Datacenter Sites in Custer County, South Dakota
Custer County has 22 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 54.7/100 DC Readiness, with a catalogued aggregate of 350 MW. FEMA rates local natural-hazard risk as "Relatively Low". The county has a datacenter tax incentive on record.
At a glance
Custer County, South Dakota has 22 scored datacenter candidate sites averaging 54.7/100 DC Readiness, roughly in line with the South Dakota average of 54.7. It ranks 17th of 52 South Dakota counties by number of sites and 24th by average score. The top-scoring site is Substation-Adjacent site · a8cd6622 at 60.3/100.
Site-selection context for Custer County
Incentive detail: No state corporate income tax; no personal income tax; no personal property tax.
How does Custer County compare with other counties in South Dakota?
By number of scored sites, Custer County ranks 17th of the 52 South Dakota counties with a county page, holding 1.9% of the state's 1,151 sites. Its average DC Readiness of 54.7/100 ranks 24th in the state and is roughly in line with the national average of 53.0. Nationally it has the 1603rd-largest site inventory of 2,964 counties with five or more sites. 0 sites score 70 or higher and 8 score 55 or higher.
What types of datacenter sites are in Custer County?
Former Mine sites are the most common (13, 59% of the county's inventory), followed by substation-adjacent (5) and industrial (2). 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 Custer County?
Industrial electricity averages 15.68¢/kWh and commercial 13.93¢/kWh. FEMA's National Risk Index rates the county "Relatively Low" (22). WRI water stress is low-medium. 4 fiber providers report service in the county. The climate runs 700 cooling degree days a year with a mean temperature of 45°F. Land is valued around $1,832 an acre.
By site type
Top datacenter sites in Custer County
| Site | Type | Voltage | Capacity | Queue wait | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN131366 | Substation-Adjacent | 69 kV | 50 MW | 4.3 yrs | 60.3 |
| UNKNOWN131365 | Substation-Adjacent | 69 kV | 50 MW | 4.3 yrs | 58.2 |
| UNKNOWN132216 | Substation-Adjacent | 69 kV | 50 MW | 4.3 yrs | 58.0 |
| EC Coal Custer County | Greenfield | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 57.9 |
| UNKNOWN167714 | Substation-Adjacent | 69 kV | 50 MW | 4.3 yrs | 57.0 |
| UNKNOWN167715 | Substation-Adjacent | 69 kV | 50 MW | 4.3 yrs | 56.9 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 55.3 |
| Greenfield (UNKNOWN201481 - LANGE) | Greenfield | 138 kV | 100 MW | 4.3 yrs | 55.0 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 54.9 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 54.0 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.6 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.5 |
| Fomer Custer Bulk Site | Industrial | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.5 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.5 |
| Stender Bulk Property | Industrial | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.5 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.2 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.0 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 53.0 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 52.9 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 52.1 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 52.0 |
| Mine Site | Former Mine | — | — | 4.3 yrs | 51.9 |
Every scored site in Custer County
All 22 sites, best first.
- Substation-Adjacent site · a8cd6622 · 60.3
- Substation-Adjacent site · 7a3213b9 · 58.2
- Substation-Adjacent site · 00870a0d · 58.0
- EC Coal Custer County · 57.9
- Substation-Adjacent site · 20dcd2c2 · 57.0
- Substation-Adjacent site · 0383c0be · 56.9
- Mine Site · e828978c · 55.3
- Greenfield (UNKNOWN201481 - LANGE) · 55.0
- Mine Site · 81a7f327 · 54.9
- Mine Site · dffb3849 · 54.0
- Mine Site · 29fab673 · 53.6
- Mine Site · 54f969bb · 53.5
- Fomer Custer Bulk Site · 53.5
- Mine Site · 1057d8a6 · 53.5
- Stender Bulk Property · 53.5
- Mine Site · f9ba6f34 · 53.2
- Mine Site · 9edb9b47 · 53.0
- Mine Site · 3e1596c5 · 53.0
- Mine Site · e1078696 · 52.9
- Mine Site · 28f646e4 · 52.1
- Mine Site · 1853bf7b · 52.0
- Mine Site · 40c78a81 · 51.9
Custer County datacenter FAQ
How many datacenter sites are in Custer County?
22 scored datacenter candidate sites, averaging 54.7/100 DC Readiness. That is the 17th-most of 52 South Dakota counties with five or more sites.
What is the highest-scoring datacenter site in Custer County?
Substation-Adjacent site · a8cd6622 scores 60.3/100 DC Readiness, the highest of the 22 scored sites in Custer County (a substation-adjacent site).
Does Custer County offer datacenter tax incentives?
No state corporate income tax; no personal income tax; no personal property tax.
What is the natural-hazard risk in Custer County?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates Custer County as "Relatively Low" (score 22).
What are industrial electricity rates in Custer County?
Average industrial electricity is 15.68¢/kWh and commercial is 13.93¢/kWh in Custer County.
More in South Dakota
- All datacenter sites in South Dakota· 1,151 sites
- Operating datacenters in South Dakota
- Electric substations in South Dakota
- Minnehaha County· 95 sites · avg 58.1
- Day County· 82 sites · avg 51.9
- Pennington County· 58 sites · avg 59.7
- Beadle County· 51 sites · avg 55.1
- Charles Mix County· 40 sites · avg 53.4
- Brown County· 37 sites · avg 57.4
- Former Mine sites in South Dakota
- Substation-Adjacent sites in South Dakota
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 Custer County, South Dakota”, https://gridcensus.com/datacenter-sites/south-dakota/custer-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 Custer County, South Dakota 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.