America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers

Data Centers Growing Fast and Reshaping Local Economies

Employment in U.S. data centers — facilities that house the computer systems that store and manage data — increased more than 60% nationally from 2016 to 2023 but growth was uneven across the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI).

The number of people working in data centers grew from 306,000 to 501,000 between 2016 and 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the QWI shows where the growth is concentrated and provides a profile of data center workers.

Over 40% of U.S. data center employment are in five states: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Georgia.

In California, for example, three counties (San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara) accounted for 60% of the state’s data center employment. In Texas, nearly 75% was in four counties (Travis, Bexar, Collin and Dallas).

Continue reading to learn more about data center workers and explore related maps and charts.

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