Data Centers in Buffalo

Buffalo – Low-Cost, Resilient Northeast Hub

Executive Summary

Buffalo is a strategic data center market for organizations that require a low-risk, cost-effective North American presence. Its access to inexpensive power and minimal natural disaster exposure makes it an excellent location for secondary disaster recovery sites, production workloads, and latency-sensitive applications serving the Great Lakes region and Southern Canada. This market delivers reliability and affordability without the premium costs of coastal hubs.

Buffalo: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Buffalo provides a solid foundation for network-dependent operations, offering reliable connectivity to major North American markets. With 14 data centers and 11 unique network service providers as of September 2025, the market is well-equipped for most enterprise needs.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality The market features over 10 network carriers, providing healthy competition and diverse routing options. Carrier-neutral facilities are the standard, allowing customers to interconnect with their preferred providers for transit, transport, and private line services.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There are no public cloud on-ramps located directly within Buffalo as of September 2025. Businesses connect to cloud providers via private network extensions to nearby hubs like Toronto or the New York/New Jersey metro area, ensuring secure, low-latency access.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) Public peering is limited within Buffalo itself. Most organizations establish private peering relationships within local data centers or connect to major exchange points in New York City to manage traffic exchange.

Bare Metal Bare metal server providers operate within the Buffalo market, offering dedicated compute for performance-critical applications. Providers like ColoCrossing have a significant presence here.

Power Analysis

Buffalo stands out for its low-cost and reliable power, a critical advantage for high-density computing and large-scale data center deployments.

Average Cost Of Power Industrial electricity rates average between $0.07 and $0.09 per kWh (USD) as of September 2025. This competitive pricing can significantly lower total operational costs compared to more expensive markets on the East Coast. The grid mix includes substantial hydroelectric (~15%) and nuclear (~22%) generation, contributing to cost stability.

Power Grid Reliability The regional power grid is well-engineered and benefits from proximity to massive generation sources, including Niagara Falls. Data centers in the area typically have access to redundant power feeds from separate substations, ensuring high levels of uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Buffalo's strategic location and favorable business environment make it an attractive alternative to primary data center hubs.

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers in Buffalo provide low-latency connectivity to the city's financial, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing sectors. Its location is also ideal for cross-border operations, positioned just miles from Southern Ontario, Canada's largest economic region.

Regional Market Reach From Buffalo, organizations can effectively serve a large population across the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. It is a logical point of presence for reaching markets like Toronto, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Upstate New York with minimal delay.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers New York offers significant tax incentives that directly benefit data center customers. The state provides a sales tax exemption on the purchase of computer hardware and related equipment for qualifying data centers, which drastically reduces the capital expense of a new deployment.

Natural Disaster Risk

Buffalo has a very low natural disaster risk profile, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 23.04 out of 100 as of September 2025. This minimizes the threat of environmental disruptions to critical infrastructure.

The primary risks are weather-related and typical for the region, including severe winter events like ice storms and cold waves, alongside summer events like heat waves, lightning, and hail. The risk from hurricane remnants and riverine flooding is present but significantly lower than in coastal or low-lying areas.