How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Warehouse, and When Is a 3PL Cheaper?

• Rent depends on the market. It runs from $4.12 per square foot a year in Memphis to $28.04 in New York City's outer boroughs, across the 83 U.S. markets Cushman & Wakefield tracks.
• Charges come on top of rent. Triple net (NNN) charges cover the building's property taxes, insurance and upkeep. Link Logistics, an industrial landlord, puts them at $1.50 to $3.00 or more per square foot a year. Utilities are billed separately.
• The lease is a long commitment. Leases under 200,000 square feet averaged 59.7 months in early 2026, about five years (CompStak).
• Compare per order, not per square foot. A lease is a fixed monthly cost. A 3PL bills mostly by activity: per order shipped and per pallet or bin stored. Divide your warehouse's monthly total by the orders you ship, then set that next to a 3PL quote at the same volume.

Below: rent in 17 markets, every other line of the bill, one warehouse worked through to a cost per order, and when your own lease is the better deal. For what 3PLs charge, see our 3PL pricing guide.

Warehouse rent per square foot in 2026

Cushman & Wakefield's U.S. Industrial MarketBeat for the third quarter of 2026 puts the national average asking rent at $10.40 per square foot a year for all industrial space. That is up 4.0% from $10.00 a year earlier. For warehouse and distribution buildings alone, the figure is $10.06.

These are triple net asking rents: the tenant pays the building's taxes, insurance and maintenance on top. The average is weighted by the space on the market, so large vacancies count most. Rent is usually quoted per square foot per year; for a monthly figure, multiply by your square footage and divide by 12.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield, U.S. Industrial MarketBeat Q3 2026, warehouse and distribution average asking rents (NNN, preliminary). The monthly column is our arithmetic and covers base rent only.

The spread is close to sevenfold, and it is moving. Overall industrial asking rent in Dallas-Fort Worth rose 20% in a year, the fastest of the 83 markets, while rents softened in some coastal markets in California, New Jersey and Miami.

What renting a warehouse costs besides rent

Base rent is the number on the listing. The monthly bill has more lines.

Triple net charges

Under a triple net lease, the landlord estimates your share of the building's taxes, insurance and common area maintenance. You pay that estimate monthly, then settle the difference once a year. At $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot, NNN adds $1,250 to $2,500 a month to a 10,000 square foot lease.

The lease term, and what it commits you to

About five years is the average for a lease under 200,000 square feet. At the U.S. average rent, with 3% annual increases, a five-year lease on 10,000 square feet commits you to about $534,000 in base rent, before NNN. The rent itself reaches $11.32 per square foot by year five.

The deposit, one to three months' rent, holds another $8,383 to $25,150 until you move out. Ask for rent abatement as well. At 4.5% of a 59.7-month term, the CompStak average works out to about 2.7 months with no base rent.

Labor, the line that rivals rent

The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the national median wage for stockers and order fillers at $17.95 an hour in May 2025. In private industry, benefits make up 31.4% of what employers spend on pay and benefits for transportation and material moving jobs (June 2026). So each wage dollar costs about $1.46. That is $26.17 an hour, or about $54,426 a year, for one full-time person.

Wages vary far less by market than rent does. In the eight states we checked (California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, Nevada, Texas and Georgia), the state median for the same job ran from $17.13 in Georgia to $20.61 in California. That gap is about 20%; the rent spread is sevenfold. A cheaper market saves you far more on rent than on payroll.

Fit-out and software

We found no current public price benchmark for pallet racking, packing stations or lift equipment in a small warehouse, so get at least two quotes for your layout. The same goes for a warehouse management system (WMS) and shipping software.

When you size the space, Link Logistics suggests a 15 to 20% buffer for growth; every unused foot still costs rent and NNN. A 3PL already owns its racking, equipment and WMS, and builds their cost into its rates, plus any account or technology fee (see our 3PL pricing guide).

Worked example: a 10,000 square foot warehouse

One warehouse at the U.S. average rent, with two full-time staff at the national median wage plus benefits (2,080 hours a year each). NNN is shown at both ends of its range.

In this example, that total stays the same whether you ship 1,000 orders or 5,000, so the cost per order falls as volume grows:

These are floors. Utilities, software, insurance and the fit-out (spread over the lease) come on top, then packaging and postage, which you pay with a 3PL too. The market moves the total most: the same warehouse starts at $24,846 a month in northern New Jersey, and it starts at $13,754 in Memphis. Two people is an input, not a rule; set it to what your volume needs.

Now set your number next to a 3PL's. Our 3PL cost per order guide does the same division for 3PL fees at several volumes, and the fulfillment cost calculator runs it with your own numbers.

When does renting your own warehouse cost less than a 3PL?

Leasing costs less when your warehouse's cost per order, supplies included, stays below what a 3PL would charge at the same volume. That has to hold for the whole lease, not just your best months.

