Warehouse space in Toronto costs $17 to $24 per square foot per year all-in for a direct lease, $18 to $35 per pallet per month for 3PL rack storage, and $3.50 to $6.50 per order for pick, pack and ship. Those are the three numbers most people searching this question want, and they are Warehouse Bridge network data, current as of Q2 2026.
The rest of this guide is for the person who has to turn those bands into a budget. Every Toronto rate we track is in one table below, followed by what actually moves pricing inside the GTA, a worked monthly example for a mid-size requirement, and a straight comparison against Montreal and Vancouver using the same rate bands. If you want capacity rather than numbers, the Toronto warehouse network page lists current facilities by cluster. If you are planning national or eastern Canadian fulfillment out of the GTA, the Toronto 3PL fulfillment guide covers the operating side.
Toronto Warehouse Rate Table: 2026
Every service we quote in Toronto and the GTA, with the full band. Rates are for pre-vetted operators in the Warehouse Bridge network and bracket the spread across submarkets, so a single quote will land inside the band rather than on the midpoint.
| Service | Toronto rate (2026) | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct lease, all-in (net + TMI) | $17 - $24 | Per sq ft per year | $1.40 - $2.00 per sq ft per month. Includes taxes, maintenance and insurance. |
| Pallet handling (ambient) | $10 - $18 | Per pallet, per move in or out | Unloading, inspection, putaway on receipt. Same fee on the way out. |
| Pallet storage (ambient) | $18 - $35 | Per pallet per month | Standard 48x40 pallet in racking. |
| Pick, pack and ship | $3.50 - $6.50 | Per order | Single-item parcel. Extra units billed as additional picks. |
| Cold storage handling | $14 - $22 | Per pallet, per move in or out | Temperature-controlled receiving and dispatch. |
| Refrigerated storage | $30 - $40 | Per pallet per month | Chilled, 2 to 8C. |
| Frozen storage | $45 - $55 | Per pallet per month | Frozen, -18C. Blended cold band is $30 - $55. |
| Cross-dock / container destuff | $450 - $650 | Per container | Deconsolidation and handling. Quoted separately from pallet receiving. |
| Trailer parking | $200 - $400 | Per trailer per month | Secured yard, 53 ft. |
| Industrial vacancy | 1.5% - 3% | Market | Tightest band of the major markets alongside Vancouver. |
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Check live rates →All figures: Warehouse Bridge network data, Q2 2026. All-in rent means net rent plus TMI, annualized from a monthly per-square-foot rate. Minimum commitments, Q4 surcharges and packaging or carrier charges are quoted separately and are not rate-module figures.
Two things to read off the table. First, the storage band is wide. An $18 pallet and a $35 pallet are both Toronto, and the difference is building age, clear height, submarket and how much volume you bring. Second, the rent band is the one to watch. At $1.40 to $2.00 per square foot per month, the spread between the low and high end of a 25,000 square foot lease is $15,000 a month. Submarket choice matters more in Toronto than in any other Canadian market.
What Drives Toronto Pricing
Six submarkets, one rate band
Toronto warehousing sits in six submarkets: Brampton, Mississauga, Milton, Vaughan, Markham and Scarborough. The Warehouse Bridge network currently clusters as five facilities and 750,000 square feet in Brampton, four facilities and 620,000 square feet in Mississauga, three facilities and 480,000 square feet in Milton, two facilities and 300,000 square feet in Vaughan, and two facilities and 210,000 square feet in Ajax / Pickering.
Brampton and Mississauga hold the newest large-format stock and the top of the rent band. The reason is geography. Both sit on the 401 and 407 corridor, both are minutes from Pearson, and the CN intermodal terminal in Brampton means containers coming off the rail are devanned without a long dray. That is what the $450 to $650 cross-dock line is priced against. Vaughan plays the same role on the CP side and trades near the top of the band as well.
Milton and Ajax / Pickering are the value ends. Milton is the western edge of the corridor and picks up requirements that do not need to be next to the airport. Ajax / Pickering is the eastern edge and does the same for freight heading toward Ottawa and Montreal. Both trade toward the bottom of the band.
The default node for eastern Canada
Toronto is where eastern Canadian demand gets served from. Ontario and Quebec hold the majority of the country’s consumers, and a single GTA facility puts most of them inside a ground delivery window without a second site. That is why the market is full, and it is also why the rent band sits where it does.
It changes how the freight math works compared with a western node. The Canadian warehouse cost guide makes the point that a cheaper prairie warehouse can lose its saving to outbound carrier costs when the customer base is in the east. In Toronto the logic runs the other way. The warehouse costs more, but the outbound parcel bill is lower for eastern demand, and the total landed cost per order is usually the better number even at the higher rent. If the demand is national, the GTA is the first node and the question is when to add a second one.
Vacancy at 1.5 to 3 percent, and what it means at the table
Toronto industrial vacancy is 1.5 to 3 percent. Montreal is 2 to 4 percent. Vancouver is 1 to 2.5 percent. Calgary is 4 to 7 percent. Toronto is the tightest major market in Canada outside Vancouver, and the band has not widened enough to change the negotiating dynamic.
Below 3 percent vacancy, the provider sets terms because the client has nowhere else to go. In Toronto that shows up less in the headline rate, which is already priced to the market, and more in the terms around it:
- Minimum pallet commitments sit above the Calgary and Montreal floors, and operators hold to them.
- Q4 peak surcharges across Canada run 10 to 30 percent on storage and fulfillment fees. Toronto quotes rarely sit at the low end of that range, and they are hard to negotiate out.
- Month-to-month and short terms for overflow and project storage carry a premium, because the provider can fill the space with a longer commitment.
