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Warehouse Storage Yield Calculator

Modern industrial users underwrite warehouse rent on cubic feet, not just square feet. A 32' clear-height building stores 60% more pallets than a 20' clear building of the same footprint and commands proportionally more rent. This calculator computes usable cubic feet, rent per cubic foot, and rent per SF — so investors can compare deals across clear-height tiers fairly.

Truss-bottom to floor

$

Usable cubic feet

1,820,000

Rent / cubic ft / yr

$0.467

Rent / SF / yr

$8.50

Racked SF

70,000

How the math works

Industrial tenants increasingly underwrite warehouse rent on a cubic-foot basis, not just SF. A 32' clear-height building delivers 60% more storage capacity than a 20' clear-height building at the same footprint — and commands proportionally more rent.

E-commerce fulfillment is shifting demand toward 36-40' clear height to stack 5-6 pallets high. Older warehouses with sub-24' clear height struggle to lease above market discount.

How to Use

  1. Enter building footprint SF, clear height, and usable rack height.
  2. Enter aisles and non-racked SF (typically 25-35% of footprint).
  3. Enter annual rent.
  4. Read usable cubic feet, rent per cubic foot, and rent per SF.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's a typical clear height?

Pre-2000 warehouses: 20-24'. 2000-2010: 28-32'. New build 2020+: 36-40'. Big-box e-commerce sometimes goes to 60'.

Why subtract aisles?

Forklift aisles (8-13' wide) plus dock and staging zones can't be racked, so they don't generate cubic-foot storage. Net usable cubic feet drives true storage yield.

Cubic-foot rent benchmarks?

$0.30-0.50/cu.ft./yr is typical for class A industrial; older sub-24' buildings struggle to clear $0.60+ on a cubic basis even when face SF rent looks competitive.

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