--- title: "New Wave of Data Centers Sparks Skepticism Over Local Benefits" url: https://newscentral.site/new-wave-of-data-centers-sparks-skepticism-over-local-benefits/ language: en publisher: "News Central Site" section: "Business" published: 2026-10-30T11:57:12.000Z updated: 2026-10-31T18:39:14.610Z id: 7f14abc9-c870-42d3-a660-3ef6c4eca296 source: "Fortune https://fortune.com/2026/10/30/data-centers-local-jobs-study/" attribution: "Link to https://newscentral.site/new-wave-of-data-centers-sparks-skepticism-over-local-benefits/ and name News Central Site when you quote or summarize this story." --- # New Wave of Data Centers Sparks Skepticism Over Local Benefits A comprehensive study has found that new data centers create jobs in surrounding counties, but these positions are typically not created within local businesses. A new wave of data center construction is sweeping across the United States, but local communities are growing increasingly skeptical about the benefits they will receive in return for these massive investments. The enormous costs involved in building and maintaining a data center, including land acquisition, construction, equipment, and power infrastructure, have raised questions about whether these facilities truly contribute to local economic growth. Critics argue that data centers employ only a handful of workers, mostly IT specialists, engineers, and security personnel, leaving little else to show for the billions invested. A significant number of proposed data center projects are facing opposition, with many communities demanding more transparency about the benefits they can expect from these investments. This pushback has led to delays or cancellations worth $156 billion in 2025 alone, highlighting the growing tensions between industry stakeholders and local residents. To shed light on this issue, a team of professors specializing in real estate and urban economics embarked on a comprehensive study of data center impacts on local employment. The researchers analyzed data from over 1,500 centers across the United States built between 2000 and 2023. The preliminary findings suggest that new data centers do create jobs in surrounding counties, but these positions are typically not created within restaurants or shops. Instead, they emerge in industries supporting the data center operations, often taking several years to materialize. Data centers can create jobs in various industries beyond their own operations. One way this happens is through increased demand for local suppliers that cater to their needs. These suppliers include security companies that protect the facilities and electrical contractors responsible for maintaining equipment. Data center employees and workers at these supporting businesses also contribute to local economic growth by spending money on goods and services in nearby stores, restaurants, and other establishments. This can lead to an influx of new jobs in sectors such as retail and hospitality. The presence of a data center can also encourage further investment in the area. Companies that already operate data centers may expand their facilities or build new ones nearby, taking advantage of existing infrastructure like electricity and fiber connections. We analyzed detailed information on 1,584 U.S. data centers that opened between 2000 and 2023, including location, opening date, and power capacity. Our records were matched with federal data on employment, wages, and business counts in each county, providing a comprehensive picture of the economic impact of these facilities. Our analysis revealed that the economic impact of data centers is not limited to the immediate area surrounding them. In fact, we found that employment trends in counties with data centers began to diverge from those without after a center had been operational for three to five years. During this period, these counties saw an increase in non-construction jobs, with roughly 1,000 to 1,300 additional positions compared to similar counties without data centers. This growth suggests that the presence of a data center can have a broader economic impact on the local community. We also discovered that larger investments in data center capacity are associated with greater employment gains. Specifically, each additional megawatt installed is correlated with around 7.4 more non-construction jobs five years after its installation. However, it's worth noting that some of these job gains can be attributed to subsequent expansion and growth within the county. Each megawatt installed is often followed by an additional 1.7 megawatts of capacity over time, which must be factored into our estimates. Taking this later growth into account, we estimate that each megawatt of eventual data center capacity is associated with approximately 2.7 non-construction jobs in the local area. This translates to around 275 additional jobs for a large facility like a 100-megawatt data center. Our analysis reveals that data centers tend to create jobs in specific industries. These include transportation and warehousing, professional and technical services, and real estate. The presence of a data center may also indirectly benefit these sectors through investment and infrastructure development. In contrast, our research indicates limited job growth in local services such as restaurants and stores. This suggests that the economic impact of data centers is not felt directly by the surrounding community's businesses. Instead, benefits seem to be concentrated elsewhere. Data center expansion often follows existing investments within a county. Companies operating in an area tend to expand their facilities rather than new companies moving into the same region to build new data centers. This pattern indicates that local economic development may not be the primary driver of data center investment. Our study's limitations must also be considered. The analysis only includes data centers up to 2023, before the recent surge in massive AI-powered facilities. Furthermore, larger data centers do not necessarily create proportionally more jobs, which could mean our findings are not applicable to today's largest projects. Our research on data centers reveals that while they may create jobs beyond the immediate workforce, these positions are not necessarily located in local stores or restaurants. Instead, they often materialize elsewhere in the community. It remains unclear whether the benefits of additional job creation outweigh the costs associated with hosting a large data center. --- Source: [Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/10/30/data-centers-local-jobs-study/) Published by News Central Site: https://newscentral.site/new-wave-of-data-centers-sparks-skepticism-over-local-benefits/