How we source and verify US self-storage market data.

Source hierarchy.

Three primary tiers. SEC EDGAR 10-Q and 10-K filings for the four major REITs (PSA, EXR, CUBE, NSA) — these are auditable primary sources for facility count, rentable square footage, revenue per square foot, and occupancy. Yardi Matrix monthly reports (published via Multi-Housing News and RentCafe, both Yardi-owned) for national rent benchmarks and supply-pipeline data. Public Storage's own 2026 published price guide for the unit-size matrix.

The 50-state problem.

A complete 50-state median dollar-per-square-foot figure is not publicly available from a single primary source in 2026. Yardi Matrix's National Self-Storage Report is the most comprehensive dataset but is paywalled. SpareFoot publishes an industry-aggregated state-level table but it aggregates listings rather than running a primary facility survey. We chose to publish 15 verified states (corroborated across SpareFoot, Yardi, and Public Storage's 2026 price guide) and leave the remaining 35 unshaded on the heatmap. We do not fabricate.

REIT filing dates.

All four REIT cards on the homepage cite Q1 2026 10-Q filings (period ending 2026-03-31, filed late April to early May 2026). CubeSmart's revenue-per-sqft figure ($22.73) is a FY2025 number from the 10-K, not the Q1 2026 10-Q — the Q1 narrative does not restate it. We label that explicitly on the card.

PSA-NSA merger.

Public Storage announced a $10.5B acquisition of National Storage Affiliates in March 2026; closing is targeted for Q3 2026. After close, the “Big 4” framing becomes “Big 3”. We will refactor the REIT page on close.

National rent figure.

Yardi Matrix April 2026 reports a national average annual rent of $16.22 per square foot, which is $1.35 per square foot per month. This is the combined-mix figure (all sizes, climate and non-climate weighted by occupancy). SpareFoot reports the all-size all-type monthly average as $89.09 (May 2026); RentCafe reports $133 (April 2026). Different denominator definitions produce different headline figures. We cite both with attribution.

Re-verification.

REIT data is refreshed quarterly with each new 10-Q. Yardi monthly reports are checked on a 30-day cadence. Public Storage price guide is checked every 90 days. Pre-deploy gate blocks publication of any dated row older than 90 days.

Conflicts of interest.

storagefacilityprice.com has no affiliate revenue, no SpareFoot or operator referral codes, no investment position in any storage REIT, no vendor sponsorships. Digital Signet owns and funds the site.