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. Montana leads with 1.1 yrs (average queue wait), ahead of Delaware (1.5 yrs).
At a glance
| # | State | Average queue wait |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana | 1.1 yrs |
| 2 | Delaware | 1.5 yrs |
| 3 | Michigan | 2.2 yrs |
| 4 | New Jersey | 2.7 yrs |
| 5 | Indiana | 3.0 yrs |
| 6 | West Virginia | 3.0 yrs |
| 7 | Arizona | 3.5 yrs |
| 8 | Oregon | 3.5 yrs |
| 9 | Texas | 3.5 yrs |
| 10 | Washington | 3.5 yrs |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 3.6 yrs |
| 12 | Utah | 3.6 yrs |
| 13 | Florida | 3.7 yrs |
| 14 | New Mexico | 3.7 yrs |
| 15 | Alabama | 3.9 yrs |
| 16 | South Carolina | 3.9 yrs |
| 17 | Colorado | 4.0 yrs |
| 18 | Tennessee | 4.0 yrs |
| 19 | Wyoming | 4.0 yrs |
| 20 | Mississippi | 4.1 yrs |
| 21 | Alaska | 4.2 yrs |
| 22 | Missouri | 4.2 yrs |
| 23 | Arkansas | 4.3 yrs |
| 24 | Connecticut | 4.3 yrs |
| 25 | Hawaii | 4.3 yrs |
| 26 | Iowa | 4.3 yrs |
| 27 | Kansas | 4.3 yrs |
| 28 | Louisiana | 4.3 yrs |
| 29 | Maine | 4.3 yrs |
| 30 | Massachusetts | 4.3 yrs |
| 31 | Minnesota | 4.3 yrs |
| 32 | Nebraska | 4.3 yrs |
| 33 | New Hampshire | 4.3 yrs |
| 34 | New York | 4.3 yrs |
| 35 | North Dakota | 4.3 yrs |
| 36 | Oklahoma | 4.3 yrs |
| 37 | Rhode Island | 4.3 yrs |
| 38 | South Dakota | 4.3 yrs |
| 39 | Vermont | 4.3 yrs |
| 40 | Wisconsin | 4.3 yrs |
| 41 | Kentucky | 4.5 yrs |
| 42 | District of Columbia | 4.7 yrs |
| 43 | Illinois | 4.8 yrs |
| 44 | Idaho | 4.9 yrs |
| 45 | Virginia | 5.1 yrs |
| 46 | Maryland | 5.2 yrs |
| 47 | Nevada | 5.2 yrs |
| 48 | Ohio | 5.2 yrs |
| 49 | North Carolina | 5.3 yrs |
| 50 | Georgia | 5.8 yrs |
| 51 | California | 7.6 yrs |
What does this ranking measure?
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. Lower values rank first. This ranking covers 51 states, computed from 147,272 scored candidate sites, and spans 1.1 yrs at the top and 7.6 yrs at the bottom. The median state sits at 4.3.
How do the top 5 compare with the national figure?
The top 5 are Montana (1.1 yrs), Delaware (1.5 yrs), Michigan (2.2 yrs), New Jersey (2.7 yrs), Indiana (3.0 yrs). That compares with the national average of 4.2 years. In all, 20 of 51 states do better than that figure. Their candidate sites sit mostly in WECC, PJM, MISO territory. At the other end, North Carolina (5.3 yrs), Georgia (5.8 yrs), California (7.6 yrs) rank lowest.
How does Montana rank on other measures?
Montana has 2,542 catalogued candidate sites with an average DC Readiness score of 54.3 and an average interconnection-queue wait of 1.1 years. On the other state rankings it places 21st of 51 for datacenter readiness (54.3); 24th of 51 for most datacenter candidate sites (2,542); 33rd of 51 for largest catalogued candidate capacity (72.9k MW); 3rd of 51 for fastest speed-to-power (64.0); 41st of 51 for lowest water stress for cooling (56.1).
Values are screening estimates from public data — not site-specific assessments, and catalogued capacity is a theoretical aggregate, not deliverable power. Full methodology →
Ranking FAQ
States with the Shortest Interconnection Queue Wait: which state ranks first?
Montana ranks first with 1.1 yrs (average queue wait), followed by Delaware (1.5 yrs).
How is this ranking calculated?
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. 51 states are ranked (states with at least 50 candidate sites), lower values first.
Which state ranks last?
California ranks 51st of 51, at 7.6 yrs.
How many states beat the national figure?
20 of 51 states do better than the national average of 4.2 years.
How often is this ranking updated?
It is recomputed from the full candidate-site dataset after each monthly data refresh.
Explore the leading states
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, “States with the Shortest Interconnection Queue Wait”, https://gridcensus.com/rankings/states-shortest-interconnection-queue (data as of November 12, 2026).
Related rankings
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.