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Which U.S. metros would need the most nuclear reactors?

Powering New York–Newark–Jersey City entirely with AP1000-class reactors (~1,117 MW each, 93% capacity factor) would take about 16 units. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington would need 15; Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, 14. The full top-25 totals roughly 174 reactors — about 181% the size of the entire current U.S. commercial nuclear fleet (96 reactors).

#MetroAP1000s neededSMR modulesTWh / year
1New York–Newark–Jersey City(NY)16—141.3
2Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington(TX)15—135.1
3Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands(TX)14—126.0
4Chicago–Naperville–Elgin(IL)11—98.8
5Washington–Arlington–Alexandria(DC)11—94.5
6Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell(GA)10—86.0
7Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim(CA)9—80.2
8Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach(FL)8—69.5
9Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington(PA)8—68.9
10Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler(AZ)7—62.3
11Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue(WA)6—46.8
12Detroit–Warren–Dearborn(MI)5—42.9
13Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington(MN)5—42.0
14Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater(FL)5—37.2
15San Antonio–New Braunfels(TX)5—44.8
16Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos(TX)5—41.8
17Boston–Cambridge–Newton(MA)4—34.8
18Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario(CA)4—29.8
19San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont(CA)4—28.9
20Denver–Aurora–Centennial(CO)4—29.2
21Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford(FL)4—32.2
22Charlotte–Concord–Gastonia(NC)4—34.9
23St. Louis(MO)4—34.9
24San Diego–Chula Vista–Carlsbad(CA)3—20.5
25Baltimore–Columbia–Towson(MD)3—26.9

How we ranked these

AP1000-class reactor counts assume a 1,117 MWe unit running at the U.S. fleet-average 93% capacity factor — about 9.1 TWh/year of net generation per reactor. SMR-module counts use a 77 MWe NuScale-class archetype at the same 93% capacity factor. Demand is metro-level state-weighted from EIA retail sales. We round up to the next whole unit. See full methodology.

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