Counties with the Highest Concentration of Data Centers in US

By Evan Comen  •  April 22, 2026
Detailed view of a server rack with a focus on technology and data storage.
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Soaring demand for data centers is powering one of the largest infrastructure buildouts in U.S. history. Tech companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in the race to control the future of AI, creating boomtowns overnight while placing unprecedented demand on local electric grids.

A number of factors – availability of power, presence of high-capacity fiber-optic networks, tax incentives, and proximity to corporate customers – dictate where and how data centers are built. The scramble to build AI infrastructure has resulted in several well-known clusters of data centers in the U.S., such as “Data Center Alley” in Virginia, and many lesser-known pockets of computing infrastructure. In five counties, there are more than 30 known data centers per 100,000 residents. But 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 highest concentrations of data centers.

To identify the counties with the highest concentrations of 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 per 100,000 residents. Supplemental data on the Power Stress Vulnerability Index are from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

15. Platte County, MO

  • Data center concentration: 4.6 locations per 100,000 residents (5 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 79.3/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Black Rock Financial Management

14. Dallas County, IA

  • Data center concentration: 5.8 locations per 100,000 residents (6 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 51.4/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Apple, Microsoft

13. Sarpy County, NE

  • Data center concentration: 7.2 locations per 100,000 residents (14 total)
  • 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

12. Valencia County, NM

  • Data center concentration: 7.8 locations per 100,000 residents (6 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 49.3/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Meta Los Lunas Data Center, Meta

11. Licking County, OH

  • Data center concentration: 8.9 locations per 100,000 residents (16 total)
  • 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

10. Warren County, IA

  • Data center concentration: 11.2 locations per 100,000 residents (6 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 61.4/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Project Osmium, Microsoft

9. Prince William County, VA

  • Data center concentration: 12.0 locations per 100,000 residents (58 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 89.6/100 (Major)
  • Largest data centers: CloudHQ MCC1, CloudHQ MCC2, Google
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8. Laramie County, WY

  • Data center concentration: 13.9 locations per 100,000 residents (14 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 23.2/100 (Minor)
  • Largest data centers: Microsoft CYS Datacenter, MineOne Wyoming Data Center, NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center

7. Pottawattamie County, IA

  • Data center concentration: 21.4 locations per 100,000 residents (20 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 73.0/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Google data center Council Bluffs, CyrusOne OCB1 Council Bluffs, Google

6. Douglas County, WA

  • Data center concentration: 29.7 locations per 100,000 residents (13 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 52.7/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Intergate Columbia, Actapio, Intergate Columbia A, Microsoft EAT02

5. Umatilla County, OR

  • Data center concentration: 31.2 locations per 100,000 residents (25 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 70.8/100 (Moderate)
  • Largest data centers: Amazon PDX69, Amazon PDX57/60, Amazon PDX51/54, Amazon PDX63

4. Grant County, WA

  • Data center concentration: 37.8 locations per 100,000 residents (38 total)
  • 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

3. Loudoun County, VA

  • Data center concentration: 46.6 locations per 100,000 residents (199 total)
  • Power Stress Vulnerability Index score: 92.5/100 (Major)
  • Largest data centers: Digital Loudoun Plaza, Google Data Center, NTT Ashburn Campus, AWS

2. Crook County, OR

  • Data center concentration: 50.7 locations per 100,000 residents (13 total)
  • 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

1. Morrow County, OR

  • Data center concentration: 187.8 locations per 100,000 residents (23 total)
  • 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


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