Size guide
What size storage unit do you need?
A 5x5 is a closet. A 10x20 is a one-car garage. These are the sizes our city pages price. The quiz maps your situation onto one of them, then you can compare the six-month true cost — not the first-month promo.
What do you need?
Three questions: what you are storing, roughly how much, and whether you need climate control. Answers stay in this browser. Nothing is saved or sent.
The questions need JavaScript. The situation list and the size notes below cover the same 5x5–10x20 range without it.
Skip to the size guide
Start from your situation
A rule of thumb, not a quote. If two sizes are close, the smaller one costs less every month — including after a rent increase — but only if you can still reach your things.
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Closet overflow
5x5
Boxes, bags, and a small piece of furniture. Not a mattress and a sofa together.
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Studio
5x10
Bed, a few pieces, and boxes. Step up to a 10x10 if you want an aisle.
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1-bedroom
10x10
The most rented size. One bedroom plus living-room furniture and boxes.
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2-bedroom
10x15
Two beds, a living room, a dining set, and boxes. Appliances may push you to a 10x20.
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3-bedroom
10x20
Most of a household of furniture. About a one-car garage. The kitchen usually stays put.
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Car or seasonal
10x20
A car needs a 10x20. A motorcycle, or a season of patio and holiday gear, is usually a 5x10.
What fits, size by size
Square feet are the floor. Ceiling height is often about 8 feet, which is why mattresses go on end. Packing tight saves rent and makes the later increase smaller — until you cannot get the box you need.
5x5
25 sq ft · a large walk-in closet
The smallest unit we price. Fixed fees (admin, protection) are a large share of the true cost here, so a very cheap first month still is not a very cheap six months.
- Several medium boxes, suitcases, a lamp, seasonal decor
- A small dresser or a disassembled desk
- You stand in the doorway to reach things
5x10
50 sq ft · a walk-in closet
The usual studio size, and the right size for a motorcycle or seasonal outdoor gear. A full one-bedroom rarely fits without a fight.
- Mattress and box spring stood on end, plus a dresser
- A bookshelf, a bike, and a stack of boxes
- Or a motorcycle and its gear — not a car
10x10
100 sq ft · a small bedroom
The size city pages lead with. It holds a one-bedroom apartment if you break the table down and keep an idea of where the aisle is.
- Bed, dresser, sofa, small dining table, boxes
- A studio, if you want room to walk in
- The leftover half of a two-bedroom, if one room stays furnished
10x15
150 sq ft · a large bedroom
Two bedrooms of furniture. The monthly rent — and any later increase — is meaningfully higher than a 10x10, so do not take it for the aisle alone unless you will use it.
- Two beds, a living room, and a dining set
- Boxes, a desk, and smaller appliances
- A packed one-bedroom (office, extra sofa, appliances)
10x20
200 sq ft · a one-car garage
The largest size we price. Long enough for a sedan. A three-bedroom household fits; a three-bedroom plus a car usually does not.
- Furniture from a three-bedroom home
- A car, with a modest stack of boxes beside it
- A packed two-bedroom that needs an aisle
Climate control is a price, not a size
Climate control does not give you more floor. It changes the monthly rate. City pages show non-climate street rates unless a note on the row says otherwise. People usually pay the extra for wood furniture, electronics, photographs, instruments, paperwork, and anything fabric that hates heat and humidity.
When you have a real quote, put that monthly number in the city calculator. The increase a few months later applies to the climate rate, not to the teaser.
How size changes the true cost
Operators advertise the first month. The bill that matters is the street rate, plus an admin fee, plus a protection plan, plus whatever the existing-customer increase is once your things are inside. A larger unit raises every one of those rent lines. A smaller unit does not escape the fees — on a 5x5 they can be most of the true average.
Compare the six-month average for the size you will actually rent. A promo on a larger unit can still cost more by month four than a smaller unit at the street rate. How the six-month model works.
These footprints are ordinary packing advice, gathered so you can read a city table. Your mattress, your boxes, and whether you need an aisle will move you one size either way. The pages do not know your facility's ceiling, door, or rate lock.
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