When you provision a Cloud Firestore database, you must choose a
*location* for it. To reduce latency and increase availability, store
your data close to the users and services that need it.

You can optionally [create multiple databases](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/manage-databases.md.txt) in your
project, each with its own location setting.

Be aware that once you provision a database, you cannot change its
location setting.

## Types of locations

You can store your Cloud Firestore data in a
[*multi-region* location](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/enterprise/locations.md.txt#location-mr) or a [*regional* location](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/enterprise/locations.md.txt#location-r).

### Multi-region locations

Select a multi-region location to maximize the availability and
durability of your database.

A multi-region location consists of a defined set of
[regions](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regions_and_zones) where multiple replicas of the database
are stored. Each replica is either a read-write replica which contains all of the
data in the database or a witness replica which does not maintain a full set of
data but participates in replication.

By replicating the data between multiple regions, data
can continue to be served even with the loss of an entire
region. Within a region, data is replicated across
[zones](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regions_and_zones) so that data can continue to be served
within that region even with the loss of a zone.

Cloud Firestore supports the following multi-region locations:

| Multi-region name | Multi-region description | Read-Write regions | Witness region |
|---|---|---|---|
| `eur3` | Europe | `europe-west1` (Belgium), `europe-west4` (Netherlands) | `europe-north1` (Finland) |
| `nam5` | United States (Central) | `us-central1` (Iowa), `us-central2` (Oklahoma---private Google Cloud region) | `us-east1` (South Carolina) |
| `nam7` | United States (Central and East) | `us-central1` (Iowa), `us-east4` (Northern Virginia) | `us-central2` (Oklahoma---private Google Cloud region) |

### Regional locations

A regional location is a specific geographic place, such as South Carolina. Data
in a regional location is replicated in multiple zones within a
[region](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#regional_resources). All regional locations are separated from other regional
locations by at least 100 miles.

Select a regional location for lower costs, for lower write latency if your
application is sensitive to latency, or for
[co-location with other Google Cloud resources](https://cloud.google.com/about/locations/#products-available-by-region).

Cloud Firestore supports the following regional resource locations:

|   | Region name | Region description |
|---|---|---|
| **North America** |||
|   | `us-west1` | Oregon |
|   | `us-west2` | Los Angeles |
|   | `us-west3` | Salt Lake City |
|   | `us-west4` | Las Vegas |
|   | `us-central1` | Iowa |
|   | `northamerica-northeast1` | Montréal |
|   | `northamerica-northeast2` | Toronto |
|   | `northamerica-south1` | Queretaro |
|   | `us-east1` | South Carolina |
|   | `us-east4` | Northern Virginia |
|   | `us-east5` | Columbus |
|   | `us-south1` | Dallas |
| **South America** |||
|   | `southamerica-west1` | Santiago |
|   | `southamerica-east1` | São Paulo |
| **Europe** |||
|   | `europe-west2` | London |
|   | `europe-west1` | Belgium |
|   | `europe-west4` | Netherlands |
|   | `europe-west8` | Milan |
|   | `europe-southwest1` | Madrid |
|   | `europe-west9` | Paris |
|   | `europe-west12` | Turin |
|   | `europe-west10` | Berlin |
|   | `europe-west3` | Frankfurt |
|   | `europe-north1` | Finland |
|   | `europe-north2` | Stockholm |
|   | `europe-central2` | Warsaw |
|   | `europe-west6` | Zürich |
| **Middle East** |||
|   | `me-central1` | Doha |
|   | `me-central2` | Dammam |
|   | `me-west1` | Tel Aviv |
| **Asia** |||
|   | `asia-south1` | Mumbai |
|   | `asia-south2` | Delhi |
|   | `asia-southeast1` | Singapore |
|   | `asia-southeast2` | Jakarta |
|   | `asia-southeast3` | Bangkok |
|   | `asia-east2` | Hong Kong |
|   | `asia-east1` | Taiwan |
|   | `asia-northeast1` | Tokyo |
|   | `asia-northeast2` | Osaka |
|   | `asia-northeast3` | Seoul |
| **Australia** |||
|   | `australia-southeast1` | Sydney |
|   | `australia-southeast2` | Melbourne |
| **Africa** |||
|   | `africa-south1` | Johannesburg |

## Location SLA

Your Cloud Firestore location type determines the
[Service Level Agreement (SLA)](https://firebase.google.com/terms.md.txt)
uptime percentage at General Availability (GA):

| Covered service | Monthly uptime percentage |
|---|---|
| Cloud Firestore Multi-Region | \>= 99.999% |
| Cloud Firestore Regional | \>= 99.99% |

## Location pricing

Your Cloud Firestore location determines the cost of database
operations.

For a comprehensive explanation of pricing per region and per region type,
see [Understand Cloud Firestore billing](https://firebase.google.com/pricing.md.txt).

## View the location of your databases

Use one of the following methods to view the location setting for your databases:

- Run the [`gcloud firestore databases list`](https://cloud.google.com//sdk/gcloud/reference/firestore/databases/list)
  command.

- Open the
  [database list](https://console.cloud.google.com/firestore/databases) in the Google Cloud console.
  The location for each database is in the location column.

## Next steps

- To create a Cloud Firestore database in a specific location, see
  [Create and manage databases](https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore/manage-databases.md.txt)

- For more information about building applications to meet your latency,
  availability, and durability requirements, refer to
  [Geography and Regions](https://cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions#multi-regional_resources).