A wave of new data center construction is shifting away from cities and into rural America, signaling a major change in how digital infrastructure is being built across the country.
A new analysis from Pew Research Center found that while most existing data centers are concentrated in urban areas, the majority of future projects are being planned in rural communities.
According to the data, 67% of planned data centers are slated for rural areas, compared to just 13% of existing facilities. At the same time, 39% of planned projects are being developed in counties that currently have no data centers at all.
More than 3,000 data centers are currently operating in the United States, with another 1,500 in various stages of development. Much of that growth is expected to take place in the South and Midwest, which together account for about three-quarters of planned projects.
The South alone represents nearly half of all planned data centers, followed by significant expansion in the Midwest. By comparison, growth in the Northeast and West is expected to be more modest.
At the state level, Virginia and Texas lead the country in both existing and planned data centers, followed by states like Georgia, Illinois, and Arizona. New York remains among the top states for existing facilities but is seeing slower relative growth.
The expansion means more Americans are living near these facilities. Currently, 38% of the population lives within five miles of an operational data center, with that figure rising to 42% when planned sites are included.
Despite their growing footprint, public awareness and opinion about data centers remain relatively unchanged. Pew found that people living near data centers are about as likely as others to be familiar with them and hold similar views on their impacts, including effects on jobs, energy use, and the environment.
The shift toward rural development comes as demand for data storage and processing continues to grow, driven in part by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and expanding digital services.
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