The data center boom, month by month

What the timelapse shows

Of the 148 projects the Census tracks, 136 have their earliest recorded milestone in January 2022 or later, with 120.37 GW of published capacity among those that publish a figure. The busiest year so far is 2025, when 63 projects first appear. The first local pause on the map is Douglas County, Georgia (Mar 2025); by Sep 2026 the tracker holds 88 moratorium actions.

Capacity is the planned figure each project’s sources publish, counted in full on the date the project first appears, including projects since cancelled or denied. 65 projects publish no capacity and show as the smallest circles.

How the map is made

• When a project appears. On the date of the earliest dated milestone in its record: usually a filing, land deal, announcement or vote. A date published only to the month or year is placed at the end of that month or year, so a project never appears before its record shows it existed. 10 projects have a first milestone known only to the year. Projects whose first milestone predates 2022 are on the map from the first frame.
• Size and color. Circle area grows in proportion to published planned capacity, with a minimum size so the smallest projects stay visible. Color is the project’s status today, not its status at the time shown, so a project cancelled in 2026 is red from the moment it appears.
• Moratoriums. Each local action is a ring at the U.S. Census Bureau’s internal point for the county, city, town or township that took it. Statewide actions tint the whole state. 8 actions with no published date appear on the date they were reported. 1 action dated only to the year appears at the end of that year, or in the final frame if that is still ahead. Gregg Township, Pennsylvania, is counted but not placed. The cited source does not name the county, and Pennsylvania has two Gregg Townships (Centre and Union counties).
• The map itself. Each gray dot is a hexagonal cell of about 30 kilometers that holds at least one Census Gazetteer internal point (a county, county subdivision, place or ZIP Code Tabulation Area), with interior gaps filled. It shows where land is, not exact borders. Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets at different scales.
• What it is not. A count of every data center in the country. The Census tracks major projects that have been researched and sourced; see the methodology.

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Prefer the live map? Every project today is on the interactive map. Journalists: the newsroom has this week’s leads and quotable figures.