Today I got a mail from Techtarget containing an article on how a new law in California could make it extremely expensive to run a data center over there. Now, as the Dutch say: The soup usually is not eaten as hot as it is served, and it won't probably be as bad as some would led you to believe.

However, it did make me wonder: where would it be most expensive to run a data center right now? What factors play a role? Just a thought experiment, nothing fancy. And to be honest: I expect those places where a normal house is expensive would be equally so for data centers.

Too bad though that Google basically only gives me American examples, so that will have to do. Bloomberg runs a slideshow with a top 5. And yes: the most expensive places are in California (Oakland and San Francisco) and on the East Coast (Boston, Newark and, unsurprisingly, New York). No surprises here. By the way: they also give a list of the cheapest places to build a DC, and guess what: Montana, Indiana, North Carolina, Alabama and South Dakota. You don't need to be a real estate analyst to figure that out.

However, a totally different article gave me a total different view on it all. I think this guy is spot on: the most expensive place would be there where the lines to the transaction servers of financial institutions might be the most expensive place for digital real estate.

Or maybe it is this place, where it is also impossible to get to for most mortals.

So how are the prices in your region?