Regardless of where you are located in the United States, you can find colocation providers. Sure, if you live in New York City, those web hosting data center providers are a stones throw down the road and sure, if you live in Casper, Wyoming, those data center providers are a bit further down the road but all in all, you can find great colocation providers all over the United States.
That said, what is the best region of the United States for colocation? What region provides consumers with the greatest amount of choice in colocation web hosting suppliers?
The Coasts Rule Colocation
By sheer numbers, the coasts rule colocation. If you were to rank the best colocation providers by region in the United States, the Northeast/Atlantic region would win easily. Taken as a long view, from WashingtonD.C. to Boston, MA, there are roughly more than 705 data center colocation providers. Broken down, in the larger Washington D.C. Metropolitan area, there are north of 330 web hosting facilities in operation. Likewise, in the larger New York City to Boston, MA area, there are north of 370 Cloud hosting and dedicated server colocation facilities in operation. If you were to move your focus south, in the greater Miami, FL area, there are north of 120 data centers in operation. All said, the east coast of the United States houses more than 820 data centers to fill the need of roughly 40 – 60 million people.
On the other side of the United States, colocation facilities, while not as numerous, are found in high quantity. In Southern California (the greater Los Angeles area) there are north of 200 data centers in operation. If you move north to San Francisco, CA, there are roughly 200 data centers in operation and if you move even further north to the Seattle, WA area, there are near 150 data centers in operation. All said, the west coast of the United States houses nearly 560 data centers for consumer and business use.
Clearly, if you live on the coasts of the United States, finding a rock solid data center who offers colocation, managed hosting services, Cloud hosting and shared hosting environments shouldn’t prove a hard task.
But what if you live on the continental United States? What are your colocation options?
The Coasts Rule but Don’t Worry
If you happen to live on the inner east coast of the United States – from Detroit, MI down to Atlanta, Georgia – you are in luck. Almost as numerous in available data centers as the east coast of the United States is, from Detroit to Atlanta, there are near 550 data centers offering a variety of web hosting solutions in operation. In the overall Detroit, Michigan Metropolitan area there are nearly 230 data centers currently in operation. Moving south, in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio metro area there are nearly 150 colocation facilities in operation and in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area there are roughly 195 web hosting facilities in operation.
This should go without saying, but if you happen to live from Detroit south to Atlanta, you should have no problem finding and investing in wonderful colocation services.
But now, we have an issue.
If you happen to live in the middle of the United States – Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, finding excellent colocation proves to be hard unless you live near Texas. You see, from St. Paul, Minnesota to St. Louis, MO, there are 230 data centers in operation. Due to less population density, the middle of the United States simply doesn’t have the sheer amount of colocation facilities that the East and West coast hold.
It’s only when you move down into Texas that data centers become big business again. Once you get into Texas, between Dallas and Houston, consumers can select from a few hundred data center locations all providing them with various web hosting services.
So, we ask again, what is the best region for colocation in the United States? If you play it by the numbers, the coasts win.