5x5 Storage Units: What Fits and What They Cost
A 5x5 storage unit is 25 square feet and rents for a national median of $29.40/mo across the 2550 priced 5x5 units we track. It fits a closet: boxes, a dresser, small furniture, seasonal items.
What fits in a 5x5?
A 5x5 is 5 feet wide and 5 feet deep, or 25 square feet of floor. In practice that holds:
- Seasonal decorations, luggage, and camping or sports gear
- A small dresser or a chest of drawers
- A twin mattress, stood on its edge against a wall
- A bicycle, upright
- File boxes and business records. 25 square feet is about the floor area of a small walk-in closet
In boxes: a medium moving box is 18 by 18 inches at the base, or 2.25 square feet, so 25 square feet is room for about 11 of them in a single layer on the floor. Boxes stack, so 4 layers, roughly chest height, is on the order of 44 boxes. Both figures assume you use every square foot and never need to reach the bottom of a stack, so treat them as the ceiling on what a 5x5 holds rather than a packing plan.
What does not fit in a 5x5?
The limits are easier to check than the capacity, because each one comes down to a single measurement:
- A queen mattress lying flat. A queen is 60 by 80 inches, so it is 6 feet 8 inches long, longer than either 5-foot wall. It has to stand on edge.
- A full-size sofa. Three-seat sofas commonly run 7 to 8 feet long, and neither wall is that long.
- A room you can walk into. At 5 by 5 feet there is no interior. Everything is loaded and retrieved from the doorway.
- A refrigerator plus much else. A fridge around 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep takes roughly a third of the floor on its own.
What the size name does not tell you
Ceiling height. A 5x5 is 25 square feet of floor and the name says nothing about how high you can go. At an 8-foot ceiling that same footprint encloses roughly 200 cubic feet, and more than half of that volume sits above waist height. Ceiling heights vary between buildings and are not part of the advertised size, so ask the facility rather than assuming.
The door opening. The door is not the same as the 5-foot wall behind it. Roll-up and swing doors are sized independently of the unit, so measure your widest single item, such as a sofa, a mattress, or a refrigerator, and confirm the door dimensions with the facility, not just the unit dimensions.
How you reach it. Two 5x5 units at the same price can be very different to move into. A drive-up unit you back a truck up to; an interior unit means a hallway, possibly an elevator, and then 5 feet of carrying at the far end. On moving day that difference is measured in hours.
The mistake people make with a 5x5
A 5x5 is the size people book on price and reconsider on move-in day.
It is the cheapest number on most price lists, which makes it the one people reserve before measuring. The problem is rarely the square footage. It is the shape. A 5x5 has no interior, so whatever goes in at the back is behind everything else permanently. That is fine for a load you put in once and take out once. If you expect to visit the unit and pull individual things out of it, price a 5x10 before you commit: it doubles the floor and gives you a 10-foot run to stack along.
When a 5x5 is the right size
- A dorm room stored over the summer
- Clearing rooms to stage a house for sale
- Business documents and records that have to leave the office
- Seasonal storage for a household that swaps gear twice a year
- One person's overflow in a shared living situation
What a 5x5 costs
The national median is $29.40/mo, across the 2550 priced 5x5 units we track. That is a midpoint across every city on this site, not a quote: it is the online rate operators publish on their own sites, half the units we track are above it, and none of it accounts for local rates or promotions. Use your own city's page for the number you will actually pay.
5x5 vs 5x10
Stepping up from a 5x5 to a 5x10 adds 25 square feet, 100% more floor. Both units are 5 feet wide, so every one of those square feet is depth. The unit gets longer, not roomier across.
| Size | Sq ft | vs 5x5 | What fits | Priced units tracked | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5x5 | 25 sq ft | Same | A closet: boxes, a dresser, small furniture, seasonal items. | 2550 | $29.40/mo |
| 5x10 | 50 sq ft | +25 sq ft (+100%) | A walk-in closet: a mattress set, a couch, several boxes. | 1687 | $58/mo |
Cheapest 5x5 storage unit by city
| City | Cheapest 5x5 | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Houston, TX | $5/mo | Public Storage at 7255 Highway 6 South |
| Philadelphia, PA | $5/mo | Extra Space Storage at 425 Cooper Rd |
| Dallas, TX | $5/mo | Public Storage at 11085 Walnut Hill Lane |
| San Antonio, TX | $6/mo | Public Storage at 16639 San Pedro Ave |
| Atlanta, GA | $6/mo | Public Storage at 3679 McElroy Road |
| Charlotte, NC | $6/mo | Extra Space Storage at 13125 Zeb Morris Way |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $6/mo | Extra Space Storage at 1001 E Reno Ave |
| Austin, TX | $7/mo | Extra Space Storage at 18412 TX-71 |
| Las Vegas, NV | $7/mo | Extra Space Storage at 7435 W Sahara Ave |
| Louisville, KY | $7/mo | Public Storage at 7902 Beulah Church Rd |
| Seattle, WA | $8/mo | Extra Space Storage at 1802 A St SE |
| Denver, CO | $9/mo | Public Storage at 4403 S Tamarac Parkway |
| Miami, FL | $10/mo | Public Storage at 12451 Orange Dr |
| Chicago, IL | $11/mo | Public Storage at 2023 Schmale Rd |
| Los Angeles, CA | $15/mo | Public Storage at 12610 Raymer Street |
| Nashville, TN | $18/mo | Public Storage at 450 McNally Drive |
| San Jose, CA | $21/mo | Public Storage at 3033 Lafayette St |
| Portland, OR | $22/mo | Public Storage at 20865 SW Wildrose Pl |
| San Diego, CA | $26/mo | Public Storage at 1247 Sweetwater Road |
| El Paso, TX | $30/mo | U-Haul at 409 FM Rd 259 |
Common questions about 5x5 storage units
How much does a 5x5 storage unit cost?
The national median online rate for a 5x5 is $29.40/mo, across the 2550 priced 5x5 units we track. Half of those units are cheaper than that and half are more expensive. What you actually pay depends on the city and the individual facility, so compare your own city rather than budgeting from the median.
Will a queen mattress fit in a 5x5 storage unit?
Not lying flat. A queen mattress is 60 by 80 inches, so it is 6 feet 8 inches long and neither wall of a 5x5 is that long. Stood on its long edge it clears a typical ceiling, but it then occupies a full wall and has to lean on whatever is behind it.
Is a 5x5 storage unit big enough for a dorm room?
It can be, if the furniture stays behind. A 5x5 takes a twin mattress on edge, a mini fridge, a chair, and the boxes a dorm room generates. A twin mattress plus a desk, a dresser, and a chair all at once is a 5x10 load, not a 5x5 one.
What is the smallest storage unit size?
5x5 is the smallest of the six standard sizes, at 25 square feet. Some facilities also rent locker-style spaces below that, which are not part of the standard size chart and are not tracked here.