County · North Dakota
Mercer County
Population 8,441 · Census Bureau Vintage-2025 estimate
Last scored Jul 13, 2026 · Data may be stale
Composite · JPAS tier readings
Power
Power reads 69 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 100 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. Attainment here is by absence of an EPA designation; EPA's county list is complete, so absence reads as attainment.
Community reads 65 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 74 of 100, sourced evidence. Water measures drinking-water system health, basin stress, streamflow and groundwater conditions.
Real estate / site reads 81 of 100, sourced evidence. Real estate / site measures developable land share, convertible sites, substation hosting and permit velocity.
Environmental reads 80 of 100, sourced evidence. Environmental measures FEMA hazard risk across riverine, coastal, wind, wildfire and related perils.
Labor reads 63 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 81 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 — rising — 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 — 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.
- ModeledJTS-03 Trajectory volatility — rising — 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 — 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.
- ModeledJTS-06 Substation & transmission build trajectory — rising — Modeled — covers 2026
- 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 · 0 currently in force · community-opposition signal: lapsed (inferred)
Data: Moratorium Nation (mjbommar) — CC-BY-4.0
JPS Score Breakdown · Jurisdiction Posture Score
Per-dimension posture values are not yet published for this jurisdiction.
Infrastructure Map
Faraday's Read
Mercer County, ND currently carries a Favorable jurisdiction posture score of 70, though the underlying dimensional breakdown is not populated in the record, so the drivers of that tier can't be fully unpacked. The attribute-evidence roll-up shows a Good quality band (72.29) paired with Medium completeness (59.83), with the bulk of attributes across environmental, water, power, network, and labor categories carrying sourced-level confidence, lending reasonable credibility to the posture score. Coverage is thinner and less certain in the community, incentive, and regulatory categories, where confidence drops to inferred or estimated levels, so any read on local incentives or regulatory climate should be treated cautiously. There is no development density score on file, and no known data center facilities or capacity are recorded in this jurisdiction to date. The forecast direction is listed as stable, but that outlook itself carries no confidence rating, so it should be read as a placeholder rather than a firm signal.
Gilbert Faraday · Jul 16, 2026
Recent Signals
No signal events in the past 30 days for this jurisdiction.