- Oklahoma City kept the top spot in CoStar’s bulk logistics ranking of the 54 largest U.S. markets, with Hartford rising to second and Cleveland placing third.
- Hartford’s logistics vacancy sits at 5.6% with 6.8% availability, while Cleveland’s industrial inventory grew just 1.5% over five years versus 10.8% nationally.
- The ranking rewards supply discipline over deal volume, showing secondary markets with limited construction can outperform major hubs for big-box owners.
Oklahoma City remains the top-performing big-box industrial market in the U.S., according to CoStar’s updated bulk logistics performance ranking released Sept. 29, 2026.
Hartford, Conn., moved up to second place, followed by Cleveland, in CoStar’s Z-score analysis of the 54 largest U.S. markets.
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How CoStar Scores Markets
CoStar ranked markets on three variables. It compared leasing of logistics spaces of 50,000 square feet or more over the past two years with the pre-pandemic average since 2015, measured vacancy expansion for logistics properties over 100,000 square feet, and tracked availability in newer buildings completed since 2021.
The approach favors markets where big-box space has stayed tight and new product is leasing, rather than those with the most construction or transaction volume.
The Details
Juan Arias, CoStar’s national director of industrial analytics, credited Oklahoma City’s continued lead to strong large-box leasing, tightening availability and limited future supply. Sparse construction helped the market outperform on vacancy expansion and availability in new logistics product.
Hartford’s rise reflects tight conditions rather than high deal volume, Arias said. Logistics vacancy there is 5.6% with 6.8% availability, and leases of at least 50,000 square feet rose about 29% from the pre-pandemic average, from 6.2 deals a year to 8 over the past two years.
Cleveland posted the second-lowest availability rate for logistics buildings completed since 2020 and the seventh-best vacancy performance. Its industrial market grew just 1.5% over five years versus 10.8% nationally, with only about 421,500 square feet under construction and availability in 100,000-square-foot-plus facilities near 6.7%.
Scarcity Beats Scale
None of the top three are traditional logistics powerhouses, underscoring how supply discipline has become a key differentiator after the early-2020s building wave. Arias described Cleveland’s performance as largely a product of structural scarcity.
CoStar’s companion small-bay industrial ranking, released earlier in September, put Tampa and Columbus on top.
Why It Matters
For investors and developers, the ranking points to secondary markets where limited construction is protecting fundamentals. Tenants needing large blocks of modern space in these metros could face fewer options, while owners of existing big-box assets face less new competition.
Labor is another variable for occupiers, with Midwest warehouse labor growth slowing after a decade-long surge.
What’s Next
Watch whether the leaders hold their positions as pipelines evolve. Markets like Cleveland, with minimal development underway, appear best positioned to keep availability low in the near term, but any uptick in speculative starts could quickly erode the scarcity that lifted them.
