Polk County, Iowa

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

Undisclosed Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

Microsoft

Resi rate Δ (MidAmerican Energy)

+0.9%

Home price Δ (3y)

+7.3%

Property tax Δ (3y)

+5.8%

Population (2024 ACS)

503K

Median HH income (2024 ACS)

$83,576

Key takeaways

Microsoft maintains several West Des Moines data centers, one of which hosts the company's most advanced supercomputer that supported training for OpenAI's ChatGPT. The Polk County build pre-dates the current AI cycle and was first announced in the early 2010s.Source: sources[0] (Wikipedia: West Des Moines, Iowa)
Meta started construction in Altoona in 2013 and asked local firm RPM Access to build a wind farm sized to put more energy into the system than the data center consumes. That structural pairing now serves as the template for hyperscaler PPAs across the region.Source: sources[1] (Wikipedia: Altoona, Iowa)
Polk County has 497,441 residents on a median household income of $81,621. MidAmerican Energy's residential rate rose only 0.9% over three years, which is the smallest delta in this batch and reflects a wind-heavy generation mix.Source: Census ACS 2023 B01003, B19013 + data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (MidAmerican Energy Co, IA)
39.5% of Polk County adults hold a bachelor's degree and 36.2 is the median age. Property tax growth of 5.8% over three years is the smallest in this batch outside of DeKalb, Illinois.Source: Census ACS 2023 B15003, B01002 + data/cache/property_tax_yoy.csv (FIPS 19153)

10.0% of Polk County residents are Hispanic of any race and 10.0% are foreign-born, the highest immigrant share in the Iowa group. The Microsoft and Meta campuses in Des Moines feed into a metro that has been the primary Iowa landing spot for new arrivals for two decades.Source: Census ACS 2023 B03003_001E, B03003_003E, B05002_001E, B05002_013E (Polk County, IA)
Median gross rent in Polk is $1,113 against an owner-occupied share of 67.1%. The 32.9% renter base in the largest Iowa AI county is the cohort that sees the MidAmerican grid investment pass-through inside the lease cycle.Source: Census ACS 2023 B25064_001E, B25003_001E, B25003_002E (Polk County, IA)
Manufacturing is only 9.3% of Polk County jobs, half the Linn share to the east. Polk runs on insurance, finance, and government payrolls, so the campus reinforces an existing white-collar service base rather than retraining a blue-collar one.Source: Census ACS 2023 C24050_001E, C24050_004E (Polk County, IA)
7.5% of Polk County residents are Black alone, the highest in the Iowa group and concentrated in the Des Moines core. The Altoona and West Des Moines campuses sit outside that core, so the property-tax base lift accrues to suburban municipalities, not the city.Source: Census ACS 2023 B02001_001E, B02001_003E (Polk County, IA)