The leverage that does exist is in the submarket and the timing. A Milton or Ajax / Pickering quote next to a Mississauga quote is the most useful thing a Toronto client can bring to a negotiation. A competing Montreal quote is the second most useful. Signing outside Q4, when the provider is not full, is the third. Push on those before the rate itself.
Worked Example: A Mid-Size Toronto 3PL Budget
Take a distributor holding 300 pallets in the GTA, receiving 150 pallets and shipping 150 pallets out each month, fulfilling 2,500 parcel orders a month, and devanning four containers a month through the Brampton corridor. Using Toronto mid-band values from the table above:
- Pallet storage: 300 pallets x $26.50 (mid-band of $18 to $35) = $7,950
- Pallet handling: 300 moves x $14.00 (mid-band of $10 to $18) = $4,200
- Pick, pack and ship: 2,500 orders x $5.00 (mid-band of $3.50 to $6.50) = $12,500
- Cross-dock: 4 containers x $550 (mid-band of $450 to $650) = $2,200
Monthly total: $26,850 before packaging materials, outbound carrier charges, returns processing and account management. Those lines are real and they stack on top. Budget them as a percentage of the base and get each one on the rate card in writing.
For the same operation as a direct lease, a 25,000 square foot building at the $1.70 mid-band ($1.40 to $2.00 per square foot per month all-in) is $42,500 a month in rent alone, with a band of $35,000 to $50,000. That figure carries no labour, racking, WMS or equipment, which is the trade every 3PL quote is priced against. Run your own volumes through the warehouse cost calculator to see where the crossover sits for your profile.
Toronto vs Montreal vs Vancouver
Same rate module, same three markets, every band side by side.
| Service | Toronto (GTA) | Montreal | Vancouver |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-in rent ($/sq ft/year) | $17 - $24 | $14 - $21 | $20 - $29 |
| Pallet handling ($/pallet/move) | $10 - $18 | $9 - $16 | $12 - $20 |
| Pallet storage ($/pallet/month) | $18 - $35 | $16 - $32 | $20 - $40 |
| Pick, pack and ship ($/order) | $3.50 - $6.50 | $3.25 - $5.75 | $4.00 - $7.00 |
| Refrigerated storage ($/pallet/month) | $30 - $40 | $28 - $38 | $35 - $48 |
| Frozen storage ($/pallet/month) | $45 - $55 | $42 - $52 | $50 - $65 |
| Cross-dock ($/container) | $450 - $650 | $400 - $600 | $500 - $700 |
| Trailer parking ($/trailer/month) | $200 - $400 | $175 - $350 | $225 - $450 |
| Industrial vacancy | 1.5% - 3% | 2% - 4% | 1% - 2.5% |
Warehouse Bridge network data, Q2 2026.
Run the worked example above through the other two markets at their mid-band values and the gap is concrete. In Montreal, 300 pallets at $24.00 is $7,200, 300 moves at $12.50 is $3,750, 2,500 orders at $4.50 is $11,250, and four containers at $500 is $2,000, for a total of $24,200 a month. In Vancouver, 300 pallets at $30.00 is $9,000, 300 moves at $16.00 is $4,800, 2,500 orders at $5.50 is $13,750, and four containers at $600 is $2,400, for a total of $29,950 a month. Against $26,850 in Toronto, Montreal comes in roughly 10 percent below and Vancouver roughly 12 percent above, on the warehouse side alone, every month.
The Montreal gap is the one worth thinking about. It is real but not large, and for a brand whose demand is spread across Ontario and Quebec, the GTA reaches more of it by ground from one building. Montreal wins when the customer base leans toward Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, or when the inbound is arriving through the Port of Montreal. Vancouver is a different node for a different coast, and the Toronto vs Vancouver fulfillment comparison covers when a brand needs both. The 2026 Canadian warehouse cost guide has the full six-city breakdown, and the pallet storage cost guide goes deeper on how storage is billed.
When Toronto Is the Right Node
Toronto is the right warehouse node when at least one of the following is true.
Outbound demand is Ontario and Quebec. Most of the country’s consumers sit inside a ground window from a GTA facility. For a brand selling nationally, this is the node that serves the largest share of orders at the lowest carrier cost, and the rent premium is paid back on the outbound side.
The inbound is coming through Brampton or Vaughan by rail. Containers on the CN and CP lines reach the GTA intermodal terminals and are devanned at $450 to $650 a container without a long dray. For import-driven inventory that will be sold in the east, this is the shortest path from the ship to the shelf.
The requirement needs speed. The GTA has the deepest bench of 3PL operators in Canada, so a requirement with unusual handling, a fast start date or a specific WMS integration has more candidates here than anywhere else.
Cold chain is part of the profile. Refrigerated at $30 to $40 and frozen at $45 to $55 per pallet per month put Toronto below Vancouver for temperature-controlled inventory, and the food distribution base means the capacity exists in the corridor.
Toronto is the wrong node when the customer base is western and nothing moves east, or when the requirement is short-term overflow and the client has the flexibility to place it in a softer market. In a 1.5 to 3 percent vacancy market, short-term space costs more than it does anywhere else in Canada, and a Milton or Montreal alternative is worth pricing before signing.
Get a Toronto Number for Your Requirement
The bands above bracket what you will actually be quoted. Where you land inside them depends on volume, term, submarket and service mix. Warehouse Bridge pulls live pricing from pre-vetted operators across Brampton, Mississauga, Milton, Vaughan and Ajax / Pickering, and negotiates the terms that matter in a 1.5 to 3 percent vacancy market.
For every Toronto band alongside the other seven markets we track, see the Canadian Warehouse Market Report 2026. For a quote built on your pallet count, order volume and inbound flow, request a Toronto quote. We respond within 24 hours.