance rather than official metropolitan boundaries because those are drawn on commuting patterns, which stretch much further than anyone hauls furniture.
What gets excluded
Every observation passes automated checks before it can appear on a page. Anything that fails is withheld rather than published, and the count is shown rather than absorbed: 110 observations are currently withheld.
| Check | Effect | Currently flagged |
|---|---|---|
| duplicate facility | published, flagged internally | 4 |
| facility geo outlier | withheld from pages | 2 |
| intra facility ppsf | withheld from pages | 62 |
| market outlier | published, flagged internally | 897 |
| size price inversion | published, flagged internally | 142 |
What these numbers cannot tell you
They are advertised rates, not quotes. Public Storage states its prices are not guaranteed and they move with availability. A rate shown here may be gone by the time you call.
They cover one operator. Every major competitor either blocks automated access or does not publish per-location pricing, so this is a study of Public Storage, not of the storage market. A cheaper unit may well exist next door under a different sign.
They do not adjust for what the unit is. A climate-controlled indoor unit and a drive-up metal unit are both sold as a 10×10, and part of any price gap you see is that difference rather than a bargain.
Prices are re-read weekly and stored append-only, so nothing is overwritten — the record of what a unit cost last month survives.