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Datacenter Sites in Cook County, Illinois

Cook County has 745 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.1/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 6,921 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

Cook County, Illinois has 745 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 53.1/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the Illinois average of 53.6. It ranks 1st of 101 Illinois counties by number of sites and 76th by average score. The top-scoring site is Substation-Adjacent site · de203d8d at 70.3/100.

745
Candidate sites
53.1/100
Avg DC Readiness
6,921 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively High
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in Cook County

Site-selection context for Cook County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
8.86¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
5.29¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
18
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$18,054
Land price / acre
1,100
Cooling degree days
5,600
Heating degree days
52°F
Mean annual temp

Incentive detail: Enterprise Zone sales tax exemption; High Impact Business designation for $12M+ DC investments.

How does Cook County compare with other counties in Illinois?

By number of scored sites, Cook County ranks 1st of the 101 Illinois counties with a county page, holding 20% of the state's 3,641 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 53.1/100 ranks 76th in the state and is roughly in line with the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 7th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. One site scores 70 or higher and 85 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Cook County?

Industrial sites are the most common (621, 83% of the county's inventory), followed by greenfield (63) and substation-adjacent (29). Site type reflects how the parcel was identified — next to a substation, on a former mine or brownfield, on industrial or federal excess land — and is scored on the same 14 factors either way.

What are power cost, hazard, water and fiber conditions in Cook County?

Industrial electricity averages 5.29¢/kWh and commercial 8.86¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (35). WRI water stress is low. 18 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 1,100 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 52°F. Land is valued around $18,054 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Cook County

Top datacenter sites in Cook County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
UNKNOWN122269Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs70.3
UNKNOWN124436Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs69.3
UNKNOWN122285Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs67.6
UNKNOWN122531Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW3.0 yrs65.9
UNKNOWN124699Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs65.2
BEDFORD PARKSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs64.3
BLUE ISLANDSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs64.3
UNKNOWN122289Substation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.8 yrs64.2
Exelon City SolarBrownfield—10 MW4.8 yrs63.0
EC Near Fisk StreetGreenfield——4.8 yrs62.5
EC Near CrawfordGreenfield——4.8 yrs62.4
OZ CookGreenfield——4.8 yrs62.2
EC Coal Cook CountyGreenfield——4.8 yrs62.0
EC Near CrawfordGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.8
EC Near Fisk StreetGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.8
OZ CookGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.6
EC Near Lake Gas RecoveryGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.5
EC Near CID Gas RecoveryGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.4
EC Near BloomGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.4
EC Near CrawfordGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.3
EC Near BloomGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.3
EC Near Southeast Chicago Energy ProjectGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.3
OZ CookGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.2
EC Near BloomGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.1
OZ CookGreenfield——4.8 yrs61.1

Every scored site in Cook County

All 745 sites, best first.

Cook County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Cook County?

745 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 53.1/100 DC Readiness. That is the most of 101 Illinois counties with five or more sites.

What is the highest-scoring datacenter site in Cook County?

Substation-Adjacent site · de203d8d scores 70.3/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 745 scored sites in Cook County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does Cook County offer datacenter tax incentives?

Enterprise Zone sales tax exemption; High Impact Business designation for $12M+ DC investments.

What is the natural-hazard risk in Cook County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Cook County as "Relatively High" (score 35).

What are industrial electricity rates in Cook County?

Average industrial electricity is 5.29¢/kWh and commercial is 8.86¢/kWh in Cook County.

More in Illinois

About this data

Source: GridCensus composite of HIFLD transmission and substation data, EIA, FEMA National Risk Index, FCC broadband data, PeeringDB and ISO interconnection queues, as published November 12, 2026 — GridCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.

Cite as: GridCensus, “Datacenter candidate sites in Cook County, Illinois”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/illinois/cook-county (data as of November 12, 2026).

Dataset updated . Screening estimates derived from public data sources.

Go deeper than the public screen

Every site and score for Cook County, Illinois is free to browse. Pro adds Watchtower on 25 sites, alerts when new candidate sites, datacenters or interconnection-queue requests appear in your markets, score and capacity history, and CSV export. Enterprise adds team seats, weekly data files for all 147,272 sites, the REST API and an MCP server for AI tools.

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