Data Centers in Illinois

Illinois – The Interconnection Gateway of the Midwest

Executive Summary

Illinois is the essential link for high-speed transit and enterprise colocation between the American coasts. This market is the primary choice for organizations requiring low latency to global financial exchanges and dense carrier access to drive competitive results.

Illinois: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 120 carriers, as of December 2025. Chicago serves as the central intersection for fiber providers connecting the Eastern and Western United States. This concentration creates one of the most carrier–neutral environments in the country.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 7, enabling access to 16 cloud regions, as of December 2025. Major providers available locally include AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, and Oracle Cloud.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Primary exchanges like DE–CIX Chicago and United IX provide efficient peering for local and international traffic, as of December 2025. These platforms keep data local to reduce latency and transit costs.

Bare Metal: High–performance bare metal services are widely available through providers such as Hivelocity and ColoCrossing, as of December 2025. These options are ideal for workloads requiring physical isolation without virtualization overhead.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity ranges from $0.08 – $0.11/kWh, as of December 2025. This pricing is competitive for a Tier 1 market and provides a predictable cost structure for high–density compute operations.

Power Grid Reliability: The local grid is well–engineered and resilient, utilizing a mix of nuclear, natural gas, and renewables, as of December 2025. Data center corridors benefit from redundant transmission infrastructure and multi–substation support to ensure consistent uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Most facilities are located near the Chicago Loop financial district and the O’Hare technology corridor. This proximity is critical for high–frequency trading and low–latency enterprise applications.

Regional Market Reach: Illinois serves as the central hub for the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Its location allows for efficient data delivery to approximately 60 million people within a 500–mile radius, as of December 2025.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Data center operators in Illinois benefit from significant construction–wage tax credits and investment exemptions. These specific incentives lower the total cost of ownership for organizations building or expanding large–scale compute facilities.

Natural Disaster Risk

FEMA NRI Score: Moderate (49.54/100), as of December 2025. The region is characterized by seasonal weather patterns rather than catastrophic coastal events.

Top Natural Hazards:

• Tornadoes
• Strong Winds
• Ice Storms
• Hail
• Heat Waves
• Winter Weather

Other risks such as earthquakes are monitored but remain minor factors for site selection. As an inland location, the state has no material risk from coastal flooding or tsunamis.