Linn County, Iowa

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

Undisclosed Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

Google

Resi rate Δ (Alliant Energy)

n/a

Home price Δ (3y)

+14.2%

Property tax Δ (3y)

+10.2%

Population (2024 ACS)

230K

Median HH income (2024 ACS)

$77,649

Key takeaways

Cedar Rapids has 137,710 residents, Iowa's second-largest city. The August 2020 derecho left 95% of the city without power with 60 to 80 mph sustained winds and gusts over 110 mph, the most expensive thunderstorm event in US history.Source: sources[0] (Wikipedia: Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Linn County has 229,463 residents on a median household income of $76,421. The Google campus drops onto Alliant Energy territory, where EIA does not publish a clean 3-year residential rate delta for Linn County.Source: Census ACS 2023 B01003, B19013 + data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (no Alliant Energy IA residential row)
Home prices rose 14.2% over three years against a $204,400 median home value. Property tax assessments rose 10.2% over the same window, a 4-point spread that says the market is moving faster than the assessor.Source: data/cache/realestate_yoy.csv + data/cache/property_tax_yoy.csv (FIPS 19113) + Census ACS 2023 B25077
34.8% of Linn County adults hold a bachelor's degree against a median age of 38.5. The Cedar Rapids labor market already supports Collins Aerospace and Quaker Foods, so the Google campus enters a workforce with industrial-engineering depth.Source: Census ACS 2023 B15003, B01002 (Linn County, IA)

Manufacturing accounts for 17.1% of Linn County jobs, the highest manufacturing share in the Iowa group. Cedar Rapids carries the Collins Aerospace and Quaker Foods base that already gives the Google campus an industrial-grade contractor and millwright pool to draw from.Source: Census ACS 2023 C24050_001E, C24050_004E (Linn County, IA)
9.9% of Linn residents live in poverty and median gross rent is $915, the cheapest in the Iowa group. The Google campus arrives in the lowest-cost-of-living host of the three Iowa AI counties in this batch.Source: Census ACS 2023 B17001_001E, B17001_002E, B25064_001E (Linn County, IA)
5.8% of Linn residents are Black alone and 4.0% are Hispanic. That is the highest Black share in the Iowa group and a direct legacy of Cedar Rapids' meatpacking and rail-yard labor history, the base that will absorb the construction phase.Source: Census ACS 2023 B02001_001E, B02001_003E, B03003_001E, B03003_003E (Linn County, IA)
7.5% of Linn adults are veterans and only 1.9% moved in from outside Iowa last year. The Google build sits on the second-most settled in-migration profile in the Iowa group, behind only Pottawattamie.Source: Census ACS 2023 B21001_001E, B21001_002E, B07001_001E, B07001_065E (Linn County, IA)