Self Storage Price Reductions Wind Down, With the Sunbelt as The Most Active Region for Development in 2024
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- Self storage rents went down 2.2% year-over-year in December 2024 but maintained at $132 month-over-month.
- Rates went down in 70% of the 150 largest cities.
- The most significant price drops were registered in Port St. Lucie, FL., followed by Boston, MA, and Fayetteville, NC.
- The highest street rate increases occurred in Paradise, NV, Yonkers, NY, and Bakersfield, CA.
- The Sunbelt is the most active region for 2024 self storage deliveries, with three Texas cities among the top performers.
After a full year of year-over-year rent declines, the self storage market ended on a steady note, with minimal month-over-month fluctuations in both November and December. Signs point to market stabilization in 2025, as many oversaturated markets have scaled back new deliveries and demand normalizes following the pandemic-driven surge.
The average street rate for storage units across the U.S. now stands at $132 across all inventory types and sizes, equating to roughly $1.10 per square foot.
On the construction side, 2024 marked a strong year for self storage, with 59.5 million square feet of new space delivered — a 7% increase over 2023. Factors like increased moving activity, shrinking home sizes and undersupply in select markets are sustaining demand and driving further development in targeted areas.
Port St. Lucie, FL, sees third straight month of double-digit rent drops
Nationally, self storage street rates fell 2.2% year-over-year in December 2024. Among the 150 cities tracked by RentCafe Self Storage, no less than 70% saw price declines — led by Port St. Lucie, FL, which topped the list for the third consecutive month.
The city recorded a 12.9% year-over-year drop in December, continuing its trend of steep rent decreases. Despite this, the average rent for a unit in Port St. Lucie held steady at $128/month, aligning with the broader national stabilization in rates.
Staying in the South, two North Carolina cities are making headlines for significant self storage rent drops. Fayetteville, NC, experienced the steepest decline, with rates falling 8.3% year-over-year. This is likely due to a higher inventory, which now stands at 12.4 square feet per capita, well above the national benchmark of 7 square feet per person. Fayetteville storage units averaged $113/month in December.
Meanwhile, Winston-Salem, NC, saw rates drop 6.8% year-over-year, with the average unit renting for $100/month. Both cities added new inventory in 2024, but Fayetteville led the way with 323,000 square feet of new self storage space delivered during the year.
In Huntsville, AL, self storage rates fell 7.2% year-over-year, with units renting for an average of $98/month. The city’s substantial inventory — 11.5 square feet per capita — is likely driving down rents. Huntsville added over 353,000 square feet of storage space in 2024, one of the highest delivery volumes among major cities.
In Scottsdale, AZ, a new entry among top cities for rent decreases, rates dropped 4.7% year-over-year in December 2024. The market has been particularly active following a three-year construction streak, though 2024 marked the lowest delivery level of the period, with 64,000 square feet added. This has resulted in a healthy supply of 8.2 square feet per capita, contributing to the rent decline. A Scottsdale unit now averages $184/month.
Outside of the South, Boston, MA, posted the second-largest rent drop, with rates falling 11.5% year-over-year. The decline is likely tied to reduced seasonal demand from a slower housing market, resulting in fewer move-ins. The average cost of a storage unit in Boston is now $191/month.
Cities with highest rent increases are mostly undersupplied
Low levels of supply coupled with a lack of new construction is helping to push rates up across some of the largest cities in the country. Paradise, NV, registered the highest self storage rent increase, going up 7.1% y-o-y. The city is severely undersupplied, with only 0.7 square feet of storage per capita. Additionally, there was no new construction activity in 2024 to address the unmet demand for storage, which helped to push rents up. Street rates for a Paradise unit hover at around $130/month.
Over in California, rates went up significantly in four cities, with Bakersfield registering the highest price jump at 5%, resulting in Bakersfield storage renting for $100/month. Population increased an impressive 8.5% from 2017 to 2022, creating new demand, which supported street rate growth. In Irvine, Fontana and Huntington, street rates increased about 3% y-o-y. All three cities have inventories below 5 square feet per capita, indicating undersupplied markets where supply fails to meet demand — one of the factors influencing surging rents. Rates differ in these places, with Fontana storage averaging $136/month and an Irvine unit renting for about $175/month. Storage units in Huntington Beach come with a higher price tag of about $209/month.
On the East Coast, Yonkers, NY, is an undersupplied market with only 2 square feet of self storage space. This prompted a street rate hike of 5.7% y-o-y, with a Yonkers unit now renting for $191/month. To help address existing demand, over 68K square feet of self storage were delivered, one of the two cities in the top 10 places for rent increases where new development was registered in 2024.
