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Commercial Lease Rate Calculator (per SQFT)

Annual and monthly rent from rentable square feet, rate per SF, and extra NNN or CAM load.

Page updated 2026-09-04.

Commercial Lease Rate Calculator (per SQFT) visual
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Calculator

Default 2,200 SF.

Default $28.

Default $8.50.

Calculated Results

Monthly occupancy cost

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Annual occupancy cost

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All-in per SF / year

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Base rent, NNN, and the true monthly occupancy cost

A 2,200 SF space at $28/SF/year base rent plus $8.50/SF/year in NNN (triple-net) charges works out to $36.50/SF/year all-in -- $80,300/year, or $6,691.67/month. Base rent alone would understate the real occupancy cost by nearly 30% here, since NNN often approaches a third of the quoted base rate.

NNN typically covers property tax, building insurance, and common-area maintenance passed through from landlord to tenant -- it's on top of base rent, not included in it, which is why quoted 'rate per square foot' numbers in commercial listings can be misleading without asking whether they're base-only or all-in.

Every dollar of NNN scales directly with square footage, so a landlord quoting a lower base rate on a larger space can still cost more per month than a smaller space at a higher base rate once NNN is added in.

What a quoted rate doesn't include

Simple SF math. TI, free-rent months, and percentage rent are omitted. Tenant improvement (TI) allowances, free-rent concessions during buildout, and percentage-rent clauses in retail leases all change the effective cost but aren't part of a straight rate-times-square-footage calculation.

NNN estimates on a new lease are often based on the landlord's prior-year actuals with an escalation clause -- ask for the CAM reconciliation history before treating $8.50/SF as fixed for the full lease term.

If you're comparing this space against buying instead of leasing, run the purchase-financing side through the Small Business SBA Loan Estimator.

Related commercial real estate math

For office space specifically, where quoted rates are sometimes given as a monthly-per-desk or usable-square-foot figure instead of rentable square feet, the Office Lease Cost per Square Foot Calculator normalizes that.

Property tax is usually the largest single line item inside NNN -- see the Property Tax Estimator to sanity-check whether $8.50/SF is in a reasonable range for the local mill rate.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is the all-in rate ($36.50/SF) so much higher than the quoted base rent ($28/SF)?

Because NNN charges ($8.50/SF here) are added on top of base rent, not included in it. All-in rate = base rent + NNN = $28 + $8.50 = $36.50/SF/year, which is the number that actually determines your monthly occupancy cost.

Does this include a tenant improvement allowance or free-rent period?

No. Simple SF math. TI, free-rent months, and percentage rent are omitted. Those terms are negotiated separately and can meaningfully change the effective cost of a lease beyond the quoted rate.

Is NNN a fixed amount for the whole lease term?

Usually not. NNN is typically a pass-through of actual operating costs and is reconciled annually against actuals, with most leases including an escalation clause. Treat the $8.50/SF figure as a starting estimate, not a locked number.

How is the monthly cost ($6,691.67) calculated from the annual figure?

Annual occupancy cost ($80,300 = 2,200 SF x $36.50/SF) divided by 12 = $6,691.67/month.

Does rentable square footage differ from usable square footage?

Yes, and this calculator uses whatever square footage you enter without adjusting for a load factor. Commercial leases often quote rentable SF, which includes a share of common areas -- confirm which figure your lease is using before comparing rates across buildings.

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