The global self-storage industry was valued at $48.02 billion in 2020.
Keep reading to find new self-storage statistics related to:
- Global self-storage industry size
- U.S. self-storage industry size
- What percentage of people use self-storage
- Average storage unit price
- Average rental duration
- A whole lot more
Let’s see some stats and facts!
Key Self-Storage Statistics and Trends:
- The global self-storage market was valued at $48.02 billion in 2020.
- The average profit margin of the self-storage industry is 41%, which is a lot compared to most businesses.
- Over 88% of renters are between the ages of 21 and 55 years old.
- The average size of a self-storage unit is 56,900 sq. ft. To put that in perspective, a standard football field is 48,000 sq. ft.
- The CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of the self-storage industry is 7.5%.
- Public Storage is the world's largest self-storage company with over 2,900 locations.
- More than 90% of the self-storage industry is in the United States.
- There are over 49,000 self-storage facilities in the United States.
- The average annual revenue for the self-storage industry in the U.S. is $39.5 billion.
- In the United Kingdom, the self-storage industry makes £890 million ($1.22 billion USD) annually.
- Generation X (people born between 1965 and 1980) is the age range that rents self-storage units the most.
- Approximately 65% of self-storage renters are women. Almost 90% of the moving into the self-storage unit is done by men.
Global Self Storage Industry Statistics
Self-storage is a global industry, although it's disproportionately bigger in some countries than others.
One thing is for certain - people in many places in the world have too much stuff and need somewhere to put it. The following statistics can put the global self-storage industry in perspective.
Overview Of The Self Storage Industry
The self-storage industry relies on people who have excess stuff.
This is the biggest reason that the vast majority of the industry is in North America, particularly the United States.
People in the U.S. simply have more resources to obtain things, leading to a need to store it all.
People in other countries may not even understand the concept of self-storage - excess is not a quality found in very many countries around the world.
Despite current limited geographical availability of the self-storage industry, the places that the industry has sprouted up and expanded in are experiencing phenomenal revenues.
If business models in Canada and the United Kingdom follow the trends of the business models in the United States, the self-storage industry is sure to have a huge impact on the GDP of those countries/nations.
How large is the self-storage industry globally?
With high profit margins, low risk, and low maintenance costs, the self-storage industry made $37.33 billion in 2018. The revenue is expected to grow to $49.24 billion by 2024.
The industry is steadily growing (see the CAGR in the next section) and is slowly trickling into places it hasn't been before.
As long as people have things that need to be stored, the self-storage industry will be profitable. Since the population keeps growing, it's safe to say that so will this industry. After all, people will continue to collect more and more things that they don't have room for.
What is the CAGR of the global self-storage industry?
The CAGR of the global self storage industry is estimated to be 7.5%.
The self-storage industry has grown steadily for the past few decades. There have been some highs and lows, but overall growth has been positive.
What is the average size of a self-storage facility?
Self-storage facilities are huge - they have to be since many of them have hundreds of units. The average size of a self-storage unit is 56,900 square feet. To put that in perspective, a standard football field is 48,000 square feet.
While 56,900 square feet is the average, the largest self-storage facility in the world is in Ottawa, Canada. It's 500,000 square feet - a massive development.
What is the average number of units in a self-storage facility?
The average number of self-storage units in a facility is 566.
Self-storage facilities usually offer many different space sizes. Some could be inside or outside. Others could be air conditioned.
What is the average self-storage profit margin?
Profit margin is one of the factors that makes owning a self-storage business attractive - on average, about 41% of the annual revenue is profit.
That is a huge number, especially considering that most businesses operate in the 20% to 25% profit margin range.
Pair this high profit margin with the low risk of a self-storage facility and you have a recipe for a great business.
What is the average facility occupancy rate?
If the high profit margin isn't enough, the high occupancy rate of typical storage facilities is a great consideration. On average, self-storage facilities have an 87.4% occupancy rate. Self-storage is in high demand.
What are the largest self-storage companies?
The largest self-storage companies are publicly traded companies. They are names that most people are familiar with. These companies are listed here, along with the number of facilities that they own or manage.
1. Public Storage
Public Storage became the world's largest self-storage company when they acquired Shurgard Self-Storage in 2006.
Shurgard had many European locations, expanding Public Storage's reach to seven additional countries besides the United States. As of 2021, Public Storage now has close to 2,900 facilities globally.
2. Extra Space Storage
Although the company only has locations in the United States and its territories, Extra Space Storage is the world's second largest self-storage company.
In August of 2020, they acquired Jernigan Capital, Inc., a debt and equity relief company for storage facilities. It's sure to help the company continue their exponential growth. As of 2021, they have 2,056 locations in the United States.
3. U-Haul
U-Haul, started in 1945, quickly became North America's largest do-it-yourself moving company. It makes sense that they would add on do-it-yourself storage.
Although self-storage is a secondary area for the company, they quickly grew to become the world's third-largest self-storage company.
