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Datacenter Sites in Polk County, Iowa

Polk County has 84 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 60.5/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 5,102 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively Moderate". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

Polk County, Iowa has 84 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 60.5/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the Iowa average of 56.3. It ranks 9th of 85 Iowa counties by number of sites and 3rd by average score. The top-scoring site is BONDURANT at 69.3/100.

84
Candidate sites
60.5/100
Avg DC Readiness
5,102 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively Moderate
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in Polk County

Site-selection context for Polk County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
9.61¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
6.37¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
17
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$9,677
Land price / acre
900
Cooling degree days
6,500
Heating degree days
48°F
Mean annual temp

Incentive detail: Sales tax exemption on DC equipment for $1M+ investments; property tax phase-in for new construction.

How does Polk County compare with other counties in Iowa?

By number of scored sites, Polk County ranks 9th of the 85 Iowa counties with a county page, holding 3.3% of the state's 2,572 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 60.5/100 ranks 3rd in the state and is about 14% above the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 409th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 84 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Polk County?

Substation-Adjacent sites are the most common (37, 44% of the county's inventory), followed by industrial (21) and former mine (14). 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 Polk County?

Industrial electricity averages 6.37¢/kWh and commercial 9.61¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively Moderate" (30). WRI water stress is low. 17 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 900 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 48°F. Land is valued around $9,677 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Polk County

Top datacenter sites in Polk County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
BONDURANTSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.3 yrs69.3
GREATER DES MOINES ENERGY CENTERSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.3 yrs69.1
SE POLKSubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.3 yrs69.0
SYCAMORESubstation-Adjacent345 kV600 MW4.3 yrs68.0
Harriet Street Solar FieldBrownfield69 kV1 MW4.3 yrs65.9
OZ PolkGreenfield——4.3 yrs65.8
EC Near Metro Methane Recovery FacilityGreenfield——4.3 yrs64.8
UNKNOWN137655Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs64.1
UNKNOWN132634Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs64.1
UNKNOWN131356Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs64.1
UNKNOWN132154Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs64.0
UNKNOWN132139Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.9
TAP137703Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.9
UNKNOWN132137Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.8
UNKNOWN132146Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.8
UNKNOWN131368Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.8
EC Near Metro Methane Recovery FacilityGreenfield——4.3 yrs63.8
UNKNOWN132638Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.8
UNKNOWN137663Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.8
UNKNOWN131367Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.7
UNKNOWN137708Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.7
EC Near Metro Methane Recovery FacilityGreenfield——4.3 yrs63.6
UNKNOWN137709Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.5
UNKNOWN137704Substation-Adjacent161 kV100 MW4.3 yrs63.4
EC Near Metro Methane Recovery FacilityGreenfield——4.3 yrs63.4

Every scored site in Polk County

All 84 sites, best first.

Polk County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Polk County?

84 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 60.5/100 DC Readiness. That is the 9th-most of 85 Iowa counties with five or more sites.

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

BONDURANT scores 69.3/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 84 scored sites in Polk County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does Polk County offer datacenter tax incentives?

Sales tax exemption on DC equipment for $1M+ investments; property tax phase-in for new construction.

What is the natural-hazard risk in Polk County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Polk County as "Relatively Moderate" (score 30).

What are industrial electricity rates in Polk County?

Average industrial electricity is 6.37¢/kWh and commercial is 9.61¢/kWh in Polk County.

More in Iowa

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 Polk County, Iowa”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/iowa/polk-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 Polk County, Iowa 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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