Data Centers Are Straining Grids in These Electricity-Stressed Counties

By Evan Comen  •  October 2, 2025
https://climate-crisis-247-bucket.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/07200656/County-Power-System-Vulnerability-And-Current-Data-Center-Locations-150x150.png

The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked one of the largest infrastructure booms in U.S. history. As tech companies compete for compute, investors are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build out data center infrastructure across the country. While many data centers are in remote sites with small populations and low residential power demand, some data centers are springing up in more populated areas where the electrical grid is already under strain, skyrocketing energy demand and putting entire regions at risk of outages.

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

Researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently released the Power Stress Vulnerability Index, an indicator of vulnerability to electricity disruption based on grid load, redundancy, and historical outages. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information data center locations shows that some of the highest concentrations of data centers are in the counties most vulnerable to grid stress. A closer look at the data reveals the counties where data centers are putting serious strain on power grids.

To determine the counties where data centers are straining vulnerable power grids, Climate Crisis 247 reviewed data from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Counties categorized as having “major” PSVI stress were ranked based on the number of data center locations per 100,000 residents. Supplemental data on total population is from the U.S. Census Bureau.

10. Henrico County, VA

Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 1.8 locations per 100,000 residents (6 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 94.4/100 (major)
  • Total population: 334,434
  • County seat: Laurel
  • Largest data centers: Meta Henrico Data Center, QTS Richmond Data Center, Bank of America Data Center, Flexential - Richmond
 

9. Medina County, TX

Photo by Samuel Bauman on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 1.9 locations per 100,000 residents (1 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.1/100 (major)
  • Total population: 52,419
  • County seat: Hondo
  • Largest data centers: Microsoft TRP3 (SAT46)
 

8. Fairfax County, VA

Photo by Venkatesan P on Pexels

  • Data center concentration: 1.9 locations per 100,000 residents (22 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 96.9/100 (major)
  • Total population: 1,144,474
  • County seat: Fairfax
  • Largest data centers: CoreSite Reston VA3, CoreSite Reston Campus VA1, Amazon Web Services, VA3
 

7. Washoe County, NV

Photo by Daniel Akre on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 2.2 locations per 100,000 residents (11 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 95.9/100 (major)
  • Total population: 491,770
  • County seat: Reno
  • Largest data centers: N/A
 

6. Warren County, MS

Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 2.3 locations per 100,000 residents (1 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 90.3/100 (major)
  • Total population: 43,623
  • County seat: Vicksburg
  • Largest data centers: ERDC DoD Supercomputing Resource Center
 

5. Washington County, OR

Photo by Dziana Hasanbekava on Pexels

  • Data center concentration: 3.8 locations per 100,000 residents (23 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.0/100 (major)
  • Total population: 600,266
  • County seat: Hillsboro
  • Largest data centers: Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 3, Digital Realty PDX11 Data Center, NTT RagingWire Data Center, Stack Infrastructure Portland 2 Data Center
 

4. Somerset County, NJ

Photo by Mike Marty on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 4.3 locations per 100,000 residents (15 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 94.9/100 (major)
  • Total population: 346,203
  • County seat: Somerville
  • Largest data centers: CyrusOne Somerset, Goldman Sachs, Verizon Wireless NE Headquarters
 

3. Licking County, OH

Photo by Cortland Smith-Kerr on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 8.9 locations per 100,000 residents (16 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 90.9/100 (major)
  • Total population: 180,311
  • County seat: Newark
  • Largest data centers: Amazon New Albany: Jug and Beach Road, Amazon Web Services Datacenter Complex, Meta New Albany Data Center, Google
 

2. Prince William County, VA

Photo by Brian LeFevre on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 12.0 locations per 100,000 residents (58 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 89.6/100 (major)
  • Total population: 484,625
  • County seat: Manassas
  • Largest data centers: CloudHQ MCC1, CloudHQ MCC2, Google
 

1. Loudoun County, VA

Photo by Teslariu Mihai on Unsplash

  • Data center concentration: 46.6 locations per 100,000 residents (199 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.5/100 (major)
  • Total population: 427,082
  • County seat: Leesburg
  • Largest data centers: Digital Loudoun Plaza, Google Data Center, NTT Ashburn Campus, AWS