Same Stuff, Different Generation - Millennials & Gen Z Drive Storage Demand

It's Still Stuff, Just Different Stuff

We spend significant time talking to new investors about the fundamentals of self storage. It’s a very American product, so if we are talking to a foreign investor who has heard of self storage but never seen it or used it, we start from the basics: who uses self storage?

Storage Usage By Generation

Source: Self Storage Association Survey - 2023

In the US, 11% of the population utilizes self storage, and over half of those users are millennials and Gen Z. A common response we hear is, “But millennials don’t have stuff.” Oh, but they do—it's just not the same kind of stuff as baby boomers. Boomers might have antique armoires, 1960s high school yearbooks, or their son’s high school beer bottle collection (mine was recently given back to me).

Millennials and Gen Z, on the other hand, own lifestyle stuff, like the 26-year-old rafting guide we met in Jackson, Wyoming, who was storing eight pairs of skis in Park City. Or the young woman in San Diego who, post-pandemic, bought a lifetime supply of candle-making wax and jars directly from China. After a month, she realizes that half of America was also making candles, and all the stuff wouldn't fit in her garage, because she didn't have a garage.

Generational Storage Usage By Gender

Source: Self Storage Association Survey - 2023

It's not a coincidence that both these examples are female. According to the 2023 Self Storage Association Survey, 57% of millennial renters and 56% of Gen Z renters are female. Almost the opposite of Baby Boomer storage renters.

The most eye-opening stat is that 16% of both millennials and Gen Z have self storage. Contrast that to only 6% of baby boomers who have self storage. The really interesting subtext of this is that Gen Z ranges in age from 13 to 28.  I have 15 and 17-year-old daughters, and they don't have self storage, nor do any other 15-17-year-olds in the US. For my daughters, self storage has a coolness factor on par with having a PC instead of a Mac or wired headphones.

When I read GlobeSt.’s article, Gen Z Renters More Likely to Relocate Within Two Years, it just reinforced why younger people have more storage. According to Extra Space Storage, 55% of all self storage users are renting because they are moving residences. 

Frequent movers faced with smaller residences because of an affordability crisis who have seasonal or lifestyle stuff, will drive self storage demand for the foreseeable future.