The case
IDC's Ashish Nadkarni groups Ohio with Wisconsin and Michigan as rural areas offering inexpensive land and fewer power and water constraints. That is a quieter argument than Texas or Pennsylvania, and for a landowner it may be a better one — less competition, lower expectations, real demand.
Columbus has developed an established data center presence over the past decade, which means the region has utilities with large-load experience, entitlement precedent and existing fiber. Those three things remove enormous friction.
Water, which is a genuine Ohio advantage
Much of the national conversation about data center water is driven by projects in arid regions. Ohio does not have that problem at the same scale. Where a project plans evaporative cooling, that is a material advantage over the West and parts of Texas.
It is not an unlimited one — local allocation, discharge permitting and public opinion all still apply. But the baseline is better. What is actually consumed →
What an Ohio landowner should check
- Transmission. Voltage, distance, nearest substation with headroom.
- PJM or MISO. Ohio sits across both, and interconnection conditions differ.
- Distance to the Columbus cluster. Proximity to existing infrastructure and precedent has real value.
- Township zoning. Ohio's township structure means land use authority can be very local.
- Agricultural district status, and what rezoning would mean for it.
Realistic read
Ohio is a second-tier market in a good way: genuine demand, established precedent, land prices that have not disconnected from agricultural reality, and fewer parties chasing each parcel.
A landowner here is less likely to be approached unsolicited than in Texas, and more likely to need to establish their own site's characteristics before anyone notices. That is a reason to do the work rather than wait for a phone call.
Market characteristics as publicly reported, including IDC commentary, through 2026.