Data Centers in Sacramento

Sacramento – Northern California's Resilient Hub

Executive Summary

Sacramento is a strategic data center market for organizations requiring a Northern California presence with lower operational costs and reduced seismic risk compared to the San Francisco Bay Area. Its location makes it an ideal disaster recovery site for Silicon Valley and a primary hub for government agencies and enterprises serving the Central Valley. This positioning ensures high uptime and resilient, low-latency performance for a significant economic region.

Sacramento: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Sacramento provides a reliable and diverse connectivity environment, serving as a critical junction for traffic moving across Northern California.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality With over 16 unique network providers and 20 colocation data centers, the market offers solid carrier choice, as of September 2025. Most facilities operate on a carrier-neutral basis, enabling flexible and redundant network architectures.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There are no direct public cloud on-ramps within Sacramento itself. Businesses connect to all major cloud providers, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, via dedicated private network connections to the nearby San Francisco Bay Area. This provides secure, low-latency access to over 0 cloud regions.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) Public peering is limited within the immediate Sacramento area. Most network operators establish peering relationships privately or connect to the major Internet Exchanges in the Bay Area to exchange traffic efficiently.

Bare Metal Bare metal server options are available, giving businesses dedicated compute resources without the overhead of virtualization. Providers like Hivelocity and phoenixNAP can serve customers in the region, offering performance-oriented solutions for demanding workloads.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs in the Sacramento area typically range from $0.18 to $0.24/kWh, as of September 2025. While higher than the U.S. average, these costs are offset by a state-mandated push toward renewable energy sources. This pricing structure makes power efficiency a critical factor in data center design and operational planning.

Power Grid Reliability The power grid serving the Sacramento market is well-engineered and supports the uptime requirements of modern data centers. Major facilities are provisioned with redundant power from multiple substations, ensuring high levels of availability for mission-critical infrastructure.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers in Sacramento are strategically located to serve the state government's technology operations downtown as well as growing healthcare, technology, and agricultural sectors throughout the region. This proximity enables low-latency connectivity crucial for state operations and local enterprise.

Regional Market Reach Sacramento is an effective hub for serving a population of millions across the California Central Valley, from Bakersfield to Redding. It also functions as a primary disaster recovery location for businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, located approximately 90 miles away.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers California offers several tax incentives primarily focused on energy efficiency and sustainable technology investments. These programs, which include utility rebates and state-level green energy initiatives, can help reduce the total cost of ownership for qualifying data center operators.

Natural Disaster Risk

Sacramento has a High risk profile, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 89.02 out of 100, as of September 2025. While it is a safer alternative to the coastal Bay Area, operators must engineer facilities to withstand specific regional threats.

The primary risks for data center operations include:

• Earthquake: Although lower than in San Francisco, seismic risk is significant and requires buildings constructed to modern earthquake standards.
• Wildfire: Proximity to surrounding rural and forested areas creates risk from seasonal wildfires and related air quality issues.
• Riverine Flooding: Locations near the Sacramento and American Rivers require evaluation for flood risk.
• Drought: Long-term water scarcity can impact cooling systems and local utility resources.
• Heat Wave: Extreme heat events place additional strain on cooling infrastructure and the electrical grid.