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Baseline

The US data center build-out, in published numbers

Power, construction spending, hyperscale sites, vacancy and capacity under construction from LBNL, the Census Bureau, Synergy, CBRE and Pew, beside the pipeline Wattmap records. The two are shown side by side and never added together.

  • $85.0Bannual rate of US data center construction spending, Aug 2026, preliminary; +73.2% on a year earlier [2]
  • 176 TWhUS data center electricity use in 2023, 4.4% of US electricity [1]
  • 1.4%vacancy across CBRE's 8 primary North American markets, H1 2026 [3]
  • 44.4 GWstated IT load in the projects Wattmap tracks, from 166 of 1,441 active projects that state it [4]Recorded by Wattmap
01

Power draw

Data centers used 176 TWh of US electricity in 2023, against about 60 TWh in 2014-2016. Only the years LBNL prints are drawn; nothing is read off its chart in between. The 2028 bar is a range of scenarios, not a forecast.

0
200
400
600
800
~60
2014-2016stable
~76
2018
176
2023
325–580
2028scenario range
Table
PeriodTWhTypeWhere printed
2014-2016about 60 TWhhistorical estimatep. 5
2018about 76 TWhhistorical estimatep. 5, p. 52
2023176 TWhhistorical estimatep. 5, p. 52
2028325 to 580 TWhscenario rangep. 6, p. 52

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report [1]. US data centers, all types, excluding crypto mining. TWh per year; 2028 hatched as a scenario range.

02

Construction spending

The value of data center construction put in place, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The series counts buildings, not the servers and racks inside them.

$0B
$25B
$50B
$75B
$100B
Sep 2024Mar 2025Sep 2025Aug 2026
Table
MonthUSD millions, SAAR
Aug 202684,950preliminary
Jul 202679,007revised
Jun 202672,695revised
May 202665,688
Apr 202661,859
Mar 202658,121
Feb 202657,361
Jan 202656,211
Dec 202555,461
Nov 202553,043
Oct 202554,260
Sep 202550,700
Aug 202549,052
Jul 202547,810
Jun 202546,850
May 202548,210
Apr 202552,818
Mar 202546,593
Feb 202546,409
Jan 202545,341
Dec 202444,703
Nov 202440,951
Oct 202440,048
Sep 202437,576
Aug 202436,668
Jul 202436,124
Jun 202435,304
May 202432,271
Apr 202428,069
Mar 202430,172
Feb 202428,319
Jan 202426,412
Dec 202324,238
Nov 202323,864
Oct 202323,720
Sep 202321,285
Aug 202320,498
Jul 202319,641
Jun 202318,735
May 202318,232
Apr 202317,943
Mar 202318,015
Feb 202317,920
Jan 202315,589
Dec 202214,244
Nov 202213,855
Oct 202212,816
Sep 202214,571
Aug 202213,142
Jul 202212,751
Jun 202212,190
May 202212,126
Apr 202212,160
Mar 202211,307
Feb 202210,564
Jan 202210,959
Dec 202111,324
Nov 202110,578
Oct 20219,686
Sep 202110,834
Aug 202110,495
Jul 20219,752
Jun 20219,312
May 20219,326
Apr 20219,401
Mar 202110,274
Feb 20219,061
Jan 20219,257
Dec 20209,199
Nov 20209,229
Oct 20209,290
Sep 202010,101
Aug 20209,102
Jul 20208,750
Jun 20208,973
May 20208,695
Apr 20208,932
Mar 20209,445
Feb 20209,696
Jan 20209,443
Dec 20197,920
Nov 20199,609
Oct 20199,123
Sep 20198,120
Aug 20198,829
Jul 20198,826
Jun 20198,885
May 20198,740
Apr 20197,849
Mar 20197,640
Feb 20198,034
Jan 20198,116
Dec 20188,048
Nov 20187,103
Oct 20187,864
Sep 20186,287
Aug 20187,004
Jul 20187,452
Jun 20187,055
May 20186,987
Apr 20186,562
Mar 20186,469
Feb 20186,236
Jan 20186,078
Dec 20175,739
Nov 20175,460
Oct 20174,963
Sep 20174,686
Aug 20174,393
Jul 20174,665
Jun 20174,577
May 20175,032
Apr 20174,233
Mar 20173,990
Feb 20174,216
Jan 20173,988
Dec 20164,464
Nov 20163,956
Oct 20163,703
Sep 20164,220
Aug 20164,581
Jul 20164,247
Jun 20164,555
May 20164,150
Apr 20164,415
Mar 20164,118
Feb 20163,798
Jan 20163,155
Dec 20153,094
Nov 20152,975
Oct 20152,754
Sep 20152,800
Aug 20152,837
Jul 20152,684
Jun 20153,930
May 20153,343
Apr 20152,308
Mar 20152,136
Feb 20151,934
Jan 20151,921
Dec 20141,659
Nov 20141,952
Oct 20141,826
Sep 20141,922
Aug 20141,962
Jul 20141,786
Jun 20141,747
May 20141,814
Apr 20141,802
Mar 20141,680
Feb 20141,740
Jan 20141,637

US Census Bureau, Value of Construction Put in Place, private Office / Data center [2]. Jan 2014 to Aug 2026. USD, seasonally adjusted annual rate; the dashed end is Census's preliminary month.

03

Hyperscale

Large data centers run by the biggest cloud and internet companies, worldwide, at year end. Empty years are years Synergy published no year-end count.

