Quincy, Washington, a farming town of about 8,100 people in Grant County, has become Microsoft’s go-to example for defending data centers against a growing national backlash.
Microsoft began building data centers in Quincy roughly 20 years ago, drawn by cheap land, a cool climate and hydropower from the Columbia River. The town, historically known for potato fields, apple orchards and food processing, now hosts some of the world’s biggest tech operations.
As communities elsewhere push back against rising electricity prices, heavy water use and thin local job creation tied to data centers, Microsoft has held up Quincy this year as proof the facilities can deliver real benefits.
The gains are visible on the ground. KUOW reported that years of data-center tax revenue have helped fund a new high school and hospital. The city recently opened an aquatic center with a six-lane lap pool, lazy river and waterslides, and is now planning a separate indoor sports complex.
Data centers themselves don’t employ many people directly — a single facility can run with 50 workers or fewer, according to KUOW. But Quincy has enough of them that the industry has become a significant employer overall, on top of the construction jobs, service businesses and tax revenue it generates.
Microsoft says it’s taking a new national approach: asking local utilities to set rates high enough to cover data-center power use and grid upgrades so residential customers aren’t stuck footing the bill. The company also says future facilities will use closed-loop cooling systems that recycle water instead of pulling from local supplies.
Quincy already has that system in place. Microsoft and the city built a $31 million water-reuse utility that treats and recirculates cooling water. The EPA credits the project with cutting Microsoft’s reliance on potable groundwater and saving an estimated 138 million gallons of water annually.
Not everyone in Quincy is satisfied that the current model is sustainable long-term. Former Mayor Patty Martin, according to KUOW, has warned the town needs to plan beyond today’s economic wins and account for future water and electricity demands — pointing to population growth, electric vehicles and shifting snowpack as added strain on the region.
Quincy’s experience offers a real-world test case: what a small town gains when it hosts data centers, and what questions it has to answer before saying yes to the next one.
