Chicago pricing snapshot
These are preliminary monthly planning bands, not quotes. Chicago pricing can reflect scarce energized capacity, submarket, carrier ecosystem and the amount of delivery risk embedded in a future phase.
| Requirement | Planning range | Budget assumption |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2U | $120 to $250/mo | Basic power and internet allocation |
| Quarter or half cabinet | $800 to $1,300/mo | Shared cabinet environment |
| Standard full cabinet | $1,100 to $2,300/mo | Typical 3 to 5 kW commit |
| 10 to 20 kW high-density cabinet | $1,800 to $5,200/mo | Cooling method must be validated |
| Private cage | $4,800 to $20,500/mo | Four-rack starting profile; density drives spread |
| 250 kW | $200 to $230/kW-mo | CBRE Q1 2026 asking-rate context |
| 500 kW | $175 to $215/kW-mo | Assumes scale and multiyear term |
| 1 MW | $150 to $195/kW-mo | Contiguous capacity and ramp required |
Method: public 2026 market benchmarks, including CBRE's Chicago 250 to 500 kW asking-rate band, combined with cabinet, density and scale assumptions. Taxes, network and one-time costs are excluded. Validate with provider quotes. How that rate is billed, committed against metered and the derating that shrinks a circuit, is covered in how colocation power is billed.
The published figures these planning bands are built from, including asking rents across eight markets, land and power costs by metro, and what a stabilized megawatt sold for, are collected on the data center pricing benchmarks page.
Current Chicago availability snapshot
We separate currently serviceable capacity from future capacity that depends on utility or construction milestones. The profiles below describe the searches we can run, not currently verified inventory.
| Option | Footprint | Usable power | Cooling support | Estimated delivery | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anonymized cabinet search | 1 to 4 cabinets | 5 to 80 kW | Air or containment; liquid by review | Target 30 to 90 days | Not yet verified |
| Anonymized cage search | 4 to 20 cabinets | 20 to 250 kW | Density-specific engineering review | Target 60 to 180 days | Not yet verified |
| Anonymized suite search | 250 kW to 1 MW | Contracted usable kW to be defined | Air, RDHx or liquid-ready by facility | Target 6 to 24 months | Not yet verified |
What the all-in Chicago cost includes
Cabinet and power
Compare usable IT power and metering, not only the nominal circuit or headline committed kW.
A/B and cooling
Dual feeds, density limits, containment and liquid-cooling equipment can materially change commercial structure.
Connectivity and support
Add carrier services, cross-connects, cloud ports, remote hands and access or escort fees.
Install and term
Include cage construction, cabinets, cabling, installation, deposits, annual escalators and renewal treatment.
Nearby and strategic alternatives
Minneapolis and Columbus can be practical central-region alternatives. Dallas may improve large-block economics, while Northern Virginia is useful when East Coast interconnection matters more than central geography.
The market fundamentals behind a Chicago quote
Chicago is the fastest-repricing major market in the country. It now carries the highest published asking rents of the top four US markets, having overtaken Northern Virginia on rate while sitting well behind it on size. If you are budgeting Chicago from a figure more than a year old, it is wrong.
| Measure | Figure | What it means for your quote |
|---|---|---|
| Asking rent, 250 to 500 kW | $200 to $230/kW-mo | The highest published band of the top four US markets |
| Asking rent change | Up 14.7% | The steepest increase of the top four markets in Q1 2026 |
| Market rank | Fourth largest | Overtook Phoenix on inventory in Q1 2026 |
| Data center land | $500K to $1M/acre | Established corridors, well below Northern Virginia |
| Industrial power tariff | About $0.069/kWh | Materially below the Northern Virginia band |
Rate, rate change and ranking from CBRE Global Data Center Trends 2026. Land and tariff figures are market reported and vary by corridor and by how load is staged. Note that some market commentary cites Chicago rent growth above 30%; we use CBRE's 14.7% because it is published on a consistent 250 to 500 kW basis, and we flag the discrepancy rather than picking the larger number.