U-Haul doesn't directly have international locations - their parent company, Amerco, holds the international locations. As of 2021, U-Haul has 1,778 locations in the United States.
4. CubeSmart
CubeSmart is a relatively new self-storage company. The company, formerly known as U-Store-It Trust, is the world's fourth largest self-storage company. CubeSmart also happens to be only in the United States. As of 2021, CubeSmart has 1,261 locations.
5. National Storage Affiliates Trust
National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) encompasses many self-storage brands across many states.
Their mission is to encourage private self-storage companies to join the trust. So far, they've partnered with ten private brands and two corporate brands. This has led to them having 948 facilities within the United States and its territories.
6. Life Storage
Life Storage started off as a financial planning firm. When the company decided to dive into the self-storage industry, they were known as Sovran Self Storage, Inc. and operated their storage facilities under the name Uncle Bob’s Self Storage.
They only recently changed their name to Life Storage in 2016. It's a trust just like NSA and currently operates 905 facilities in the United States.
What are the largest self-storage industry sectors?
Personal storage is the largest sector in the self-storage industry. People - consumers - have a habit of clinging on to old things and compulsively buying new things leading to the need for more and more storage space.
Other life factors are leading to an increase in personal storage. With the impact on the economy from the pandemic, many people are downsizing their homes and vehicles which causes them to need storage space for their things.
There are, unfortunately, a lot of deaths happening that are leaving families in need of storage space. A lot of people are combining households which means that some of their things will need to be stored.
In fact, even though the economy has had a downward trend, self-storage has been opposite of that.
Business storage is a big sector also. While many businesses have enough space at their locations to store things, they also have a lot more reasons to need storage spaces. Inventory, relocations, temporary closures, and more are all reasons that a business would need a storage unit.
U.S. Self Storage Industry Statistics
The U.S. is the heart of the self-storage industry. Over 90% of the self-storage industry is located in the United States. Americans seem to have a lot more stuff than they can fit in their homes and businesses. Keep reading to find out more interesting statistics.
What is the annual self-storage industry revenue in the U.S?
The self-storage industry in the United States makes around $39.5 billion each year.
That's more than the annual revenue of the car rental industry ($28.6 billion) in the U.S!
People in the U.S. have a lot of things that need to be stored, resulting in a very profitable industry.
What is the CAGR of the U.S self-storage industry?
According to Forbes, the CAGR of the self-storage industry in the U.S. is 134.79%, from 2020 to 2025.
The self-storage industry is a resilient one and is projected to continue to grow, even if the economy goes into another recession.
How many storage facilities are there in the U.S?
According to Sparefoot, there are 49,233 self-storage facilities in the United States.
These facilities are so widely varied - there are plenty of privately owned facilities and sizes range from small facilities with only a few spaces to large facilities with hundreds of spaces.
What is the total rentable self-storage space in the U.S?
The amount of space these storage facilities take up is mind blowing.
The total amount of rentable self-storage space in the United States is 1.709 billion sq. ft. - enough room for every American to stand in a storage space with room left over!
What is the self-storage space per person in the U.S?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2020 population of the U.S. was 331,449,281 people. When you divide the total rentable self-storage space in the country by the population, that comes out to 5.16 square feet of storage space for every single person in the United States.
What percentage of U.S. households rent a self-storage unit?
Statistics show that around 10.6% of the U.S. population rents a storage unit. That's over 35 million people! It's no surprise that storage facilities are almost at full capacity.
Perhaps in the near future there will be more renters than storage facilities - which is why new storage facility construction is popular.
On average, how much does it cost every month to rent a self-storage unit?
Compared to the cost of many things Americans pay for, the cost of a storage unit is very affordable.
The average cost of a unit is $89.12. By comparison, the average cost of a cell phone bill in the U.S. is a little over $127 and the average cost of a pair of sneakers in 2017 was $58.
What are the largest self-storage operators in the U.S by annual revenue?
It's interesting that the largest self-storage operators in the United States are the same top self-storage operators in the world. This makes sense because the United States accounts for almost the entire industry. In fact, these six companies are the primary storage facilities in just about every country that has self-storage facilities. Their annual revenues are as follows:
- Public Storage: $2.68 billion (2019)
- Extra Space Storage: $1.3 billion (2019)
- CubeSmart: $643.9 million (2019)
- Life Storage: $574.7 million (2018)
- National Storage Affiliates Trust: $387.9 million (2019)
- U-Haul: $367.3 million (fiscal 2019 – self-storage revenue only)
What are the largest self-storage operators in the U.S by number of facilities?
The same companies that are largest by revenue are also largest by number of facilities. In fact, they are in the same order from largest to smallest. The numbers are:
- Public Storage: 2,664
- Extra Space Storage: 1,878
- U-Haul: 1,778
- CubeSmart: 1,261
- National Storage Affiliates Trust: 948
- Life Storage: 905
Canada Self Storage Statistics
The self-storage industry is constantly growing across the world. Canada's self storage industry is also growing every year. Read this section to learn the most up-to-date self storage statistics for the Canada market.
