Which U.S. States Have The Most Data Centers?

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday signed an executive order banning the construction of new large data centers for up to a year. Hochul cited the enormous amounts of electricity large-scale data centers consume. She also mentioned that the cost of any updates to the state's power supply and power grid made necessary by data centers would be shouldered by all electricity user, placing an undue burden on regular residents and businesses. Figures by Pew Research Center reveal that New York is not (yet) among the states with the most data centers, while additional numbers show that the U.S. leads the world in the industry.

President Donald Trump slamed the state's decision Wednesday on his social media network Truth Social, saying that the state should revert its policy "immediately" and that it was "a terrible decision". In June, residents in California's Monterey Park voted to permanently ban data centers. Dutch capital Amsterdam had a moratorium in place from 2019 to 2020 and is currently under another one that started in 2025 and runs until 2030.

Virginia is the U.S. state which has the most data centers by far. This is due to tax incentives, good data connectivity, nearby workforces and safe climatic conditions. New York comes in eighth on the list, just behind Arizona and Ohio. Large states like Texas and California trail Virginia. Many U.S. data centers can also be found in Illinois and Georgia.

Pew Research Center reports that a majority of new data centers in the U.S. are coming to rural areas, may that be on the East Coast or in central states. This is in contrast to existing data centers, most of which are located in urban areas. Currently, 38 percent of Americans live within 5 miles of a data center due to their overwhelmingly urban nature at the moment. This number rises to 42 percent when including planned data centers, showing how data center construction is turning more rural. The U.S. South and Midwest are the regions where most new data centers are currently planned and they are also expected to be seeing the biggest relative increases in data center numbers due to planned construction.