by Francis Chantree
January 24, 2024
StorageCafe.com
Overall, the numbers of US storage renters have eased a little since a year before, but they still stand at around a fifth of the population. Needing to declutter a home and to keep vehicles safe are both trending reasons for renting self storage. Interestingly, the customer base is getting younger, with the 24-39 year-old age group — the millennials, approximately speaking — increasingly interested in storage, almost half them either renting it or thinking about doing so in the future.
Millennials’ enthusiasm for self storage trends higher with Gen Xers also still avid users of the service
Last year, millennials already made up a fifth of storage renters but have now increased their share of all customers to a quarter of the total. Added to this are the 23% of them considering renting in the future, making a combined share of 47% who are interested in renting self storage, a dramatic jump from last year’s 35%.
Further emphasizing the increasing youthfulness of the sector’s customer base, 28% of this year’s survey respondents aged between 18 and 23 — that’s a large segment of the Gen Z kids — are either currently renting storage or are thinking about doing so, and this represents an increase from the combined total recorded in 2022. Meanwhile, the shares of respondents in the Gen X and boomer age groups either currently renting or intending to totals 41% and 37%, respectively.
10% of 56-to-74 year-olds — compared to almost nobody younger than 40 — say they rent extra space primarily due to changes in household size, suggesting they often open their doors to welcome relatives back home, increasing the trend for multigenerational living. Seniors aged 75 or above are now a slightly decreased 13% share of renters, but they are looking to return with 15% thinking about renting in the future.
Read the entire piece on StorageCafe.com.