This page discusses the options for placing your instances in Google Cloud locations. When you create a Cloud SQL instance, you choose a [region](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions.md.txt) where the instance and its data are stored. To reduce latency and increase availability, choose the same region for your data and your Compute Engine instances, standard environment applications, and other services. There are different location types: A [regional location](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/locations.md.txt#location-r) is a specific geographic place, such as London. A [multi-regional location](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/locations.md.txt#location-mr) is a large geographic area, such as the United States, that contains at least two geographic places. Multi-regional locations are only used for backups. > [!NOTE] > **Note:** Some organizations use an organization policy to restrict resource locations. If this type of policy affects your project, you can only select regions the organization policy allows. In the **Location** drop-down menu in the Console, the locations that are not allowed are unavailable. [Learn more](https://docs.cloud.google.com/resource-manager/docs/organization-policy/defining-locations). You choose a location when you first create the instance. The location can't be changed after the instance is created. ## Regional Locations Regional locations are specific geographic locations within a multi-region location. Cloud SQL is available in all Google Cloud regions and is offered in upcoming regional launches at the time of launch. You can create a Cloud SQL instance in the following regions: | | Region Name | Region Description | | |---|---|---|---| | **Africa** | | | | | | `africa-south1` | Johannesburg | | | **Asia** | | | | | | `asia-east1` | Taiwan | | | | `asia-east2` | Hong Kong | | | | `asia-northeast1` | Tokyo | | | | `asia-northeast2` | Osaka | | | | `asia-northeast3` | Seoul | | | | `asia-south1` | Mumbai | | | | `asia-south2` | Delhi | | | | `asia-southeast1` | Singapore | | | | `asia-southeast2` | Jakarta | | | | `asia-southeast3` | Bangkok | | | **Australia** | | | | | | `australia-southeast1` | Sydney | | | | `australia-southeast2` | Melbourne | | | **Europe** | | | | | | `europe-central2` | Warsaw | | | | `europe-north1` | Finland |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-southwest1` | Madrid |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west1` | Belgium |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west2` | London |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west3` | Frankfurt | | | | `europe-west4` | Netherlands |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west6` | Zürich |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west8` | Milan | | | | `europe-west9` | Paris |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `europe-west10` | Berlin | | | | `europe-west12` | Turin | | | **Middle East** | | | | | | `me-central1` | Doha | | | | `me-central2` | Dammam | | | | `me-west1` | Tel Aviv | | | **North America** | | | | | | `northamerica-northeast1` | Montréal |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `northamerica-northeast2` | Toronto |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `northamerica-south1` | Mexico | | | | `us-central1` | Iowa |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `us-south1` | Dallas |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `us-east1` | South Carolina | | | | `us-east4` | Northern Virginia | | | | `us-east5` | Columbus | | | | `us-west1` | Oregon |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `us-west2` | Los Angeles | | | | `us-west3` | Salt Lake City | | | | `us-west4` | Las Vegas | | | **South America** | | | | | | `southamerica-east1` | São Paulo |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | | | `southamerica-west1` | Santiago |  [Low CO~2~](https://cloud.google.com/sustainability/region-carbon#region-picker) | ### Multi-regional backup locations | Multi-Region Name | Multi-Region Description | |---|---| | `asia` | Data centers in Asia, excluding Hong Kong and Indonesia | | `eu` | Data centers within [member states](https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en) of the European Union^\*^ | | `us` | Data centers in the United States | ^\*^ Backup data stored in the `eu` multi-region is not stored in the `europe-west2` (London) or `europe-west6` (Zürich) regions. ## Zones Zones are sub-locations in a region where you can create zonal resources such as Cloud SQL instances. For example, a zone named `us-central1-a` indicates a zone within the `us-central1` region. A zone is independent of other zones in the same region. You can choose your zone to keep your Cloud SQL instance close to your other Google Cloud services. If you want your instance to be replicated between zones synchronously, then [configure it for high availability](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/high-availability.md.txt). When you first create the instance, you can add a zone. To modify this zone, you can [edit the instance](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/edit-instance.md.txt). ## Preferred Location You can [select your zone](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sql/docs/sqlserver/locations.md.txt#zones). Choose **Any** if you want the system to select and assign a zone for you during instance creation. For more information about zones, see [Geography and regions](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions.md.txt). ## What's next - Get more information about [building applications to meet your latency, availability, and durability requirements](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/geography-and-regions.md.txt). - View all the [Google Cloud services available in locations worldwide](https://cloud.google.com/about/locations).