Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Rate per sq ft / year
$15.48
Unit square footage
100
Annual rent for this unit
$1,548
Variance vs. market benchmark
10.6%
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How to use this
- 1Enter unit length (ft).
- 2Enter unit width (ft).
- 3Enter monthly rent ($).
- 4Enter market benchmark rate per sq ft/yr ($).
- 5Read your rate per sq ft / year on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Storage operators quote monthly prices per unit, but the only way to compare a 10x10 against a 5x15 or against a competitor's pricing across town is to normalize to an annual rate per square foot. This tool takes a monthly rent and unit dimensions, computes square footage, and returns the annualized per-square-foot rate along with how that compares to a market benchmark you enter. Use it when you're setting rates for a new unit type, auditing whether your existing rate card is internally consistent across sizes, or benchmarking against a competitor's advertised prices during a rate survey.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Unit length: 10 ft
- Unit width: 10 ft
- Monthly rent: 129 $
- Market benchmark rate per sq ft/yr: 14 $
Results
- Rate per sq ft / year: $15.48
- Unit square footage: 100
- Annual rent for this unit: $1,548
- Variance vs. market benchmark: 10.6%
What each field means
Inputs
- Unit length (ft)
- The unit length used in the calculation, measured in ft. Starts at 10 ft so you have a working example on load.
- Unit width (ft)
- The unit width used in the calculation, measured in ft. Starts at 10 ft so you have a working example on load.
- Monthly rent ($)
- The monthly rent used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 129 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Market benchmark rate per sq ft/yr ($)
- The market benchmark rate per sq ft/yr used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 14 $ so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Rate per sq ft / year
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Unit square footage
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Annual rent for this unit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Variance vs. market benchmark
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why does rate per square foot vary so much by unit size within one facility?
Smaller units command a per-square-foot premium because demand is deeper and turnover cost is a bigger share of a small unit's total rent, so operators price it in. It's normal for a 5x5 to run $20+/sqft/yr while a 10x30 in the same building runs $6-7/sqft/yr.
How do I get a market benchmark rate?
Call or check the websites of 3-5 competing facilities within a 3-5 mile radius for the same unit size and climate control status, convert each to rate per square foot with this tool, and average them. Redo this quarterly since storage operators adjust street rates often.
Should climate-controlled units use the same benchmark?
No — track climate-controlled and drive-up rates separately. Blending them understates how much premium climate control actually commands and can lead you to underprice a climate unit relative to what the market will bear.
Is a negative variance always bad?
Not necessarily during lease-up, when pricing slightly under market speeds occupancy growth. But if a stabilized facility shows a consistent negative variance across most unit types, you're leaving revenue on the table and should test rate increases on new move-ins first.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
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Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Self-Storage Rent Per Square Foot Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/self-storage-rent-per-sqft
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/self-storage-rent-per-sqft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Self-Storage Rent Per Square Foot Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Self-Storage Rent Per Square Foot Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/self-storage-rent-per-sqft) (2026).