The Cheapest Places to Build Data Centers

The study included a list of the best places to build and operate data centers, from among a list of 50 American cities, based on the annual operating costs of a 150,000 square-foot facility staffed by 150 employees. The study focused specifically on the healthcare industry.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota rated the cheapest location to operate a facility, with an annual cost of $16,131,793. New York city ranked the most expensive, at $22,542,097. That's a not-insignificant yearly difference of more than $8 million.

The majority of the most expensive sites, it turns out, are located on the East or West Coasts, while many of the cheapest locations are in states like Indiana, Kentucky and Nebraska. The cost advantages of those locations include salaries (related, no doubt, to a lower cost of living). And the sites are removed from many of the natural disaster and terrorist threats that may exist on the coasts and in major metropolitan areas. The study doesn't appear to have mentioned any of the disadvantages of setting up in the cheaper locations, or the advantages of setting up in the more expensive areas. I'd assume that while their access to real estate and power is more limited, data centers in New York or Silicon Valley have better access to things like bandwidth, skilled workers and leaders of industry.

And, of course, a Web hosting facility is not exactly like a healthcare data center, in that its physical availability to customers, while not necessarily essential, is at least more relevant.

Still, with the power crunch in California, this study may help to identify some of the locations that may see increased data center traffic as Web hosts, and anyone else who operates data centers, seek out new locations in which to set up shop.

Tags: data center, the boyd company