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Illinois experiencing higher electric bills directly translated from datacenter electricity consumption
Data centers in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago has 9 data centers on the record: 8 running and 1 proposed. Chicago has a scorecard row with no rating yet. The latest decision on the record: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces a city wide temporary moratorium on data center development and expansion for 12 months while the city develops a comprehensive regulatory framework, September 23, 2026. Cook County's own decisions are on the Cook County page.
How to read this page. Every count comes from the records on this page and links to where it is counted. Nothing is published until a person reads its source, and a figure no source gives reads Not disclosed; nothing is estimated. A rating changes only when a person sets it.
The 9 data centers in Chicago
Newest activity firstEach row is one site with its stage, its latest dated entry and what its sources disclose. A figure no source gives reads Not disclosed.
Centersquare Chicago data center
Chicago, Cook County · Centersquare
No dated entry on the record yet.
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Chicago Quantum Park
Chicago, Cook County
Latest, reported August 21, 2026: Allimac 2023 LLC, identified as Digital Realty, agreed to acquire Hawthorne Race Course for $90 million, with sale expected to close September 1, 2026 chicago.suntimes.com local outlet
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Where
Drag with one finger to move the map, pinch to zoom. Tap a pin for the data center, a county for its rules
9 data centers in Chicago: 8 running, 1 proposed. A dashed edge means the exact site is not in the public record (6 of 9).
What Chicago has decided
1 body, 9 decisions on the recordWhat the city has done about data centers: each body on its own row with its rating, open, case by case, restrictive or closed, never good or bad, and every vote, ordinance, moratorium or agreement behind its toggle, newest first, with its source.
Reported: the source's date; the item names no day of its own. A month with no day: the source names the month and not the day.
- Chicagocity
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces a city wide temporary moratorium on data center development and expansion for 12 months while the city develops a comprehensive regulatory framework, reported September 23, 2026.
9 acts on this row
- moratorium
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces a city wide temporary moratorium on data center development and expansion for 12 months while the city develops a comprehensive regulatory framework
- moratorium
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and aldermen Maria Hadden, Leni Manaa Hoppenworth and Lamont Robinson introduced an ordinance to pause data center development and material expansion for one year
- event
Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order creating stricter data center regulations and oversight
- event
The working group report recommended the city create a new program for issuing noise and air pollution permits and enhancing environmental review
- moratorium
Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order calling on Chicago City Council to pause new data center construction
- approval
Chicago City Council voted near unanimously on an ordinance incentivizing data center development
- event
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order for stricter data center regulations
- moratorium
Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order last month to regulate data centers and called on the city council to pass a moratorium on new data centers
- event
A city working group on sustainable data centers spent over a year and a half developing recommendations, with report released in July 2026
- moratorium
What happened
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· Chicago
Moratorium: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces a city wide temporary moratorium on data center development and expansion for 12 months while the city develops a comprehensive regulatory framework talkingpointsmemo.com local outlet
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· Chicago
Moratorium: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and aldermen Maria Hadden, Leni Manaa Hoppenworth and Lamont Robinson introduced an ordinance to pause data center development and material expansion for one year yahoo.com national outlet
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· Chicago
Scorecard event: Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order creating stricter data center regulations and oversight springfieldnewssun.com local outlet
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· Chicago Quantum Park
Now reported: Hawthorne Race Course, a 100+ acre site at 3501 S. Laramie Ave. in Stickney, closed after 135 years of horse racing, with last races on July 19, 2026 chicago.suntimes.com local outlet
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· Chicago
Scorecard event: The working group report recommended the city create a new program for issuing noise and air pollution permits and enhancing environmental review news.wttw.com local outlet
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· Chicago
Moratorium: Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order calling on Chicago City Council to pause new data center construction news.wttw.com local outlet
What was said
Austin Child said build data centers only in communities where median home price is above $3 million, make them build their own power source not connected to public grid, give no tax breaks, and enact strict environmental protections.