Leasing tends to win when:

• your volume is high and steady enough to keep the space and the staff busy in every month of a five-year term;
• your products or processes are unusual enough that 3PL quotes come back high, or with long lists of special handling fees;
• most of your customers are near one location, so one building covers them;
• someone on your team has run a warehouse, or you are ready to hire that person.

A 3PL tends to win when:

• your volume would not fill the space, or it swings with the seasons. A lease charges for peak space all year, while a 3PL bills storage for the pallets or bins you use;
• you want inventory in more than one region. Each lease is one location, while a 3PL with several buildings, or two 3PLs, covers more of the country;
• growth is uncertain. A five-year lease outlasts most forecasts, and a 3PL contract has its own term and exit clauses, which our 3PL contract guide walks through;
• your team is small, and its time is worth more on sales and product than on in-house fulfillment.

You can also do both. Keep a small space for wholesale, kitting or returns, and let a 3PL ship your direct-to-consumer orders. For the signs that it is time to hand off fulfillment, see how to know when you need to outsource fulfillment.

Where 3PLs have space in six states from the rent table

High rent does not have to keep you out of a market. The six states below hold 12 of the 17 markets in the rent table, from Chicago at $7.20 to Orange County at $17.50. In them, 3PLs with a profile on Fulfill.com list these operational facilities (our network data, October 24, 2026). The counts are floors: each 3PL lists the facilities it chooses to.

California and New Jersey hold four of the five costliest markets in the rent table, and they also carry the most network facilities of these six states. Network 3PLs list 1,143 operational U.S. facilities in all. Of the 979 with a size on file, half are 80,000 square feet or larger, eight times the warehouse in our example.

A 3PL runs space at that scale and bills storage by the pallet, bin or cubic foot. That lets a brand stock inventory near Los Angeles or northern New Jersey without signing a five-year lease. Our 3PL storage fee benchmarks show what that space costs. If you ship a few hundred orders a month, start with 3PLs that work with small businesses, and check monthly minimums first.

If you lease: five checks before you sign

• NNN history. Ask for two years of reconciliations, not only the estimate.
• Escalations. Read whether increases are fixed or tied to the Consumer Price Index. At 3% a year, $10.06 becomes $11.32 by year five.
• Abatement. Ask for months with no base rent. The CompStak average for non-bulk leases was 4.5% of the term.
• Size. Plan for the 15 to 20% growth buffer and no more, because unused space still costs rent and NNN.
• The building. Check dock doors, clear height and power against your equipment and inbound freight. An industrial broker helps here; see our list of commercial real estate brokers for logistics space.

Warehouse rent FAQ

How much does it cost to rent a 10,000 square foot warehouse?

At the U.S. average asking rent of $10.06 per square foot a year, about $8,383 a month in base rent, plus $1,250 to $2,500 in NNN charges. The market moves it most: $3,433 a month in Memphis, $14,525 in northern New Jersey.

How much does a 3,000 square foot warehouse cost to rent?

About $2,515 a month in base rent at the U.S. average, plus $375 to $750 in NNN charges. A small space can rent above or below its market's average, which is weighted toward the large vacancies.

How much does it cost to rent a 100,000 square foot warehouse?

About $83,833 a month, or $1,006,000 a year, in base rent at the U.S. average of $10.06 per square foot. NNN charges add $12,500 to $25,000 a month.

Is renting a warehouse worth it?

It is when your volume keeps the space and the staff busy for the whole lease. Divide the monthly total by the orders you ship, and compare that with a 3PL quote at the same volume.

What does NNN mean on a warehouse lease?

Triple net. On top of base rent, the tenant pays its share of the building's property taxes, insurance and common area maintenance. Link Logistics puts those charges at $1.50 to $3.00 or more per square foot a year.

How long is a typical warehouse lease?

Leases under 200,000 square feet averaged 59.7 months in the first quarter of 2026, about five years, according to CompStak. Leases of 200,000 square feet and up averaged 80.2 months.

Next step

Price your warehouse with the worked example above, then get 3PL quotes at the same volume. Tell Fulfill.com what you ship and where, and compare the 3PLs that fit.

Sources and method

• Rent: Cushman & Wakefield, U.S. Industrial MarketBeat, Q3 2026 (October 2026). We use its warehouse and distribution average asking rents: NNN, weighted by available space, preliminary for the quarter.
• NNN charges, utilities, rent increases, deposits and the space buffer: Link Logistics, Warehouse Rental Costs: A Complete Guide to Leasing Industrial Space (February 2026, updated August 2026).
• Lease term and abatement: CompStak, 2026 Industrial Gateway Market Overview (August 2026, data as of Q1 2026).
• Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: stockers and order fillers (SOC 53-7065), national and state medians.
• Benefits: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: private industry, transportation and material moving occupations.
• Facilities: Fulfill.com network data, read October 24, 2026. These are operational U.S. facilities listed by 3PLs with an active profile on Fulfill.com.
• Arithmetic: monthly cost is square feet times the annual rate, divided by 12. Staff cost is the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, divided by 0.686 (wages as a share of pay and benefits), then by 12. Cost per order is the monthly total divided by orders shipped.