North Carolina data centers map
North Carolina has 26 mapped data center buildings, the 17th most of any state. Durham County and Mecklenburg County tie for the most: 5 each. 1 large AI campus is here too. Businesses pay 10.22¢ per kWh for power, 24% below the US average. Business power use grew 2.1% from 2019 to 2025; the US grew 10.5%.
- 26mapped data center buildings
- 1large AI campus
- 10.22¢per kWh for businesses24% below the US average
About mapped buildings
Buildings and sites that OpenStreetMap volunteers have tagged as data centers. It counts mapped objects, not an official register, so some data centers are not on it yet.
About large AI campuses
A large data center campus built for AI computing, on Epoch AI's list of AI data centers. “Being built” means Epoch AI lists no computers running there yet.
About business power prices
This is the average price businesses paid for power in North Carolina in 2025. A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the power a 1,000-watt heater uses in one hour.
“Businesses” is the commercial group in the US Energy Information Administration's figures: offices, stores and most data centers. Some large data centers buy power as industry instead.
© OpenStreetMap contributors · © OpenMapTiles
AI campuses: Epoch AI, CC BY 4.0 (Nov 7, 2026), changes noted
© OpenStreetMap contributors · Addresses: Photon
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What the marks mean
Operating: a building mapped as a data center in OpenStreetMap, in use today. As of Nov 6, 2026.
Proposed to under construction, paused, withdrawn or canceled: a planned project and the stage in its latest public record. As of Nov 7, 2026.
About the stages: a project moves from Proposed to Rezoning filed, Approved, Permitted and Under construction. Some stop: Paused, Withdrawn or Canceled.
AI campus: a large AI campus that is not running yet. As of Nov 7, 2026.
Campuses and projects not placed at their street address are listed, not mapped.
Each kind of mark is counted on its own, and the counts are never added together.
Which North Carolina counties have the most data centers?
Durham County and Mecklenburg County tie for the most mapped buildings: 5 each. Rutherford County and Wake County are next, with 4 each.
Buildings mapped as data centers, per county
- None
- 1
- 2–4
- 5–9
How many in each county?
Which natural risks do these counties face?
About the risk ratings
FEMA's National Risk Index scores each county for each natural hazard from 0 to 100, against every county in the US. The score starts from the expected annual loss: the damage a hazard is likely to cause in an average year. It also weighs how many people could be hurt and how well the area can bounce back.
Ratings run from very low to very high.
“Rate high” means relatively high or very high.
All 9 counties with mapped data centers rate high or very high for at least one natural hazard. Ice storm is the most common, with 9.
What does power cost in North Carolina, and how fast is demand growing?
Businesses pay 10.22¢ per kWh, 24% below the US average, and their power use grew 2.1% from 2019 to 2025.
What do businesses pay for power?
10.22¢ per kWh in 2025, the 11th lowest of 50 states and DC.
Is North Carolina's power demand rising?
About business power use
This is the power sold to businesses each year, the commercial group in the US Energy Information Administration's figures. Most data centers are in it, so a fast rise often means new data centers, but offices and stores count too.
North Carolina: 49.17 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2019, 50.22 TWh in 2025. One TWh is a billion kWh.
Slowly. Business power use grew 2.1% from 2019 to 2025; the US grew 10.5%.
What makes North Carolina's power?
About the power mix
This is where the power generated in North Carolina came from in 2025: each source's share of what its power plants made, 135 terawatt-hours (TWh) in all. Small rooftop solar panels are not counted.
“Other sources” is the agency's catch-all group.
Natural gas made 41% of the power generated in North Carolina in 2025; nuclear made 32%.
Under 1% each: wood, wind, other biomass, petroleum and other sources.
How much new power is proposed in North Carolina?
About proposed power plants
These are new power plants that companies have told the US Energy Information Administration they plan to open from 2026 to 2030. Plans can change or be dropped.
Sizes are net summer capacity: the most power a plant can send to the grid on a hot summer day. Each bar's length is its part of all the proposed power.
Companies have proposed 2,244 MW of new power plants for 2026 to 2030; solar is the largest source, 1,750 MW.