0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
300
2016
>390
2017
430
2018
512
2019
597
2020
no figure
2021
no figure
2022
992
2023
1,136
2024
1,360
2025
Table
YearSites, globalAs printed
2016300hit the 300 mark in December
2017390over 390
2018430430
2019512512 at the end of Q4
2020597597
2023992992
20241,1361,136
20251,3601,360

Synergy Research Group [5]. Global count of hyperscale data center sites at year end; the 2016 count was reached in December 2016. Synergy's operator set changes: 24 firms in the 2016-2017 releases, about 20 from 2019, 19 in the 2024 release. The count is the same concept throughout but not a fixed panel.

04

Vacancy and construction

Capacity under construction in CBRE's primary markets, with vacancy under each half-year. Vacancy went from 3.3% in H1 2023 to 1.4% in H1 2026, while the market set widened from 7 to 8.

0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
2,288
H1 20233.3% vacant · 7 mkts
3,078
H2 20233.7% vacant · 7 mkts
3,872
H1 20242.8% vacant · 7 mkts
6,350
H2 20241.9% vacant · 8 mkts
5,243
H1 20251.6% vacant · 8 mkts
5,994
H2 20251.4% vacant · 8 mkts
7,481
H1 20261.4% vacant · 8 mkts
Table
HalfUnder construction, MWVacancyInventory, MWMarkets
H1 20232,2883.3%—7
H2 20233,0783.7%5,1747
H1 20243,8722.8%—7
H2 20246,3501.9%6,9238
H1 20255,2431.6%8,1558
H2 20255,9941.4%9,4328
H1 20267,4811.4%10,9038

CBRE, North America Data Center Trends [3]. Primary markets: 7 through H1 2024, 8 from H2 2024 (New York Tri-State added), so the step between them is partly a wider universe. MW under construction; each half from its own edition, as first printed.

05

Where

Most data centers running today are in urban areas. Most of those planned are not.

Operating
87% urban13% rural
87% urban · 13% rural
In development
33% urban67% rural
33% urban · 67% rural

39%† of planned data centers are in counties that have none today.

See where each tracked project is on the map →

Pew Research Center, April 13, 2026, from Data Center Map listings as of February 19, 2026 [6]. Share of US data centers by Census urban/rural classification; in development counts planned, land-banked and under construction.

06

Scale

How large a single campus now gets. One project per size band: the largest under construction or operating that states its IT load and cites a source.

  1. 1,000+ MW5.0 GWMeta Richland Parish Data Center (Hyperion)LA · Building · stated IT load
  2. 250–1,000 MW902 MWVantage Lighthouse Campus — Port WashingtonWI · Building · stated IT load
  3. 100–250 MW245 MWHut 8 River Bend — Phase 1 (Fluidstack / Anthropic), St. FrancisvilleLA · Building · stated IT load
  4. 25–100 MW72 MWAligned Hillsboro PDX-01OR · Building · stated IT load

Recorded by Wattmap

Wattmap project records [4]. IT load in MW as the project's own source states it. Project profiles open in the terminal.

07

From the baseline to the pipeline

Published

3,000+data centers operating in the US

1,500+in development

Pew Research Center, from Data Center Map listings, February 2026.

Recorded by Wattmap
  • Announced2918.3 GW stated IT, 27 projects
  • Site & land use31417.7 GW stated IT, 24 projects
  • Building28716.8 GW stated IT, 51 projects
  • Operational (in Wattmap)5491.6 GW stated IT, 64 projects

1,441 active projects, plus 39 on hold. Stated IT load from 166 of 1,441; most records, and most operating campuses, do not state it. Wattmap is not a census of operating facilities. [4]

Open the map

The two sides count different things and are never added together.

08

Count and capacity

Published counts put US data centers at more than 3,000; Wattmap records 1,441 active projects. The two numbers measure different things: most facilities already in service are far smaller than the campuses now being built, and the capacity being added sits in a few hundred very large projects.

Published · worldwide capacity
  • 48% hyperscale, in 1,360 sites
  • 20% colocation
  • 32% enterprise on-premise, down from 56% in 2018

1,360 sites hold 48% of the world's data center capacity. The other 52% is spread across the colocation and enterprise facilities that make up most of any directory's count.

Synergy Research Group, end of 2025 [7]. Share of worldwide capacity by operator type. Worldwide, not US; Synergy does not publish site counts for the other two types.

Recorded by Wattmap · stated IT load per project

20 MWmedian, operating campuses (64)

180 MWmedian, pipeline projects (102)

  • Operating
  • Pipeline
  • under 25 MW3914
  • 25–100 MW2531
  • 100–250 MW020
  • 250–1,000 MW028
  • 1,000+ MW09

Wattmap project records with a stated IT load, Program records excluded [4]. Middle half: 9–36 MW operating, 40–449 MW pipeline. Wattmap's operating records are campuses beside the pipeline it tracks, not a sample of every facility in service.

Published shares and Wattmap's records are shown side by side and never combined.

09

Method

Published counts of US data centers differ by an order of magnitude because they count different things. They are not estimates of one number.

  1. 580Synergy, hyperscale only
  2. 3,000+Pew, operating
  • Synergy counts only large sites run by about 20 hyperscale companies.
  • Pew counts operating facilities in Data Center Map's listings.
  • Wattmap tracks projects in development and the campuses tied to them, and is not a census of operating facilities.

Counts as each publisher prints them, smallest universe first.

The pipeline behind the baseline

Start trialOpen the map

Project-level records are in the terminal.