One of the things we track here at Thinknum is the locations and prices of self-storage companies throughout the United States and the world.
Why? Well, because the self-storage business is a $38 billion industry in America, and it's growing. That's because Americans have stuff - lots of it - and they need a place to put it all.
So we took a look at America's largest self-storage company, Public Storage ($PSA), and cost-averaged over 100,000 individual storage units in 915 cities. We then grouped them by city to determine which cities are the most expensive - and cheapest - places to put your stuff. It turns out that the most-expensive place to store yourself is in Garden City, NY, an urban area just outside New York City. When it comes to the least-expensive place to store your things, Norman, Oklahoma (just outside of Oklahoma City) takes those honors.
The map below shows Public Storage locations in the United States (click for a larger view):
Most-Expensive Self-Storage Cities
|
City |
State |
Storage Unit Price (Average) |
|---|---|---|
|
Garden City |
NY |
$283.18 |
|
Tarzana |
CA |
$273.07 |
|
Pearl City |
HI |
$256.35 |
|
Santa Barbara |
CA |
$248.78 |
|
Sunny Isles Beach |
FL |
$248.00 |
|
Fountain Valley |
CA |
$243.20 |
|
Valencia |
CA |
$241.78 |
|
Venice |
CA |
$239.31 |
|
San Rafael |
CA |
$238.27 |
|
Port Washington |
NY |
$225.93 |
Garden City, NY has a population of 22,616 (as of 2014) and a median household income of $163,266. Median gross rent in 2016 was $1,960.
Least-Expensive Self-Storage Cities
|
City |
State |
Storage Unit Price (Average) |
|---|---|---|
|
Norman |
OK |
$43.28 |
|
Lawton |
OK |
$46.09 |
|
Augusta |
GA |
$49.18 |
|
Broken Arrow |
OK |
$49.69 |
|
Midfield |
AL |
$50.08 |
|
Ocala |
FL |
$50.18 |
|
Moore |
OK |
$50.25 |
|
Edmond |
OK |
$52.24 |
|
Kearns |
UT |
$55.33 |
|
Oklahoma City |
OK |
$56.79 |
Norman, Oklahoma has a population of 122,186 (as of 2016) and a median household income of $52,041. Median gross rent is $788.
Curious Thinknum subscribers can the the raw data here.