Rents for industrial real estate in the U.S. have increased since 2017, with flexible/service space reaching the highest price per square foot in 2024. In just a year, the cost of, flex/service space rose by nearly *****U.S. dollars per square foot. Manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and distribution centers had lower rents and experienced milder growth. Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire, California, are some of the most expensive markets in the country. Office real estate is pricier Industrial real estate is far from being the most expensive commercial property type. For instance, average rental rates in major U.S. metros for office space are much higher than those for industrial space. This is most likely because office units are generally located in urban areas where there is limited space and thus higher demand, whereas industrial units are more suited to the outskirts of such urban areas. Industrial units, such as warehouses or factories, require much more space because they need to house large, heavy equipment or serve as a storage unit for future shipments. Big-box distribution space is gaining in importance Warehouses and distribution may currently command the lowest average rent per square foot among industrial space types, but the growing popularity of the asset class has earned it considerable gains over the past years. In 2021 and 2022, high occupier demand and insufficient supply led to soaring taking rent of big-box buildings. During that time, the vacancy rate of distribution centers fell below ****percent. The development of industrial and logistics facilities has accelerated since then, with the new supply coming to market, causing the vacancy rate to increase and the pressures on rent to ease.

In District of Columbia, the average rent per square foot was **** U.S. dollars in 2018, whereas renters in Oregon were expected to pay half as much in rent per square foot. DC was the most expensive state for renters, followed by New York, Hawaii, Massachusetts and California. Why is DC so expensive? District of Columbia is the center of the U.S. political system with all three branches of federal government sitting there: Congress (legislative), President (executive) and the Supreme Court (judicial). The above average household incomes of its residents mean that high rents are still sustainable for the rental market. Limited space in DC DC has the largest share of apartment dwellers in the country. This is most likely due to limited space, as the federal district has a much higher population density than the states. The political importance of DC and the high population density suggest that the federal district is likely to retain its spot as the most expensive rental market in the future.

Gain a complete view of the real estate market with our Zillow datasets. Track price trends, rental/sale status, and price per square foot with the Zillow Price History dataset and explore detailed listings with prices, locations, and features using the Zillow Properties Listing dataset. Over 134M records available Price starts at $250/100K records Data formats are available in JSON, NDJSON, CSV, XLSX and Parquet. 100% ethical and compliant data collection Included datapoints:

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Bedrooms
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Price
Property Type
Date Sold
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Price Per Square Foot
Rent Zestimate
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Zestimate
Home Values
Lot Area
Lot Area Unit
Living Area
Living Area Units
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Page View Count
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Time On Zillow
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Among the ** markets with the largest industrial and logistics real estate inventory in the U.S., Orange County, CA, had the highest rental rate in the first quarter of 2025. The square footage rent of warehouse and distribution centers was ***** U.S. dollars, while for manufacturing sites it was ***** U.S. dollars. In the largest market, Chicago, IL, rents were significantly lower, at ****U.S. dollars.