Warehousing in the United States
Understand the landscape before you commit to a building.
Whether you’re expanding into the US from abroad or growing a domestic operation, the hard part isn’t finding warehouse space — it’s knowing what to ask before you look.
Written for market entrants
Assumes no prior knowledge of US leasing, entity requirements, or how the market is structured.
Guidance, not listings
No brokers bidding for your attention. The goal is that you understand the decision before anyone quotes you a price.
Sourced, not guessed
Figures, tax rules, and legal requirements are cited or left out. Nothing here is approximated to fill a page.
Start here
The two decisions that shape everything downstream.
- 01
How to Start Your Warehouse Search in the US
A step-by-step framework for going from 'we need US warehouse space' to a shortlist of real buildings — in the right order, without wasting months.
Read the guide → - 02
How Much Warehouse Space Do I Need?
Pallet positions are not square footage. Size a real requirement including staging, packing, circulation, office and growth — with a calculator.
Read the guide → - 03
Co-Warehousing and Flexible Warehouse Space
You need a few hundred pallets, not a building. Co-warehousing, on-demand capacity and small-bay leases — what each costs you in commitment and control.
Read the guide → - 04
How to Read a US Warehouse Spec Sheet
Clear height, dock doors, truck court, slab, ESFR: what every line on an industrial listing means, and which ones can make a building unusable for you.
Read the guide → - 05
3PL vs. Leasing Your Own Warehouse
The first real fork in the road. How to tell which model fits your volume, margins, and risk tolerance — and when to switch from one to the other.
Read the guide → - 06
Do You Need a US Entity to Lease a Warehouse?
Entity formation, EIN, banking, beneficial-ownership reporting, and the security a landlord demands from a tenant with no US credit history.
Read the guide → - 07
Importer of Record and Customs Basics
Who is legally answerable for goods entering the US, what a non-resident importer needs, and how the choice shapes where your warehouse sits.
Read the guide → - 08
Insurance a US Landlord Will Require
The coverages a standard US industrial lease names, the additional-insured and subrogation clauses behind them, and where foreign tenants get caught.
Read the guide → - 09
Comparing States for Warehousing
Labour, unions, inventory tax, and incentives: how US states genuinely differ for warehouse operators, and which differences change the decision.
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Ports, Rail Hubs, and Inland Distribution
The five largest US container ports, the corridors running inland from each, and the warehouse markets that grew up to serve them.
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Foreign-Trade Zones Explained
What a foreign-trade zone defers, eliminates, and inverts, what it costs to run, and the importer profile it genuinely pays off for.
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What Is a Bonded Warehouse?
Store imported goods for up to five years without paying duty — and how a customs bonded warehouse differs from a foreign-trade zone, point by point.
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The True Cost of US Warehouse Space
Base rent is a fraction of the bill. NNN charges, escalations, TI allowances, and the costs that surface after you sign.
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How Much Does It Cost to Open a US Warehouse?
Every cost between a signed lease and your first shipment — deposit, racking, forklifts, WMS, permits, insurance — with sourced ranges and a calculator.
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Inventory and Property Tax by State
Nine states fully tax business inventory and five partially. Where that applies, what freeport exemptions do, and how operators plan around it.
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Warehouse Security: Standards and Expectations
The physical security baseline every warehouse needs, plus CTPAT and TAPA FSR — what each certification requires and who actually needs one.
Read the guide →
Run the numbers
Free calculators. No sign-up, nothing to submit.
Pallet Position Calculator
Estimate how many pallet positions a warehouse actually holds, from clear height, rack type, and load size — and see what extra height is worth.
Open the calculator →3PL vs. Lease Cost Calculator
Compare the full annual cost of a 3PL against running your own warehouse, including the costs most comparisons leave out, and find the crossover volume.
Open the calculator →Inventory Tax Checker
Find out whether your state taxes business inventory, what the freeport and foreign-trade zone exemptions cover, and roughly what you would owe.
Open the calculator →Warehouse Space Type Matcher
Six questions to rank co-warehousing, on-demand capacity, 3PL, small-bay and a full lease against your volume, horizon and US credit position.
Open the calculator →Dock Door Calculator
How many dock doors your throughput actually needs, checked against what a building of that size and type conventionally provides.
Open the calculator →Warehouse Opening Cost Calculator
Total the real cost of opening a US warehouse — deposit, rent before revenue, racking, forklifts, WMS, permits and insurance — line by line.
Open the calculator →Warehouse Size Calculator
Turn pallet positions into a real square-footage requirement — storage plus staging, packing, circulation, office and growth reserve.
Open the calculator →
What we cover
- Start Here
- Orient yourself before you talk to a single broker.
- 5 of 5 published
- Requirements & Compliance
- What a business — foreign or domestic — needs in place to sign.
- 3 of 3 published
- States & Locations
- How US regions differ, and what that means for your footprint.
- 4 of 4 published
- Costs & Taxes
- The full landed cost of occupying space, beyond rent per square foot.
- 3 of 3 published
- Operations & Security
- Running the building once you have it.
- 1 of 1 published