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Datacenter Sites in Wake County, North Carolina

Wake County has 81 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 63.9/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 16,200 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively High". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.

At a glance

Wake County, North Carolina has 81 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 63.9/100 DC Readiness, about 16% above the North Carolina average of 55.1. It ranks 5th of 88 North Carolina counties by number of sites and 1st by average score. The top-scoring site is WAKE at 70.2/100.

81
Candidate sites
63.9/100
Avg DC Readiness
16,200 MW
Catalogued capacity
theoretical aggregate
Relatively High
Hazard rating
◆ Loading map…
≥ 7560–7540–60≤ 40
Top 25 in Wake County

Site-selection context for Wake County

Yessales_tax_exemption
Datacenter tax incentive
11.02¢/kWh
Commercial electricity
7.17¢/kWh
Industrial electricity
14
Fiber providers
Low
Water stress
$14,718
Land price / acre
1,600
Cooling degree days
3,300
Heating degree days
59°F
Mean annual temp

Incentive detail: Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for $75M+ investments; property tax abatement.

How does Wake County compare with other counties in North Carolina?

By number of scored sites, Wake County ranks 5th of the 88 North Carolina counties with a county page, holding 2.9% of the state's 2,778 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 63.9/100 ranks 1st in the state and is about 21% above the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 434th-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. One site scores 70 or higher and 81 score 55 or higher.

What types of datacenter sites are in Wake County?

Substation-Adjacent sites are the most common (59, 73% of the county's inventory), followed by industrial (11) and greenfield (11). 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 Wake County?

Industrial electricity averages 7.17¢/kWh and commercial 11.02¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively High" (42). WRI water stress is low. 14 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 1,600 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 59°F. Land is valued around $14,718 an acre.

By site type

Top datacenter sites in Wake County

Top datacenter sites in Wake County
SiteTypeVoltageCapacityQueue waitScore
WAKESubstation-Adjacent500 kV1,000 MW5.3 yrs70.2
TAP147409Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.4
UNKNOWN160766Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.4
UNKNOWN115164Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.4
TAP147382Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.3
UNKNOWN115457Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.3
TAP147176Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.3
TAP160803Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.3
UNKNOWN115453Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.3
TAP147417Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
UNKNOWN115161Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
TAP147413Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
UNKNOWN115254Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
UNKNOWN115168Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
UNKNOWN115173Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.2
TAP147178Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.1
UNKNOWN115189Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.1
UNKNOWN147185Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs67.0
TAP147415Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.9
TAP147414Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.9
UNKNOWN147187Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.8
OZ WakeGreenfield——5.3 yrs66.5
UNKNOWN115452Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.3
UNKNOWN115159Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.2
UNKNOWN115450Substation-Adjacent230 kV300 MW5.3 yrs66.2

Every scored site in Wake County

All 81 sites, best first.

Wake County datacenter FAQ

How many datacenter sites are in Wake County?

81 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 63.9/100 DC Readiness. That is the 5th-most of 88 North Carolina counties with five or more sites.

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

WAKE scores 70.2/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 81 scored sites in Wake County (a substation-adjacent site).

Does Wake County offer datacenter tax incentives?

Sales tax exemption on DC equipment and electricity for $75M+ investments; property tax abatement.

What is the natural-hazard risk in Wake County?

FEMA's National Risk Index rates Wake County as "Relatively High" (score 42).

What are industrial electricity rates in Wake County?

Average industrial electricity is 7.17¢/kWh and commercial is 11.02¢/kWh in Wake County.

More in North Carolina

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 Wake County, North Carolina”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/north-carolina/wake-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 Wake County, North Carolina 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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