Similarly, in neighboring New Jersey, Jersey City is also experiencing the effects of undersupply on street rates that surged 4.8% y-o-y. As a result, Jersey City storage rents for $194/month. Despite the dire need for storage, no construction activity was registered in 2024 in the city.
2024 self storage construction clusters in the Sunbelt, with Texas in the lead
Thanks to the nature of self storage as a service providing assistance during moments of transition, demand continued to fuel construction in 2024 too. As it happens, some of the most active places for deliveries are located in the Sunbelt, mostly across states that experienced net positive migration.
Top Cities for 2024 Construction
# | City | 2024 Completions (sq. ft.) | 2024 New Supply as % of Inventory | Current Sq. Ft. per Capita |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fort Worth, TX | 563,571 | 6% | 6.3 |
2 | Orlando, FL | 536,940 | 6% | 7.1 |
3 | San Antonio, TX | 503,727 | 3% | 9.1 |
4 | Philadelphia, PA | 474,783 | 7% | 3.3 |
5 | Las Vegas, NV | 427,677 | 3% | 7.6 |
6 | Houston, TX | 374,839 | 1% | 6.8 |
7 | Huntsville, AL | 352,503 | 11% | 11.5 |
8 | Tucson, AZ | 343,817 | 5% | 8.6 |
9 | Fayetteville, NC | 322,494 | 10% | 12.4 |
10 | Greensboro, NC | 303,194 | 8% | 11.1 |
11 | Jacksonville, FL | 278,281 | 3% | 9.5 |
12 | Colorado Springs, CO | 269,915 | 4% | 11.4 |
13 | Oklahoma City, OK | 242,707 | 21% | 5.0 |
14 | McKinney, TX | 237,437 | 8% | 8.2 |
15 | Miami, FL | 234,552 | 3% | 3.8 |
16 | Oklahoma City, OK | 233,109 | 3% | 8.7 |
17 | Mobile, AL | 221,525 | 7% | 11.1 |
18 | Henderson, NV | 209,100 | 6% | 6.6 |
19 | Los Angeles, CA | 195,031 | 3% | 1.8 |
20 | North Las Vegas, NV, NV | 191,960 | 7% | 4.7 |
21 | Phoenix, AZ | 184,903 | 2% | 5.5 |
22 | Corpus Christi, TX | 182,382 | 5% | 12.3 |
23 | Garland, TX | 181,901 | 8% | 4.1 |
24 | San Jose, CA | 179,983 | 4% | 3.9 |
25 | Little Rock, AR | 176,053 | 5% | 12.8 |
26 | Stockton, CA | 175,155 | 7% | 6.8 |
27 | Baltimore, MD | 167,130 | 4% | 3.8 |
28 | Glendale, AZ | 165,520 | 7% | 2.9 |
29 | Charlotte, NC | 163,547 | 2% | 7.2 |
30 | Mesa, AZ | 155,012 | 3% | 5.9 |
31 | Lubbock, TX | 152,871 | 3% | 16.9 |
32 | Port St. Lucie, FL | 150,801 | 35% | 6.6 |
33 | Cincinnati, OH | 142,486 | 4% | 4.0 |
34 | Memphis, TN | 140,470 | 2% | 8.2 |
35 | Cleveland, OH | 131,305 | 7% | 2.3 |
36 | Elk Grove, CA | 128,200 | 10% | 4.3 |
37 | Santa Rosa, CA | 123,396 | 6% | 7.9 |
38 | Knoxville, TN | 123,248 | 3% | 10.0 |
39 | Sacramento, CA | 121,193 | 2% | 5.0 |
40 | Dallas, TX | 119,443 | 1% | 5.2 |
41 | Birmingham, AL | 118,199 | 3% | 7.3 |
42 | Madison, WI | 109,323 | 7% | 4.5 |
43 | Fort Wayne, IN | 107,945 | 5% | 7.0 |
44 | Boise, ID | 107,920 | 3% | 11.6 |
45 | Rochester, NY | 100,415 | 6% | 3.5 |
46 | Atlanta, GA | 98,850 | 2% | 4.5 |
47 | Durham, NC | 95,625 | 3% | 9.2 |
48 | Richmond, VA | 93,951 | 2% | 5.8 |
49 | Worcester, MA | 93,336 | 11% | 3.3 |
50 | Honolulu, HI | 91,190 | 7% | 3.2 |
51 | Reno, NV | 90,720 | 2% | 14.3 |
52 | Brownsville, TX | 88,200 | 8% | 5.3 |
53 | Providence, RI | 87,970 | 12% | 1.8 |
54 | San Bernardino, CA | 87,365 | 6% | 3.4 |
55 | Austin, TX | 87,000 | 1% | 8.0 |
56 | Milwaukee, WI | 86,946 | 3% | 3.7 |
57 | Albuquerque, NM | 78,300 | 1% | 7.7 |
58 | Minneapolis, MN | 77,595 | 4% | 2.1 |
59 | Chicago, IL | 77,216 | 1% | 3.4 |
60 | Pittsburgh, PA | 75,000 | 2% | 3.5 |
61 | Winston-Salem, NC | 73,377 | 6% | 7.4 |
62 | Newport News, VA, VA | 73,109 | 5% | 6.3 |
63 | Kansas City, MO | 72,998 | 2% | 3.7 |
64 | Yonkers, NY | 68,385 | 7% | 2.0 |
65 | Newark, NJ | 67,500 | 8% | 0.9 |
66 | Indianapolis, IN | 67,149 | 1% | 6.9 |
67 | Seattle, WA | 66,763 | 2% | 4.0 |
68 | Baton Rouge, LA | 66,082 | 1% | 11.1 |
69 | Scottsdale, AZ | 64,475 | 2% | 8.2 |
70 | Columbus, OH | 63,920 | 1% | 4.4 |
71 | San Diego, CA | 58,864 | 1% | 4.1 |
72 | Augusta, GA | 53,105 | 2% | 9.4 |
73 | Chattanooga, TN | 49,500 | 2% | 8.1 |
74 | Tallahassee, FL | 45,470 | 2% | 11.0 |
75 | Tulsa, OK | 44,136 | 1% | 9.1 |
