Estimate your data center space cost in under a minute.
Enter a target power block, term, and workload. The result is an illustrative recurring cost range based on a published Northern Virginia market benchmark, not a vendor quote.
A benchmark with visible assumptions.
CBRE reported a Northern Virginia asking-rate range of $190 to $235 per kW per month for 250 to 500 kW requirements in Q1 2026. That is the calculator's base. It then makes modest planning adjustments so a 50 kW cage is not treated like a 5 MW wholesale block.
Requirement size
Deployments below 250 kW receive a planning premium. Requirements above 500 kW receive a scale adjustment. Real unit pricing still depends on available blocks and commercial leverage.
Contract term
Shorter terms receive a planning premium. A 60-month term receives a modest discount, while 36 months remains the neutral base.
Workload type
High-density and regulated workloads receive an uplift for tighter facility fit and possible engineering needs. Disaster recovery receives a modest reduction.
Cabinet equivalent
The cabinet count is a rough power-density translation, not a space design. It uses 8 kW per cabinet for standard workloads and 25 kW for high-density compute.
Benchmark source: CBRE Global Data Center Trends 2026. Published market asking rates are not specific operator quotes.
Costs to add before finance sees the number
- Cabinets, cages, suites, containment, and installation work.
- Cross-connects, carrier ports, internet transit, cloud on-ramps, and diverse routes.
- Migration labor, logistics, staging, and overlapping service during cutover.
- Remote hands, smart hands, equipment disposal, and scheduled support.
- Metered or pass-through electricity components, taxes, and annual escalators.
- Custom security, compliance evidence, liquid cooling, or unusual structural requirements.
Use the range to decide whether colocation belongs on the shortlist and to set an initial budget. Use a live RFP to discover actual capacity and normalize each provider's complete three-to-five-year cost.
Get real availability without giving one operator the whole frame.
A scout can translate the requirement, check the current market, and bring back comparable options from the facilities that fit.