Break-Even Occupancy Calculator
How full does the facility need to be just to cover the bills? Enter your units, average rate, and monthly costs to find the occupancy that covers operating expenses — and the higher one that covers your loan too. Then see how much cushion you have above it today.
The facility
Monthly costs
Operating expenses keep the doors open; debt service is your mortgage. Enter both for an all-in break-even.
Where you are today (optional)
Add your current occupied unit count to see your cushion above break-even.
Enter rate and costs
Operating break-even
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Op. break-even %
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All-in break-even
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Current occupancy
add today
Every unit above break-even is close to pure profit. Filling them faster is the whole game.
The math
How to read this
Operating vs all-in break-even: what's the difference?
Operating break-even is the occupancy that covers the cost of running the facility. All-in adds your debt service, so it's the occupancy you need to avoid feeding the property out of pocket. All-in is the number that keeps you up at night.
Why use average rate instead of unit-by-unit?
For a break-even read, blended average rate is close enough and far simpler. If your mix is unusual, run it with a conservative average and treat the result as a floor.
What's a comfortable cushion?
The bigger the gap between current occupancy and all-in break-even, the more resilient you are to a soft quarter or a rate war. A thin cushion means a few move-outs can flip you cash-flow negative. That is exactly when filling units fast matters most.
Does this include capital expenditures?
No. Break-even here is operating costs plus debt. Big one-time capital projects (paving, roofs, door replacement) sit outside this and should be reserved for separately.
Get further above break-even
The units above your break-even line are where the profit lives. StorageAds runs the ads and proves which campaigns filled the gap. Built by an operator, tested on our own facilities first.
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All toolsThis calculator is an estimating tool for self-storage operators and does not constitute financial, accounting, or investment advice. Results are only as accurate as the inputs you provide.