Data Centers in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City – Cost-Effective Western US Hub

Executive Summary

Salt Lake City is a primary market for businesses requiring a cost-effective, low-latency hub for the Western United States. Its combination of extremely low power costs and robust connectivity makes it a top-tier disaster recovery destination for workloads originating from California and the Pacific Northwest. This strategic location provides geographic resilience and significant operational savings, directly improving total cost of ownership for critical infrastructure.

Salt Lake City: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Salt Lake City's connectivity has grown substantially, establishing it as a key intersection for data traffic in the Western US. The market offers a solid mix of local, national, and international carriers.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality The market is served by over 15 carriers as of September 2025, with multiple carrier-neutral facilities offering diverse network options. This ensures competitive pricing and resilient network design opportunities.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps The metro provides direct, dedicated access to major cloud platforms, enabling secure, high-performance hybrid cloud architectures. As of September 2025, there is one cloud region accessible via at least one on-ramp from providers including:

• Google Cloud (GCP)

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) The Salt Lake Internet Exchange (SLIX) is the primary public peering point in the region. SLIX facilitates efficient local traffic exchange, reducing latency and transit costs for connected networks. Most large-scale peering is handled privately within the area's major data centers.

Bare Metal Bare metal server capacity is readily available from multiple providers. This allows for dedicated, high-performance computing without the overhead of virtualization. Providers like phoenixNAP offer deployment options in the region.

Power Analysis

Utah's energy market is a significant advantage for data center operators, offering some of the most competitive power pricing in North America.

Average Cost Of Power Industrial electricity rates in the Salt Lake City area are approximately 6.7¢/kWh as of July 2025. This extremely low cost directly reduces operational expenditures and lowers the total cost of ownership for high-density deployments. The regional power mix is primarily generated from natural gas and coal, with a growing solar component.

Power Grid Reliability The power grid supporting the main data center corridors is modern and well-engineered. Facilities typically have access to redundant power feeds from separate substations, ensuring high levels of uptime for mission-critical operations.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Salt Lake City combines strategic location with a business-friendly environment, making it an attractive alternative to more expensive coastal markets.

Proximity To Key Business Districts Data centers are located near the "Silicon Slopes" tech corridor, providing low-latency connectivity to a high concentration of software, hardware, and enterprise technology companies. This proximity supports the region's rapidly growing digital economy.

Regional Market Reach The market offers excellent network reach to the entire Intermountain West and serves as an effective disaster recovery location for Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Seattle. Round-trip latency to these major markets is highly competitive.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers Utah provides specific tax incentives that make it financially attractive for data center investment. Qualifying facilities can receive long-term sales and use tax exemptions on equipment, software, and construction materials, which substantially reduces upfront capital costs.

Natural Disaster Risk

Salt Lake City has a High risk profile according to federal assessments, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 94.21 as of September 2025. This score highlights the need for well-engineered facilities designed to mitigate specific regional threats.

While often chosen for its distance from coastal disasters, the primary risks for infrastructure in Salt Lake City are geologic and climatic. The most significant potential hazards include:

• Earthquake
• Wildfire
• Drought
• Strong Wind
• Winter Weather