Data center analysis and evaluation
AngelouEconomics conducted a reverse site selection analysis to help determine the Columbia area’s suitability for a data center, a type of high-tech business that grew 62 percent last year.
The consulting company examined the area’s relative cost of power, labor availability, disaster risk and land cost. In its report released last month, the company concluded that Columbia has what it takes to recruit data centers and should adopt them as a target industry.
To assess Columbia’s competitiveness for data centers, Angelou compared the region to four cities where data centers were located recently: Quincy, Wash., Lenoir, N.C., Pryor, Okla., and Goose Creek, S.C.

Columbia electric rates are competitive nationally with those of major data center locations, making annual power costs to operate data centers competitive too.

Columbia’s proportion of employees in various computer-related occupations is signigicantly higher than that of he nation as a whole.

33.5% of Boone County’s population is in the critical 25–44-year-old demographic valued by high tech companies, far exceeding benchmarks.

Housing values indicate the pressures on a given real state market, and are thus a good proxy for land prices.

A data center requires a consistent power supply, and disaster risk is a major location factor. Boone County is “at risk” to tornadoes due to its location in the heart of “tornado alley.” Though southeastern Missouri lies withing the New Madrid seismic zone, Boone County is in an area of low-moderate risk for earthquake hazards.