Mitch Milenkovic, Mayor of Stickney, stated opposition to a data center at Hawthorne Race Course, citing water and power demand, noise, and nuisances
Brad Tietz, state policy director of the Data Center Coalition, said he is hopeful the mayor's directive will separate responsible water and energy stewards from those who are not
Every Illinois statement, by speaker
14 more statements on this page
Chicago resident
Christine Bock said if data centers make money they should pay their own way with no corporate tax benefits, discounts, or dumping.
Chicago resident
Adam Agosto said if data centers can supply their own power to regulatory spec they could be built but must address infrastructural and environmental concerns and taxpayers and ComEd customers should not bear any costs.
Chicago resident
David Mansfield said data centers need to be built but there needs to be better methodology for where and how.
Chicago resident
Alyce Langreder Garcia said data centers should not be built, especially in heavily populated areas, and statistics are coming in about adverse impacts on wildlife, people, businesses, communities and natural resources.
Chicago resident
Drew Pekala said we need to keep up with the rest of the world and that if we don't build data centers then we fall behind as a society and as a country.
Chicago resident
Sergio Antonio Cueto Tellez asked how people can think data centers are OK when natural resources are becoming scarce.
Chicago resident
Deborah Bullwinkel said Great Lakes are at risk of depletion and pollution, electricity rates will skyrocket, and data centers cause noise, light, air and water pollution, ruin wetlands and kill wildlife, and negatively impact property values.
Chicago resident
Tim Patterson said data centers should not be done and that Chicago needs to build something that will make life better for Chicagoans such as fixing deferred infrastructure maintenance instead.
Brandon Johnson, Mayor of Chicago, asked the City Council to pass a moratorium on data center facilities
Mayor of Chicago
Mayor Johnson said Chicago will not be passively shaped by the data center industry and will actively set the terms for how technological development occurs
Angela Tovar, commissioner of Chicago's Department of Environment, said current policies do not reflect what modern data centers look like
Jared Patton, project manager at Chicago's Department of Environment, said the city wants to develop recommendations thoughtful about local context rather than copying other areas
FOX Chicago
Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park focuses on quantum technology
The county and nearby counties
The county Cook County Its decisions and every record in it 22 miles away Lake County 1 data center on the record · pause on the record 23 miles away DuPage County 1 data center on the record 40 miles away Kane County 2 data centers on the record 57 miles away Grundy County 1 data center on the record
Disclosed figures
nothing disclosed by 9 records
Power, water, jobs and tax
| Figure | Disclosed total | Disclosed | Not disclosed | Basis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power | Not disclosed | 0 | 9 | Not disclosed by any of the 9 records | |
| Water, stated per day | Not disclosed | 0 | 9 | Not disclosed by any of the 9 records | |
| Water, stated per year | Not disclosed | 0 | 9 | Not disclosed by any of the 9 records | |
| Permanent jobs | Not disclosed | 0 | 9 | Not disclosed by any of the 9 records | |
| Tax each year | Not disclosed | 0 | 9 | Not disclosed by any of the 9 records |
Summed only where a record disclosed the figure; a record with no figure adds nothing and is counted as not disclosed. Water is summed per day and per year separately, as the sources stated it, and never converted. A tax claim given as a range is summed at both ends.
By what the facilities are for
| Use | Records | Power | Water | Jobs | Tax each year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not disclosed | 9 | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed: power, water, jobs, tax each year |
A record that lists several uses counts once under each. Each cell is the sum over the records with that use, disclosed rows only.
What the facilities are for
No source on file states what any of the 9 tracked facilities in Chicago are for.
How the facilities are cooled
No source on file states how any of the 9 tracked facilities in Chicago are cooled.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Data centers in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois", https://datacenterrecord.org/states/il/cook-county/chicago, updated October 4, 2026.
Cite this page
Data Center Record, "Data center records in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois", https://datacenterrecord.org/states/il/cook-county/chicago. Data: Data Center Record, datacenterrecord.org, CC BY 4.0.
The structured rows are CC BY 4.0. Link to this page; that is what turns a reuse into a citation. Prose stays under copyright.
The rows here are part of the Illinois export.
For researchers
- Place id
- us/il/cook-county/chicago
- Level
- city
- Census GEOID
- Not disclosed
- Rating value
- Not disclosed
- Scale word
- Not disclosed