The Largest Data Centers Planned in Rural Counties

An analysis of planned versus operating U.S. data centers finds newer facilities are far larger on average — 126 megawatts per planned facility versus 47 for those already operating — and increasingly sited in rural counties with high poverty, uninsurance and low broadband access.

Five of the nine largest planned data centers sit in nonmetropolitan counties, including the 9.7 gigawatt Delta Gigasite Expansion in rural Millard, Utah, whose capacity alone could power roughly 8 million U.S. homes' worth of daily draw at gigawatt-scale comparisons cited in the piece.

Counties hosting the largest planned centers have poverty and uninsurance rates roughly double the national average, a pattern the piece says is consistent with research on diesel-generator exhaust and asthma risk near data center sites.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.