Research Outline

US Warehouses and Distribution Hubs

Goals

To understand total warehouse space ( in sq. ft) by state and city in the USA Warehouse and/or Distribution Hubs and to include spaces found in ports, where applicable.

Early Findings

  • We did a deeper dive and found additional statistics and numbers on the Transportation and Warehousing sector by state. We were able to find statistics on the number of firms and establishments by US state and put it on a spreadsheet. For this, we filtered out the data from the latest information available from the US Census Bureau, which had numbers from 2017. However, numbers on the total warehouse space for each state did not appear publicly available.
  • The National American Industry Classification System's (NAICS) Transportation and Warehousing Sector typically include the following business types: passenger transportation, freight transportation, railroads, trucking, warehousing and storage, and several others.
  • "The transportation and warehousing industry sector comprise three main subsectors: transportation, warehousing and storage, and support activities for transportation companies. It includes air, rail water, roadway, and pipeline transportation, as well as all warehousing and storage facilities."
  • According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the number of establishments in warehousing and storage by sector were:

Number of Transportation and Warehousing Establishments

(3rd quarter, 2019)

  • Private industry: 18,862
  • Local government: 249
  • State government: 7
  • Federal government: 9

Warehouse Space

  • "Nationwide, warehouse industrial property currently totals 14.0 billion square feet (sq ft) across approximately 258,000 properties."
  • The "largest and most active industrial markets are Los Angeles/Inland Empire, Chicago, NY/NJ, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Atlanta."
  • "Warehouses are often referred to as ‘light’ (50,000-399,999 sq ft) or ‘bulk’ (400,000+ sq ft)."
  • More than 80% of warehouse properties are under 400,000 sq ft.
  • "The average square footage is approximately 185,000 sq ft."

Total US Ports by State

  • Alabama: 19
  • Alaska: 58
  • Arkansas: 2
  • California: 40
  • Connecticut: 13
  • Delaware: 4
  • District of Columbia: 1
  • Florida: 19
  • Georgia: 5
  • Hawaii: 15
  • Idaho: 1
  • Illinois: 14
  • Indiana: 6
  • Iowa: 3
  • Kentucky: 7
  • Louisiana: 30
  • Maine: 44
  • Maryland: 7
  • Massachusetts: 24
  • Michigan: 27
  • Minnesota: 10
  • Mississippi: 16
  • Missouri: 11
  • New Hampshire: 1
  • New Jersey: 14
  • New York: 27
  • North Carolina: 3
  • Ohio: 10
  • Oklahoma: 2
  • Oregon: 11
  • Pennsylvania: 6
  • Rhode Island: 6
  • South Carolina: 3
  • Tennessee: 5
  • Texas: 23
  • Vermont: 2
  • Virginia: 10
  • Washington: 42
  • West Virginia: 1
  • Wisconsin: 12

Summary

  • For this hour, we tried identifying data on the total warehouse space (in sq. ft) by state and city for US warehouse and/or distribution hubs and to include spaces found in ports, however a breakdown of warehouse space by state, city, and by port did not appear publicly available.
  • We were able to find statistics on the overall Transportation and Warehousing sector by state, specifically on the number of firms and establishments by US state and put it on a spreadsheet. The data was filtered from the most recent information available from the US Census Bureau.
  • We also found more general statistics on the size of US warehouses and found that more than 80% of warehouse properties are under 400,000 sq ft.
  • We also found general information on the total number of US ports. Based on the available information Alaska, California, Louisiana, Maine, Washington appear to have the most ports. It is likely they also have the most warehouses or distribution centers in these areas.
  • In the course of our research, we found additional insights on ports and warehouse trends, which might also be of interest.
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