America: Land of Data Centers

The United States has the most data centers of anywhere in the world, by a lot. The difference is astronomical. This past June, there were a reported 4,423 data centers in the United States. The runner-up was the United Kingdom, with 555.

Only two countries, the U.K. and Germany, have over 500 data centers. China has only 369. The other top 10 countries combined have fewer data centers than the United States.

Despite the large population of data centers in the U.S., the concept is unpopular with Americans, 70% of whom oppose the possible debut of data centers in their area. Only 7% of those polled by Gallup “strongly favor” the addition.

Concerns about energy costs, property values, the amount of land required, grid constraints, and water usage surfaced as some of the main fears Americans had in relation to local centers. However, polling also revealed some positive expectations as Americans hoped for job opportunities and financial benefits.

New York, which houses 133 data centers, is the first state to place a temporary ban on them. With an executive order at the beginning of this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul ensured that no “hyperscalers” requiring 50 megawatts or more of power would be built in the next year.

While the plurality of all political groups polled opposed the centers, the more liberal the respondents, the more likely they were to strongly oppose local centers. The majority (56%) of Democrats opposed building data centers in their area, compared with 48% of independents and 39% of Republicans.

So, where are data centers built when communities do not want them nearby? Increasingly, they are being constructed in places ranging from indigenous reservations in Oklahoma to a suspected burial ground for enslaved people in Virginia.

Virginia, in fact, has the most data centers of any state, at 637. This is followed by high numbers of centers in Texas, at 505, and California, Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia, which all have more than 200. The fewest data centers are in the Mountain West region of the country. (England’s data centers are concentrated in London, which has 254. Northern Ireland has only six, including three in Belfast.)

The distribution of data centers suggests that developers favor states and metropolitan areas with existing infrastructure, large power supplies, and established technology industries. As demand continues to rise, growth is likely to remain concentrated in those regions, while proposals in less-developed or historically sensitive areas face greater scrutiny and resistance.