What is the annual self-storage industry revenue in Canada?
According to the Canadian government, Canada's self-storage industry makes $384,300 CAN ($299,870 USD).
The self-storage industry in Canada doesn't pull in as much as its southern neighbor, but for the number of facilities the country has, they do well.
How many storage facilities are there in Canada?
There are approximately 3,000 storage facilities in Canada.
Canada almost has the entire 10% of self-storage facilities that the U.S. doesn't have.
What percentage of Canadian households rent a self-storage unit?
This percentage is close to the percentage of the U.S. households that rent a self-storage facility. Approximately 9.5% of Canadian households rent a self-storage facility.
This could be an indicator that, if Canada had the number of storage facilities that the United States has, they may be able to bring in as much revenue as the United States or more.
What is the total rentable self-storage space in Canada?
The total rentable space in Canada for self-storage units is 263,000,000 square feet.
Canada has less storage space than its southern neighbor, and not just because they have less facilities. Their facilities tend to be smaller on average.
What is the self-storage space per person in Canada?
Since Canada has less rentable space compared to the United States, there isn't that much space per person.
When you divide the rentable space available by the population, Canada has about 14 square feet erasable space per person. You won't be lining up their population in storage facilities.
How much does it cost every month to rent a self-storage unit in Canada?
Here is where Canada differs from other countries - the average cost of renting a self-storage unit is expensive. It typically costs around $275 CAN rent a space.
U.K. Self Storage Statistics
The self-storage industry in the United Kingdom is a true work in progress. Compared to the United States, the UK's self-storage industry is fairly new. However, the outlook for the industry is strong. Read this section to learn how this industry is performing in the U.K.
How many storage facilities are there in the U.K?
As of 2021, there are 1,997 self-storage facilities in the United Kingdom.
Safestore is the largest operator in the U.K. with 125 locations throughout the sovereign state with 45 of them in London! The company has 176 locations total.
Big Yellow is the second largest storage company. They have 102 locations with 75 of them in the United Kingdom.
What is the annual self-storage industry revenue in the U.K?
According to the annual industry report from the Self-Storage Association in the United Kingdom, the industry makes £890 million ($1.22 billion USD) each year.
Although the United Kingdom only has a small percentage of the global self-storage industry, the industry there pulls in a lot of money each year.
It's safe to say that the self-storage industry is thriving in the United Kingdom and the economic outlook suggests that it will continue to grow exponentially.
What percentage of households in the U.K. rent a self-storage unit?
As of 2021, only about 2.28% of households in the U.K. rent a self-storage unit.
The industry is thriving with this small portion of the population - can you imagine what money the U.K. would pull in if they were renting to the same ratio of their population as the United States?
What is the total rentable self-storage space in the U.K?
The total rentable space available for self-storage in the U.K. is 50.5 million square feet.
How much does it cost every month to rent a self-storage unit in the U.K?
Renting a self-storage facility in the U.K. is affordable. The average is only around ₤23.94 ($32.86 USD). If you compare it to the average cost of renting other products in the nation - ₤58.18 to rent a car, ₤109.27 to rent a tuxedo - it's easy to see how affordable self-storage is.
What is the self-storage space per person in the U.K?
The population of the U.K. is almost 67 million people. That means that there is about .74 square feet of self-storage space for each person in the country. It's not quite enough room for every person to stand in, but with the rate of growth of self-storage facilities in the country, pretty soon there will be.
Self Storage Demographics
Did you know that approximately 65% of self-storage renters are women? Also, almost 90% of the moving into the self-storage unit is done by men. Read this section to learn statistics about the demographics in this fast-growing industry.
How old are most self-storage tenants?
Statistics show that over 88% of renters are between the ages of 21 and 55 years old.
Out of that percentage, millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) rent more self-storage spaces than any other age.
Millennials are the ones buying homes and acquiring items as they go through life.
They are also more likely to inherit things from baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) that have passed away and Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) who are passing things down. This means they have a lot of heirlooms that would need to be stored.
How much money do self-storage tenants typically make?
The pandemic and weakened economy have had a major impact on what everyone is making annually. As of right now, it's hard to determine an exact average of what millennials are making.
However, if you base this answer off of what they were making in pre-pandemic times, millennials make around $35,592 annually. This figure is based on millennials in the United States.
Do men or women use self-storage units more?
According to statistics, about 65% of self-storage renters are women. However, almost 90% of the moving into the self-storage unit is done by men.
Another consideration is what is being stored. Men are more likely to rent units in order to store big, bulky items like furniture while women are more likely to rent units for clothing.
Business rentals tend to see more male renters than female renters. However, this is because there are many more male-owned businesses.
Conclusion
You've now read some of the key statistics of the self storage industry.
Whether you want to rent a storage unit or invest in self storage company, these statistics will come in handy.
If you have questions or want to know more, you can contact us at (hello@getonedesk.com).
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