Data Centers in Spokane

Spokane – Affordable Power & Strategic Location

Executive Summary

Spokane is an emerging data center market ideal for organizations prioritizing low operational costs and sustainable power for their compute infrastructure. With some of the lowest industrial power rates in the nation, driven by a hydro-dominant grid, the market offers significant financial advantages and a strategic inland location for disaster recovery.

Spokane: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Spokane provides a solid connectivity foundation, serving as a key hub for the Inland Northwest. While not a primary interconnection market like Seattle, it offers reliable and diverse network access suitable for enterprise and content delivery.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: The Spokane market includes 11 colocation data centers with access to over 8 network providers, as of September 2025. This environment supports carrier-neutral interconnection, providing choice and resiliency for network strategies.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: There are no direct public cloud on-ramps within Spokane data centers, as of September 2025. Businesses connect to major cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure via the primary hub in Seattle, using private network interconnects, wave services, or IP transit.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Public peering is limited within Spokane. Most network peering is conducted privately between carriers or routed through major exchange points in Seattle, such as the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX).

Bare Metal: Bare metal server options are available in the region, typically through providers with a national footprint. Companies like phoenixNAP and Hivelocity can serve deployments in secondary markets like Spokane.

Power Analysis

Washington state is renowned for its low-cost and renewable-heavy power grid, and Spokane is a prime beneficiary.

Average Cost Of Power: The industrial electricity rate is approximately $0.048/kWh, as of September 2025, among the lowest in the United States. This extremely low rate directly reduces the total cost of ownership for power-intensive deployments like AI training or high-performance computing.

Power Grid Reliability: The grid is exceptionally reliable, with approximately 67% of its energy generated from hydroelectric sources. The power infrastructure serving the region's data centers is well-engineered and offers redundancy to support high-uptime requirements.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Spokane's strategic location and favorable business environment make it an attractive alternative to more expensive West Coast markets.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers in Spokane serve the city's core industries, including healthcare, logistics, and higher education. The market also functions as an excellent disaster recovery location for businesses with primary operations in the Seattle metropolitan area.

Regional Market Reach: The city is the commercial and network hub for the Inland Northwest, a geographic area that includes Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Western Montana. Deploying in Spokane provides low-latency access to this growing economic region.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: Washington provides a significant sales and use tax exemption on the purchase and installation of data center equipment for qualifying facilities and their tenants. This state-level incentive program substantially lowers the initial capital investment required for new deployments or hardware refreshes.

Natural Disaster Risk

Spokane has a High natural disaster risk profile, with a FEMA National Risk Index score of 93.22, as of September 2025. Its inland location eliminates direct threats from coastal storms and tsunamis.

Key risks for the region include potential impacts from earthquake activity, volcanic activity from Cascade Range volcanoes, and seasonal threats like winter weather, wildfire, and riverine flooding. Infrastructure in the area is generally built to modern seismic standards to mitigate these risks.