76 | Wichita, KS | 37,439 | 1% | 6.7 |
77 | Detroit, MI | 35,549 | 3% | 1.2 |
78 | Lincoln, NE | 16,625 | 1% | 6.5 |
79 | Salem, OR | 10,545 | 0% | 8.3 |
RentCafe analysis of Yardi Matrix data
* Construction (%) for 2024 as a percentage of the total existing inventory at the end of 2024
Texas continues to be the undisputed king of self storage construction, with two cities from the Lone Star State taking two podium spots for deliveries in 2024. Fort Worth takes the first spot, with about 564,000 square feet of self storage delivered, more than double 2023’s construction. The city’s 10% increase in population over the last five years helped to keep construction going throughout the year as the sector responded to the high demand. San Antonio is close behind on third, registering close to 504,000 square feet of self storage construction in 2024. In Houston, where inventories are higher, construction carried on at a slower pace, registering almost 375,000 square feet of self storage delivered.
Benefiting from a whopping 14% jump in population from 2017 to 2022, Orlando, FL, lands the second spot nationally for self storage construction. The city added about 537,000 square feet of storage to the local pipeline in 2024, a 44% increase over 2023’s deliveries.
Over in Philadelphia, PA, the self storage market was also active in 2024, seeing about 475,000 square feet of storage listed under 2024’s construction. This is a welcome addition to the local inventory as it grapples with severe undersupply. Philadelphia’s inventory related to population stands at a low 3.3 square feet per capita.
Check out how street rates and inventory fare in the 150 largest cities in the U.S.:
Methodology
This analysis was conducted by RentCafe Self Storage, an online platform offering nationwide apartment and storage unit listings.
The article is based on our research into self storage data from our sister division, Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool widely used by brokers, sponsors, banks, and equity sources for underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial, and self-storage sectors.
The report considers the largest 150 cities by population with an active self storage inventory of at least 10 units.
This report analyzes self storage rents and deliveries estimates for 2024 based on December 2024 data.
The self storage street rate is calculated as the weighted averages of the street rates for all storage unit sizes, non-climate-controlled and climate-controlled units included.
For the ranking, we analyzed the total rentable square footage within Yardi Matrix’s coverage area, calculating each company’s inventory as a percentage of the nation’s total inventory or each state’s inventory, depending on the scope. The data is accurate as of December 2024.
For data on population changes, we've turned to the U.S. Census (2017-2022 dataset).
Please note that data and coverage areas may evolve, and actual figures are subject to change.
Fair use and distribution
This study is intended as a resource for the general public on topics of common interest and should not be considered investment advice. The data presented is accurate to the best of our knowledge, based on thorough and good-faith research, but it may change due to external factors.
We permit the distribution of this content, provided that proper attribution is given to "RentCafe Self Storage" with a link back to the research study.
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Mirela is a real estate writer and lifestyle editor for Yardi. With an academic background in English and translation, Mirela now covers a range of topics including real estate trends, lifestyle and economy. Her previous experience in proofreading academic articles has inspired Mirela to choose a writing career path. In her free time, Mirela enjoys reading, but also hiking and creating art. You can contact Mirela via email.
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