For scale, North Carolina's power plants could deliver 36,717 MW on a summer day in 2025.
Which grid serves North Carolina, and what are its water and hazard risks?
Utilities run their own grid areas for 96.1% of North Carolina's power sales. 2 natural hazards rate very high for North Carolina against other states.
Who runs North Carolina's power grid?
About the grid
A grid operator, called an ISO or RTO, runs the high-voltage power lines and the power market for a whole region. The share is how much of the state's 2025 power sales were made inside its area.
Where there is none, each utility runs its own part of the grid.
No grid operator: each utility runs its own part of the grid, for 96.1% of 2025 power sales.
How much water do North Carolina's power plants use?
About water taken in and used up
Taken in is the water power plants draw from rivers, lakes, wells or the sea to cool. Used up is the part that does not go back: most of it evaporates.
This is the water power plants use, not the water data centers use.
The 17 power plants in North Carolina that report their cooling water used up 16.2 billion gallons in 2024, 0.6% of the 2,808 billion they took in.
Which hazards cost North Carolina most?
About expected annual loss
FEMA's National Risk Index estimates each natural hazard's expected annual loss: the damage it is likely to cause in an average year. It rates each state against the other states, from very low to very high.
Hazards with the same rating are in the order of FEMA's score. Because each hazard is compared with other states, one can rate higher here and still cost fewer dollars than another.
Not rated: avalanche (not applicable), tsunami (insufficient data) and volcanic activity (not applicable).
Winter weather rates highest for North Carolina against other states: very high for the damage it is likely to cause in an average year.
- Very highWinter weather and ice storm
- Relatively highHurricane, lightning, inland flooding, tornado, strong wind and cold wave
- Relatively moderateLandslide, coastal flooding, drought, hail and heat wave
- Relatively lowEarthquake and wildfire
Are there AI data centers in North Carolina?
Yes. North Carolina has 1 large AI campus.
Who runs North Carolina's data centers?
About this count
Each building counts once, by the operator named in OpenStreetMap. 15 buildings have no operator named.
Meta runs the most mapped buildings: 4.
More about North Carolina data centers
Questions about North Carolina data centers
How many data centers are in North Carolina?
North Carolina has 26 data center buildings mapped in OpenStreetMap, the 17th most of any state, as of November 6, 2026. Epoch AI tracks 1 large AI campus here. These counts are kept apart.
What county in North Carolina has the most data centers?
Durham County and Mecklenburg County tie for the most: 5 data center buildings each. They are mapped in OpenStreetMap. That is as of November 6, 2026. Rutherford County and Wake County are next, with 4 each.
How many AI data centers are there in North Carolina?
Epoch AI tracks 1 large AI campus in North Carolina, as of November 7, 2026. AI data centers in North Carolina lists each one. Other data centers here show as mapped buildings or project records, and each is counted on its own.
Sources and updates
How this page was made: CamsAhead writes each page type once, then fills it with this place's data from the sources below.
- OpenStreetMap contributors: data center buildings, as of November 6, 2026; Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0, free copy on request.
- Epoch AI: "AI data centers", CC BY 4.0, retrieved November 7, 2026; changes noted.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): Form EIA-861 (released Oct 2026) and Form EIA-861 2025 detailed data (released Oct 2026): business power prices and sales by state, grid operators and utilities by county; retrieved October 31, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): Forms EIA-923/906/920 (released Sep 2026): power generated by source, 2025; retrieved October 31, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): Form EIA-860 (released Sep 2026): power plants proposed for 2026 to 2030; retrieved October 31, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): Form EIA-860 (released Sep 2026): power plant capacity by state, 2025; retrieved October 31, 2026.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): thermoelectric cooling water data 2024, Forms EIA-860 and EIA-923 (retrieved Oct 2026): power plant cooling water by state.
- FEMA: National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), NRI_Table_Counties and NRI_Table_States: natural hazard ratings by county and expected annual loss by state; retrieved October 31, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
CamsAhead's project records cover Prince William County, Virginia, not North Carolina.
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