Data Centers in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh – A Strategic Hub for Resilient Infrastructure

Pittsburgh offers a compelling data center market for organizations prioritizing resilience, cost control, and strategic access to the Northeastern United States. With significant tax incentives and a diverse provider ecosystem, the region is an excellent alternative to more expensive coastal hubs for production workloads, disaster recovery, and edge computing.

Pittsburgh: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Pittsburgh provides a reliable and well-connected environment, making it a solid choice for deployments serving the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley regions.

• Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: The market features a healthy ecosystem of over 15 unique network providers as of September 2025. Customers can find multiple carrier-neutral facilities offering diverse fiber routes and competitive pricing.

• Direct Cloud On-Ramps: There are no native public cloud on-ramps located directly within Pittsburgh. Secure, low-latency access to all major providers, including AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), and Microsoft Azure, is achieved via dedicated circuits to the primary interconnection hub in Ashburn, VA.

• Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Public peering is limited within the city itself. Most network traffic exchange occurs through private peering arrangements within local data centers or is routed through major exchange points in Ashburn or Chicago.

• Bare Metal: Bare metal server solutions are readily available from multiple providers in the Pittsburgh market, offering dedicated compute for performance-sensitive applications. Providers like Hivelocity and ColoCrossing can service deployments in the region.

Power Analysis

Pittsburgh benefits from a stable and cost-effective power grid, reducing operational expenses for high-density deployments.

• Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity rates are competitive for the Northeast, estimated between $0.07 and $0.09 per kWh as of September 2025. This pricing structure offers a significant cost advantage over major coastal markets, directly lowering the total cost of ownership.

• Power Grid Reliability: The region's power infrastructure is well-engineered, supported by a generation mix dominated by natural gas and nuclear power. Major data centers are typically fed by redundant power substations, ensuring high levels of uptime for mission-critical operations.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

The city's business environment and strategic location provide distinct advantages for data center operators and tenants.

• Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers in Pittsburgh are positioned to support the region's growing technology, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing sectors. They provide low-latency connectivity to corporate headquarters and research institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

• Regional Market Reach: From Pittsburgh, organizations can effectively serve a large population across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Western New York. It is a strategic location for edge computing and content delivery networks aimed at improving user experience in this corridor.

• Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Pennsylvania offers a specific sales and use tax exemption on eligible computer data center equipment. This program directly reduces the capital expenditure required for deploying or upgrading infrastructure, making the region financially attractive.

Natural Disaster Risk

Pittsburgh has a high natural disaster risk profile, primarily driven by atmospheric and geological factors rather than coastal threats.

The FEMA National Risk Index for the area is 83.99, ranking as High as of September 2025. Key risks for data center planning include Winter Weather, Riverine Flooding, Strong Wind, Tornadoes, and Lightning. The absence of major seismic or hurricane threats makes many of these risks manageable through standard facility hardening and operational planning.