Has self-storage pricing turned a corner?
For a growing number of markets around the country, the answer appears to be yes.
The average rental rate for the top 100 markets by reservations was $72.23 for the first two months of the year, a slight 0.35% increase year-over-year. That’s a step up from the start of 2025 where the average price had fallen more than 11% from the previous year.
An analysis of reservation rates for January and February found that 53 of the top 100 markets improved self-storage rental rates year-over-year. Last year only 17 markets reported positive rental rate growth during the same two-month period.
Top Markets for Rental Rate Growth
To see what forces are driving the turnaround, let’s take a quick look at the top 5 markets where prices have improved the most since last year:
1. Durham, NC
Durham sits in the rapidly expanding Research Triangle, one of the fastest-growing regions in the U.S. The city added roughly 17,000 residents from 2020–2024, with continued annual growth around 1.6–1.8%. Growth is driven by domestic and international migration, particularly tied to tech, healthcare, and university employment.
- Average rental rate (Jan-Feb): $59.21
- YOY Growth (Jan-Feb): 43%
- Storage takeaway: High in-migration and student churn creates consistent demand layering. Development has lagged population growth, driving outsized rate gains in a mid-sized, supply-constrained market.
2. Washington DC
After pandemic-era declines, DC has returned to growth, adding ~15,000 residents in 2024 alone. Like other large metros, growth is increasingly supported by international migration offsetting domestic outflows.
- Average rental rate (Jan-Feb): $82.08
- YOY Growth (Jan-Feb): 29%
- Storage takeaway: DC combines dense demand with extreme supply constraints (zoning, land scarcity). Even modest population gains translate into disproportionate pricing power, especially in urban infill submarkets.
3. Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh represents a turnaround market, reversing long-term population decline. The city grew ~1.6% from 2020–2024, adding about 4,700 residents—one of its strongest gains in decades and the biggest numerical increase in population among other Pennsylvania municipalities. Growth is modest but meaningful, driven by immigration and job stabilization rather than explosive migration.
- Average rental rate (Jan-Feb): $76.19
- YOY Growth (Jan-Feb): 27.5%
- Storage takeaway: This is a classic supply-constrained legacy market with limited new development and stable occupancy, providing support to rent growth with modest population gains.
4. Wichita, KS
Wichita reflects the broader Midwest trend: slow or flat population growth relative to national averages. While most U.S. metros are now growing again, Midwestern markets generally lag the South and West in expansion.
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- Average rental rate (Jan-Feb): $59.13
- YOY Growth (Jan-Feb): 25.75%
- Storage takeaway: Rate growth here is less about migration and more about supply discipline. Limited new construction and stable demand (rather than growth) can still produce pricing gains in smaller, operator-concentrated markets.
5. Reno, NV
Reno is a migration-driven boomtown, benefiting from spillover out of California. Western metros have been among the fastest-growing regions, fueled by domestic migration and economic relocation trends.
- Average rental rate (Jan-Feb): $81.82
- YOY Growth (Jan-Feb): 25.4%
- Storage takeaway: Reno combines in-migration, constrained supply and rapid economic transition, making it one of the clearest examples of a high-growth secondary market where storage rates move early and aggressively.
What This Signals for the Storage Market
Taken together, these top markets highlight a clear pattern: emerging pricing power in mid-sized metros and regional hubs with steady population growth, stable economies, and disciplined development.
With the exception of Washington, every market on this list could be considered a mid-sized regional hub. These markets tend to be less saturated and slower to add new supply, allowing operators to regain pricing power more quickly as demand stabilizes. A key unifying factor is measured supply growth. Whether due to zoning, land constraints, or slower development pipelines, these markets have limited the amounts of new supply and preserved localized pricing advantage.
High-growth markets like Durham and Reno benefit from inbound migration, driving consistent moving activity and storage demand. At the same time, markets like Pittsburgh and Wichita show that pricing can improve even with modest levels of population growth. What they share is their role as regional anchors with universities, government, and healthcare institutions creating steady renter turnover from students and job relocations. Such markets support demand even during slower-growth periods.
The takeaway is straightforward: pricing power is returning first in markets where supply remains disciplined and demand is consistent. These conditions are allowing operators to push rates ahead of the broader market—signaling a possible overall trend of pricing stabilization as the market recovers from the recent boom-bust cycle of the last five years.
