I live in Northern VA, the world capital of data centers and can co-sign this. they bring absolutely nothing other than our electric bills have literally doubled in the last 24 or so months
The DCs are in VA because its fed / spook central, which induces a large number of well paid policy / compliance / paperwork / tech jobs etc.
NoVa literally one of the richest regions on the planet and it's all sorta tied up in the same thing. Seems unfair to say DCs "bring nothing", the whole ecosystem is a manifestation of concentrated defense spend.
That ignores all the tax revenue they bring in at the local level. Virginia also has tax exemptions at the state level, but as another commentator points out, data centers are delivering a huge share of tax revenue in places like Loudon County.
And of course you can (and should!) get rid of those state tax exemptions which have served their purpose.
That are paid (if not avoided) at the location of the owner, not the location of the dc.
Datacenters really aren't that good for the locals. Low property tax, just tens of jobs but very high infrastructure needs.
I live in Northern VA, the world capital of data centers and can co-sign this. they bring absolutely nothing other than our electric bills have literally doubled in the last 24 or so months
The DCs are in VA because its fed / spook central, which induces a large number of well paid policy / compliance / paperwork / tech jobs etc.
NoVa literally one of the richest regions on the planet and it's all sorta tied up in the same thing. Seems unfair to say DCs "bring nothing", the whole ecosystem is a manifestation of concentrated defense spend.
Instead of banning datacenters, why not just increase electricity rates for industrial customers?
If they build datacenters anyway, there should be plenty of extra funding for power infrastructure.
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There aren't taxes on datacenters in Texas. They gain virtually nothing from them!
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/08/texas-data-centers-s...
That ignores all the tax revenue they bring in at the local level. Virginia also has tax exemptions at the state level, but as another commentator points out, data centers are delivering a huge share of tax revenue in places like Loudon County.
And of course you can (and should!) get rid of those state tax exemptions which have served their purpose.