Datacenter Rankings
9 rankings of US states, grid regions and site types, computed directly from the GridCensus dataset of 147,272 scored candidate sites and refreshed monthly.
At a glance
Texas note: Since August 3, 2026, ERCOT has paused approvals to energize new datacenter and crypto-mining loads of 75 MW or more until a verification audit and a community impact review are complete; both reports are due to the Public Utility Commission of Texas by December 10, 2026. ERCOT speed-to-power scores here were set before the pause and do not reflect it. ERCOT board update.
Top States by Datacenter Readiness
States ranked by the average GridCensus DC Readiness score across all catalogued candidate sites — a blended screen of power, speed-to-power, fiber, water, and hazard.
#1 Delaware · 57.1
States with the Most Datacenter Candidate Sites
States ranked by the raw count of scored datacenter candidate sites in the GridCensus catalog.
#1 Indiana · 8,629
States by Largest Catalogued Candidate Capacity
States ranked by the sum of per-site available-capacity estimates — a theoretical aggregate of candidate megawatts, not deliverable power.
#1 Texas · 585.3k MW
States with the Shortest Interconnection Queue Wait
States ranked by the shortest average interconnection-queue wait across their candidate sites — a key speed-to-power signal.
#1 Montana · 1.1 yrs
States by Fastest Speed-to-Power
States ranked by the average speed-to-power sub-score — proximity to existing transmission, substation adjacency, and queue dynamics.
#1 Texas · 71.6
States with the Lowest Water Stress for Cooling
States ranked by the average water sub-score (higher = lower water stress) — a proxy for cooling-water availability across candidate sites.
#1 Maine · 95.7
States with the Most Brownfield Datacenter Sites
States ranked by the number of brownfield candidate sites — previously developed parcels that trade remediation overhead for existing utility hookups and infill locations.
#1 California · 103
ISO/RTO Regions by Interconnection Queue Depth
Grid operators ranked by the average interconnection-queue depth at their candidate sites — deeper queues signal more contention for new load.
#1 ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) · 1,167
Datacenter Site Types Ranked by Readiness
The nine GridCensus site types ranked by their average DC Readiness score — which categories of land screen best for datacenter development.
#1 Brownfield · 57.5
Who leads each ranking?
- Top States by Datacenter Readiness: Delaware (57.1), then Georgia (57.1); California ranks last of 51 (45.4).
- States with the Most Datacenter Candidate Sites: Indiana (8,629), then California (8,490); District of Columbia ranks last of 51 (96).
- States by Largest Catalogued Candidate Capacity: Texas (585.3k MW), then Georgia (280.3k MW); District of Columbia ranks last of 51 (3.0k MW).
- States with the Shortest Interconnection Queue Wait: Montana (1.1 yrs), then Delaware (1.5 yrs); California ranks last of 51 (7.6 yrs).
- States by Fastest Speed-to-Power: Texas (71.6), then Florida (65.2); Maryland ranks last of 51 (35.6).
- States with the Lowest Water Stress for Cooling: Maine (95.7), then Alaska (94.4); Nevada ranks last of 51 (11.4).
- States with the Most Brownfield Datacenter Sites: California (103), then New Jersey (52); West Virginia ranks last of 49 (1).
- ISO/RTO Regions by Interconnection Queue Depth: ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) (1,167), then CAISO (California Independent System Operator) (203); ISO-NE (ISO New England) ranks last of 9 (11).
- Datacenter Site Types Ranked by Readiness: Brownfield (57.5), then Substation-Adjacent (57.4); Federal Excess ranks last of 9 (47.5).
Which states appear in the top five most often?
Across the 7 state rankings, California makes the top five 3 times (most datacenter candidate sites, largest catalogued candidate capacity, most brownfield datacenter sites); Texas makes the top five 3 times (most datacenter candidate sites, largest catalogued candidate capacity, fastest speed-to-power); Delaware makes the top five 2 times (datacenter readiness, shortest interconnection queue wait); Florida makes the top five 2 times (largest catalogued candidate capacity, fastest speed-to-power); Georgia makes the top five 2 times (datacenter readiness, largest catalogued candidate capacity); Indiana makes the top five 2 times (most datacenter candidate sites, shortest interconnection queue wait).
What do the rankings measure?
Top States by Datacenter Readiness. The DC Readiness score is a 0–100 weighted blend of fourteen factors scored for every candidate site: power (20%), speed-to-power (20%), fiber (12%), energy cost (10%), water (7%), buildability (7%), hazard (6%), and smaller weights for labor, the existing datacenter ecosystem, land, construction cost, gas pipelines, tax incentives and climate. A state's value is the mean score of its catalogued sites.
States with the Most Datacenter Candidate Sites. The count of scored candidate sites in each state: substation-adjacent parcels, industrial and manufacturing land, greenfield tracts, former mines, federal excess property, shovel-ready sites, brownfields and military BRAC parcels.
States by Largest Catalogued Candidate Capacity. The sum of per-site available-capacity estimates across a state's candidate sites, in megawatts. It is a theoretical aggregate of per-site estimates, not deliverable power.
States with the Shortest Interconnection Queue Wait. The average expected interconnection-queue wait, in years, across a state's candidate sites, drawn from Berkeley Lab's queue study and ISO queue data. A shorter wait means new load or generation has historically reached service faster in that market.
States by Fastest Speed-to-Power. The average speed-to-power sub-score (0–100) across a state's candidate sites. It combines the ISO market's interconnection speed (45% of the sub-score) with queue wait, queue completion rate, queue trend and load growth.
States with the Lowest Water Stress for Cooling. The average water sub-score (0–100) across a state's candidate sites, derived from the World Resources Institute (WRI) water-stress score. Higher scores mean lower water stress, a proxy for cooling-water availability.
State rankings based on averages include states with at least 50 candidate sites, so a handful of sites cannot put a state at the top. Counts and capacity totals include every state.
Frequently asked questions
Which state is best for datacenter development by readiness score?
Delaware has the highest average DC Readiness score (57.1 of 100) across its candidate sites, followed by Georgia (57.1). The national average is 53.0.
Which state has the shortest interconnection queue wait?
Montana, with an average expected wait of 1.1 yrs across its candidate sites, against a national average of 4.2 years.
Which state has the most datacenter candidate sites?
Indiana, with 8,629 scored candidate sites, ahead of California (8,490). The catalog holds 147,272 sites in total.
Which grid region has the deepest interconnection queue?
ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), with an average of 1,167 queued projects at the points of interconnection near its candidate sites. The national average is 113.
How often are the rankings updated?
Every ranking is recomputed from the full 147,272-site dataset after each monthly data refresh.
States at the top of the readiness ranking
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 Rankings”, https://gridcensus.com/rankings (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 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.