TractIQ tracks pricing, occupancy, and supply for self-storage facilities nationwide. As of September 30, 2026, the average U.S. self-storage street rate is $1.41 per square foot per month (up 2.9% year over year) and the average web rate is $1.17 (flat year over year). Physical occupancy across CMBS-reporting facilities was 85.7% over the 12 months to Q2 2026, and 68,243 existing facilities hold 2.48 billion net rentable square feet, with another 3,278 projects in the development pipeline.
The self-storage industry has 68,243 active facilities and 3,278 known developments in the United States. According to the SSA 2025 Self Storage Demand Study, the share of households using self-storage has climbed steadily from 8.95% in 2005 to 12.60% in 2024. Professionals and investors treat self-storage real estate as an institutional asset class with a proven record of performance during booms and resilience through downturns. Self-storage is also a fast-paced, seasonal business where customers typically sign monthly leases, so rental rates vary widely at the facility level, let alone within a submarket. Tracking rate trends is one of the clearest windows into self-storage supply and demand.
The average monthly street rate is $1.41 per square foot as of September 30, 2026, a 2.9% increase year over year. The street rate is what a customer pays walking in off the street to rent a unit in person, and monthly street rates for 10x10 non-climate-controlled and climate-controlled units are $1.29 PSF and $1.53 PSF respectively. The average monthly web rate is $1.17 per square foot, flat year over year. Web rates are the prices advertised online, often discounted to attract price-sensitive shoppers, and they typically carry short-term promotional pricing. Monthly web rates for the same two 10x10 unit types are $1.04 PSF and $1.21 PSF.
National averages hide a lot. Rates and occupancy diverge sharply by metro — see market data for the top MSAs, or pull rate trends for any MSA in TractIQ.
National Average Street and Web Rates
Dollars per square foot per month. Facility-weighted across all unit sizes.
Street rates peaked at $2.21 PSF in August 2021 and have since given back roughly a third of that, sitting at $1.41 PSF in September 2026 — below the $1.53 PSF where the series began in March 2018. Web rates followed the same arc, peaking at $1.87 PSF in July 2021 and now at $1.17 PSF. Measured unit by unit, operators are discounting online rates about 19% below street today.
10x10 Non-Climate-Controlled
Dollars per square foot per month. Average of every 10x10 unit listed.
A 10x10 non-climate-controlled unit is $1.29 PSF street and $1.04 PSF web — roughly $129 and $104 a month for 100 square feet. The street rate peaked at $2.03 PSF in August 2021.
10x10 Climate-Controlled
Dollars per square foot per month. Average of every 10x10 unit listed.
A 10x10 climate-controlled unit is $1.53 PSF street and $1.21 PSF web — roughly $153 and $121 a month. Comparing units at the same facility, climate-controlled space carries a 17% street-rate premium over non-climate-controlled.
Street Rate Year Over Year Growth
Percent change against the same month one year earlier.
Street rate growth peaked at +35.5% in May 2021. It has been mostly negative since, bottoming at -24.7% in December 2024 before recovering into a narrower band through 2026. September 2026 came in at +2.9%.
Web Rate Year Over Year Growth
Percent change against the same month one year earlier.
Web rate growth has not turned positive in 2026, holding flat (0.0%) from May through July and again in September after a dip to -3.9% in August. With street rates up 2.9% over the same period, the online discount has widened, from about 16% a year ago to about 19% today.
National occupancy figures come from $50B+ of CMBS-reporting self-storage facilities. See the full self-storage occupancy data set for quarterly history and metro-level detail, or read our analysis of self-storage occupancy trends in 2026. Over the 12 months to Q2 2026, using each facility's most recent reading, REIT occupancy was 90.8%, Sophisticated operator occupancy was 84.0%, and Non-designated operator occupancy was 87.2%. Across all three groups occupancy was 85.7%, down 0.5 percentage points from the prior 12 months.
Nationwide Self-Storage Occupancy by Management Type
Quarterly physical occupancy from CMBS-reporting facilities.
Quarter-end occupancy peaked at 93.9% in Q3 2021 and troughed at 84.4% in Q4 2025. The Q2 2026 quarter-end reading of 86.2% rests on a panel that is still filling, so the headline figures use each facility's most recent reading over the trailing 12 months: 85.7%, down 0.5 points from a year earlier.
Self-storage square feet actively under construction represent 1.40% of total existing self-storage square feet. About 69.6% of projects under development sit in the planning, design or conceptual stages. These may or may not be built, since they are still early in feasibility and approvals. Only 587 projects are actively under construction today. Understanding supply is essential to succeeding in self-storage. TractIQ tracks every project in this pipeline down to the parcel — useful whether you are prospecting for development sites or underwriting competitive supply risk on an on-market listing.
Self-Storage Facilities Under Development
3,278 projects totalling 171.4M rentable square feet. Ring is sized by project count.
| Stage | Projects | Share | Rentable Sq Ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under Construction | 587 | 17.9% | 34.7M |
| Pre-Construction | 410 | 12.5% | 26.7M |
| Planning and Design | 2,134 | 65.1% | 100.9M |
| Conceptual | 133 | 4.1% | 8.4M |
| Pre-Conceptual | 14 | 0.4% | 0.7M |
| Total | 3,278 | 100.0% | 171.4M |
Only 17.9% of the pipeline by project count is actually under construction. More than two thirds sits in planning, design or conceptual stages, where attrition is high — so the full pipeline, 6.90% of existing supply, overstates what will be delivered in the next 24 months. Square footage actively under construction, 1.40% of existing supply, is the better gauge.
As of September 30, 2026, the average street rate is $1.41 per square foot per month and the average web rate is $1.17 per square foot per month. Street rates rose 2.9% and web rates were flat against the same month a year earlier.
A 10x10 unit is 100 square feet. At current national street rates of $1.29 per square foot for non-climate-controlled and $1.53 per square foot for climate-controlled space, that works out to roughly $129.00 and $153.00 per month respectively. Rates vary widely by market and by facility.
TractIQ tracks 68,243 existing self-storage facilities nationwide, holding 2.48 billion net rentable square feet. That works out to 7.28 square feet per person. The average existing facility is 37,003 net rentable square feet.
Across CMBS-reporting facilities, physical occupancy was 85.7% over the 12 months to June 30, 2026 (Q2 2026), based on each facility's most recent reading. By management type, REIT-operated facilities were at 90.8%, Non-designated operators at 87.2%, and Sophisticated operators at 84.0%.
There are 3,278 projects in the development pipeline, totalling 171.4 million net rentable square feet, or 6.90% of existing supply. Most of that is early stage: 69.6% of projects sit in the planning, design or conceptual stages and may never be built.
587 projects are actively under construction, representing 34.7 million net rentable square feet, or 1.40% of existing supply.
REIT-managed facilities account for 29.61% of existing net rentable square footage in the United States. REITs tend to operate larger than average facilities, so their share of square footage runs well ahead of their share of facility count.
The median asking cap rate across on-market self-storage listings in TractIQ is 6.79% as of October 7, 2026. Those listings represent $750.8 million in total asking volume and 11.01 million net rentable square feet, with a median asking price of $2.50 million. Cap rates are as reported by the listing broker, and the median covers the listings that disclose one.
National averages are a starting point. TractIQ gives you rates, occupancy, supply and the development pipeline for any MSA, submarket or 3-mile ring in the country.
