County · Minnesota
Scott County
Population 159,017 · Census Bureau Vintage-2025 estimate
Last scored Oct 30, 2026 · Data may be stale
Composite · JPAS tier readings
Power
Power reads 33 of 100, sourced evidence. Power measures grid capacity, interconnection-queue depth, generation mix, retail price and substation density. Interconnection-queue depth is an estimated roll-up (EST); queue vintage PJM 2026-04-28, CAISO 2025-02-12.
Politics
Regulatory reads 86 of 100, sourced evidence. Regulatory measures air-quality designation under the Clean Air Act and commercial permitting activity. Regulatory is evidenced by air-quality designation and permitting activity; a county absent from EPA's nonattainment list reads as attainment.
Community reads 34 of 100, sourced evidence. Community measures enacted moratoria, pending legislation and farmland share as signals of local consent.
Incentives reads 100 of 100, estimated evidence. Incentives measures state program baselines and disclosed awards for data-center and industrial projects.
Resources
Water reads 67 of 100, sourced evidence. Water measures drinking-water system health, basin stress, streamflow and groundwater conditions.
Real estate / site reads 32 of 100, sourced evidence. Real estate / site measures developable land share, convertible sites, substation hosting and permit velocity.
Environmental reads 48 of 100, sourced evidence. Environmental measures FEMA hazard risk across riverine, coastal, wind, wildfire and related perils.
Labor reads 72 of 100, sourced evidence. Labor measures electrician depth, wages, unemployment and prevailing-wage floors in the county labor market.
Connectivity
Connectivity is not yet activated as a brief section; the Network tier reading is shown.
Network reads 94 of 100, sourced evidence. Network measures broadband availability, fiber and middle-mile programs, and exchange-point proximity.
Density · JDS
Density · Minimal · 10 of 100
Data-center density is absent in this county (JDS Minimal, 10 of 100). County grain: computed from facilities, construction and permitted projects resolved to this county.
Trajectory · JTS
- ModeledJTS-01 Trajectory rate of change — falling — Modeled — covers 2026 Posture-series attributes were computed over an eight-week window that spans Faraday methodology changes; they partly measure recompute churn, not jurisdiction behaviour.
- SpeculativeJTS-02 Inflection points — falling — Speculative — covers 2026 Posture-series attributes were computed over an eight-week window that spans Faraday methodology changes; they partly measure recompute churn, not jurisdiction behaviour.
- ModeledJTS-03 Trajectory volatility — falling — Modeled — covers 2026 Posture-series attributes were computed over an eight-week window that spans Faraday methodology changes; they partly measure recompute churn, not jurisdiction behaviour.
- SpeculativeJTS-04 Momentum — rising — Speculative — covers 2026 Posture-series attributes were computed over an eight-week window that spans Faraday methodology changes; they partly measure recompute churn, not jurisdiction behaviour.
- SpeculativeJTS-05 Forecast confidence decay — falling — Speculative — covers 2026 Posture-series attributes were computed over an eight-week window that spans Faraday methodology changes; they partly measure recompute churn, not jurisdiction behaviour.
- ModeledJTS-07 Utility capital investment trend — rising — Modeled — covers 2020–2025
Windows held: 2026 · 2020–2025. Direction and evidence label only; horizons extend only as data lands.
Water & Cooling Readiness
Water posture inferred from statewide data; no jurisdiction-level water measurement is available.
Gauge data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
Local Moratorium Activity
1 data-center moratorium instrument tracked across municipalities in this county · 1 currently in force
City of Elko New Market
Data: Moratorium Nation (mjbommar) — CC-BY-4.0
JPS Score Breakdown · Jurisdiction Posture Score
Infrastructure Map
Faraday's Read
Scott County, Minnesota currently sits in the Cautious tier with a posture score of 35, a composite that reflects moderate reservations rather than a clear-cut rejection of AI data center development. The attribute-evidence roll-up shows moderate quality and medium completeness, with environmental, water, power, network, and labor categories all carrying sourced-confidence attributes across a reasonable spread of codes, suggesting the underlying data on these fronts is fairly well established. Incentive and regulatory categories are thinner, with only one or two attributes recorded and lower confidence in the incentive case, indicating the record there is comparatively underdeveloped. There are no known data center facilities in the jurisdiction, and the forecast direction is listed as stable but with unscored confidence, so little can be said about near-term trajectory. Overall, the picture is one of a moderately documented but cautious jurisdiction, with no development history to date and gaps remaining in the incentive and regulatory picture.
Gilbert Faraday · Aug 4, 2026
Recent Signals
No signal events in the past 30 days for this jurisdiction.