Chicago is the clearest case in the country that a low power tariff does not produce a low rent. Power runs roughly 30% below Northern Virginia and land is a fraction of the cost, yet asking rents are at the top of the national table. The reason is delivery timing, covered below. What is scarce is not electricity or land, it is a connection date.
The ComEd queue is the whole story
Chicago's rate growth is explained almost entirely by the gap between how much load wants to connect and how fast the utility can energize it. These are the numbers that matter.
| Measure | Figure | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| Large-load applications in the ComEd queue | About 75 | Roughly 14 GW of requested capacity |
| Substation expansion program | About $1B | Centered on Elk Grove, targeted for completion in late 2026 |
| Worst-case delivery for new projects | 2031 or later | Some newly served projects face dates this far out |
Queue size, substation program and delivery-date range are market reported. Confirm any specific date with the serving utility for the specific site and load, because these vary substantially by substation and by whether the load can be staged.
A roughly 14 GW queue against a market of about 2 GW is the entire explanation for a 14.7% rate increase. It also tells you what to negotiate for. In Chicago, the valuable concession is rarely a lower rate. It is a firm, contractual power date with remedies if it slips, and clarity on whether your capacity sits behind the Elk Grove substation work or ahead of it.
The Illinois tax incentive is genuinely uncertain
Illinois has run one of the most effective data center incentives in the country, and it is now in question. This is a live risk to a Chicago business case and belongs in your model explicitly rather than as an assumption.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Benefit | 10.25% sales and use tax exemption on qualifying equipment |
| Qualification | Investment of at least $250M and at least 20 new staff |
| Track record | More than $11B in build commitments since 2019 |
| Current status | A two-year suspension has been proposed, effective July 1, 2026 |
Program terms and the proposed suspension are as reported. See Capitol News Illinois on data centers in line for state tax credits. This is not tax advice. Verify current statutory status and your own qualification with counsel before relying on any exemption, because the position may have changed since this page was reviewed.
The exemption applies to equipment, so it can affect a colocation tenant's year-one cost as well as an owner's build. If your business case depends on it, get the current status in writing and model the outcome without it. A proposed suspension is not a certainty in either direction, which is exactly why it should be a line item rather than a footnote.
Where in metro Chicago you actually land
Elk Grove Village
The center of gravity, west of O'Hare, and the focus of ComEd's substation program. A large share of incentive-qualified sites sit here. Industrial character, strong fiber, and the corridor where delivery dates are most likely to improve first.
Chicago core and carrier hotels
Downtown interconnection and peering density. The answer for latency-sensitive and network-heavy requirements, not for cheap megawatts.
Northwest suburbs and O'Hare ring
Established multi-tenant colocation suited to cabinet and cage deployments, with reasonable carrier choice and shorter lead times than greenfield campuses.
Outer collar counties
Where the largest new campuses are being staged, including a 480 MW development on 160 acres in Grayslake targeted to be operational by 2027, roughly 40 miles north of the city.
Campus examples are drawn from public announcements and are included to show where development is concentrated. An announced project is not deliverable capacity. See how we verify capacity.
What actually moves your Chicago number
| Variable | Direction | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Power date | The dominant variable in this market | Is the date contractual, and what are the remedies if it slips? |
| Substation position | Ahead of or behind the Elk Grove work | Which substation serves this hall, and what is its committed load? |
| Committed power | Larger commitments price lower per kW | What does the next tier up cost? |
| Term length | Longer terms price lower in a rising market | At 14.7% annual rate growth, what does a longer term save? |
| Rack density | Above roughly 20 kW per rack, cooling drives cost | Is the density supported, and at what premium? |
| Tax position | Affects year one, and is currently uncertain | What happens to my model if the exemption is suspended? |
In this market, normalize the date before the rate. Two quotes at the same price per kW are not comparable if one energizes in 2027 and the other in 2030. Then convert both to cost per usable kW, confirm the power basis, and model the escalator and renewal to term end. The pricing benchmarks page carries the published figures to check against.
Get a verified shortlist with capacity, normalized pricing and deployment timelines.
Share the power profile, rack density, target date and network requirements. A scout will test serviceability before building the comparison.