Counties With the Most Data Centers; Are Power Grids In Trouble?
https://climate-crisis-247-bucket.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/07201713/County-Power-System-Vulnerability-And-Current-Data-Center-Locations-150x150.pngAs countries around the world compete to harness the power of artificial intelligence, the private and public sectors are building out digital infrastructure at breakneck speed. Data centers are multiplying across the United States, placing unprecedented demand on the electric grid.
Hot property? From Maui to Malibu, These Affluent Enclaves Are Becoming Wildfire Hotspots
Whence the next pandemic? Cities Where the Next Pandemic Is Most Likely to Break Out
Data centers have specific habitational requirements, and are highly concentrated in several pockets around the country. A number of factors – such as available power, high-capacity fiber-optic networks, tax incentives, and proximity to corporate customers – have led to data center clusters in places like Virginia’s “Data Center Alley” and Santa Clara County, California. While data centers offer the promise of economic development, they also threaten to strain power grids and hike utility bills. A closer look at the data reveals the counties with the most data centers in the United States.
To identify the counties with the most data centers, Climate Crisis 247 reviewed data on known data center locations from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information. Counties were ranked based on the number of known data centers within their boundaries as of September 2025. Supplemental data on the Power Stress Vulnerability Index are from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
25. Douglas County, WA

- Data center count: 13 locations
- Data center concentration: 24.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 52.7/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Intergate Columbia, Actapio, Intergate Columbia A, Microsoft EAT02
24. Crook County, OR

- Data center count: 13 locations
- Data center concentration: 24.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 15.8/100 (minor)
- Largest data centers: Facebook Prineville Datacenter, Apple Prineville Datacenter, Meta Prineville Data Center, Meta Prineville Data Center, phase 3
23. Travis County, TX

- Data center count: 14 locations
- Data center concentration: 20.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 98.0/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: CyrusOne Austin Data Center III, Data Foundry - Texas 1, Data Foundry - Texas 2
22. Fulton County, GA

- Data center count: 14 locations
- Data center concentration: 20.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.1/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Hewlett-Packard, QTS Atlanta Data Center 1, Ascent - Atlanta Data Center, QTS Atlanta Data Center 2
21. Sarpy County, NE

- Data center count: 14 locations
- Data center concentration: 20.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 55.0/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Sarpy County Power Park East, Facebook Data Center, Meta Sarpy Data center, Google
20. Laramie County, WY

- Data center count: 14 locations
- Data center concentration: 20.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 23.2/100 (minor)
- Largest data centers: Microsoft CYS Datacenter, MineOne Wyoming Data Center, NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center
19. Dallas County, TX

- Data center count: 15 locations
- Data center concentration: 17.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.2/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: QTA Irving - Dallas Data Center Campus, Stream Data Centers, Equinix Infomart, Digital Realty Dallas DFW18
18. King County, WA

- Data center count: 15 locations
- Data center concentration: 17.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.4/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Intergate Seattle East Building 3, Intergate Seattle East Building 5, Intergate Seattle East Building 4, Intergate Seattle East Building 2
17. Somerset County, NJ

- Data center count: 15 locations
- Data center concentration: 17.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 94.9/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: CyrusOne Somerset, Goldman Sachs, Verizon Wireless NE Headquarters
16. Licking County, OH

- Data center count: 16 locations
- Data center concentration: 16.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 90.9/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: Amazon New Albany: Jug and Beach Road, Amazon Web Services Datacenter Complex, Meta New Albany Data Center, Google
15. Clark County, NV

- Data center count: 20 locations
- Data center concentration: 14.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 98.0/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Switch Las Vegas 12, Switch12, Switch Las Vegas 7, Switch Las Vegas 9
14. Pottawattamie County, IA

- Data center count: 20 locations
- Data center concentration: 14.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 73.0/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Google data center Council Bluffs, CyrusOne OCB1 Council Bluffs, Google
13. Franklin County, OH

- Data center count: 22 locations
- Data center concentration: 11.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.4/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Google Lockbourne, OH, Amazon AWS: Hilliard Data Center, STACK New Albany, Google
12. Fairfax County, VA

- Data center count: 22 locations
- Data center concentration: 11.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 96.9/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: CoreSite Reston VA3, CoreSite Reston Campus VA1, Amazon Web Services, VA3
11. Polk County, IA

- Data center count: 22 locations
- Data center concentration: 11.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 88.5/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Facebook Altoona Data Center, Project Alluvion, Facebook Altoona Data Center 5, Meta
10. Washington County, OR

- Data center count: 23 locations
- Data center concentration: 9.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.0/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 3, Digital Realty PDX11 Data Center, NTT RagingWire Data Center, Stack Infrastructure Portland 2 Data Center
9. Morrow County, OR

- Data center count: 23 locations
- Data center concentration: 9.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 35.4/100 (minor)
- Largest data centers: Amazon Web Services us-west-2, Amazon Web Services, Amazon PDX93, Amazon PDX92
8. Umatilla County, OR

- Data center count: 25 locations
- Data center concentration: 8.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 70.8/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Amazon PDX69, Amazon PDX57/60, Amazon PDX51/54, Amazon PDX63
7. Cook County, IL

- Data center count: 27 locations
- Data center concentration: 6.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 98.4/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Microsoft Data Center - Hoffman Estates, Digital Realty CH1, Digital Realty CH3, Microsoft - Azure Datacenter
6. Bexar County, TX

- Data center count: 27 locations
- Data center concentration: 6.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 98.4/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: CyrusOne SAT10 & SAT11, Microsoft San Antonio, Texas Cryptologic Center, Microsoft
5. Grant County, WA

- Data center count: 38 locations
- Data center concentration: 5.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 78.4/100 (moderate)
- Largest data centers: Microsoft MWH Data Center, Intergate Quincy Data Center, NTTData Data Center, H5 Data Center
4. Maricopa County, AZ

- Data center count: 54 locations
- Data center concentration: 4.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.3/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: NTT PH1 Datacenter, Apple Data Center, Iron Mountain AZP-1, EdgeConneX PHX02 Data Center
3. Prince William County, VA

- Data center count: 58 locations
- Data center concentration: 3.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 89.6/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: CloudHQ MCC1, CloudHQ MCC2, Google
2. Santa Clara County, CA

- Data center count: 61 locations
- Data center concentration: 2.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 99.4/100 (severe)
- Largest data centers: Santa Clara (CA2) Data Center Campus, Equinix SV5, Digital Realty
1. Loudoun County, VA

- Data center count: 199 locations
- Data center concentration: 1.0 locations per capita
- Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.5/100 (major)
- Largest data centers: Digital Loudoun Plaza, Google Data Center, NTT Ashburn Campus, AWS
