Americans Aren't Moving Toward Data Centers, Data Centers Are Coming to Them, Realtor.com® Report Finds
New facilities are pushing into lower-density, lower-income communities farther from major cities, but home values near newly activated data centers have so far moved in line with similar neighborhoods
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from Realtor.com ® finds that the American home-sale market's growing proximity to data centers is being driven by where the industry chooses to build, not by any behavioral shift among homebuyers. The share of U.S. home sales within five miles of a large (50-megawatt or larger) data center has more than doubled since 2018, rising from 0.67% to roughly 1.5% so far in 2026, as the number of large facilities operating nationwide grew more than sevenfold, from 49 to 347. Based on the full construction pipeline through 2027, that share is projected to approach 2.3% of all U.S. home sales.
The report, which draws on millions of home sales, listings and property tax records alongside facility-level data center insights from Aterio, also finds that the newest wave of large data centers is landing farther from cities, in less densely populated areas, and increasingly in communities with below-median household incomes — a reversal from the pattern that defined the early 2020s AI buildout.
"The data center buildout has moved fast and it is raising policy, community, and housing-market questions as it spreads and accelerates," said Danielle Hale, chief economist, Realtor.com ®. "Our analysis so far offers some reassurance: in the communities we studied, a new data center opening nearby wasn't associated with meaningfully higher or lower home values than similar neighborhoods that didn't get one. But the facilities coming online next are bigger, more remote and landing in communities with less experience managing an industrial neighbor, so that track record may not hold as a guide to what comes next."
The Growth Is Geographic, Not Behavioral
To isolate what is driving more Americans to live near large data centers, the report models what would have happened had the data center industry stopped building in 2018. Under that scenario, the share of home sales near a large data center would sit at roughly 0.6% today, below where the market actually stands. The entire increase, in other words, traces back to facilities that didn't exist in 2018 opening in new communities, not to more home-sale activity in neighborhoods that already had one. Housing stock turnover in ZIP codes near large data centers has tracked essentially the same as broader metro areas throughout the period, with the gap never exceeding 0.2 percentage points.
New Neighbors, Farther From the City
The physical footprint of the industry has expanded alongside its power footprint. In 2015, just 12 U.S. ZIP codes contained a large data center; by June 2026 that had grown to 108, and is on pace to reach 125 by year's end. The land those facilities are built on looks increasingly different, too. The median large data center opening in 2026 is surrounded by roughly 70% fewer residential housing units per square mile than the median 2017 facility, and the typical 2027 opening will sit about 34 miles from its nearest major city center, 26% farther than the 2026 median of 27 miles.
Household income patterns near new data centers have shifted as well. ZIP codes receiving new large facilities ran well above the national median income from 2020 through 2023, peaking 24.7% above the median in 2023 as hyperscale investment concentrated in affluent Northern Virginia suburbs. Large data centers activated in 2026 sit in ZIP codes 2.1% below the national median income, and the 2027 construction pipeline points to communities 5.7% below the median.
"The places absorbing this next wave of data centers look different from the places that absorbed the last one," said Glen Morgenstern, economist intern at Realtor.com ®. "They tend to be lower-income, lower-density and farther from a city center, which usually also means fewer resources on hand — fewer attorneys, less organized civic engagement, and housing markets that react more slowly to new information. That doesn't tell us those communities will be worse off, but it does mean they may be less equipped to respond if a facility turns out to be a difficult neighbor."
Home Values Hold Steady, Listings Stay Plentiful
To test whether a large data center opening nearby affects home prices, the report compared 43 ZIP codes that gained a large data center between 2019 and 2025 against similar ZIP codes matched on pre-opening price levels and population density. In the two years following activation, home values in data center neighborhoods moved in line with their matched comparisons, with no gains or losses large enough to represent a meaningful difference. Listing prices showed a similar pattern: a small initial bump around the facility's opening that faded within two years.
Housing inventory told a different story. Three years after a large data center opened, those ZIP codes retained 66% of their pre-opening active for-sale listings, compared with 43% for matched neighborhoods without a data center. New construction near data centers ran above the metro average in the years surrounding a facility's opening but slipped slightly below that average by the third year.
Property tax rates near large data centers were lower than in comparison communities both before and after a facility's arrival, a gap the report attributes to where data centers tend to be sited rather than to the facilities themselves. Effective residential tax rates near data centers ticked up modestly relative to their own pre-opening baseline over five years, while the comparison group's rates drifted down relative to theirs — though the report cautions that county- and jurisdiction-level differences make the cause of that pattern difficult to isolate.
As Data Centers Grow, So Do Concerns Over Power and Water
The average large data center that opened in 2018 drew about 24 megawatts of power; by 2026 that figure had climbed to 60 megawatts, meaning more generators, more cooling infrastructure and more round-the-clock truck traffic per facility. Electricity and water use are also emerging as more visible pressure points, particularly in Sun Belt markets already navigating water scarcity, and rising utility bills tied to data center demand have already drawn public attention in states including Georgia and Virginia.
In March 2026, seven major AI companies signed a Ratepayer Protection Pledge committing to cover the cost of new power supply and grid infrastructure rather than pass it on to residential customers, a commitment that has since expanded to companies representing 80% of U.S. power delivery, though it remains voluntary. The Realtor.com ® report points to these dynamics, along with the industry's shift into lower-density, lower-income and more remote communities, as reasons the modest track record on home values documented so far may be harder to sustain as the buildout continues.
Large Data Center Openings and ZIP Household Income by Activation Year
Activation Year
New Large Data Centers
Median Data Center ZIP Income
vs. National Median
2020
24
+22.3 %
2021
22
+15.5 %
2022
20
+14.1 %
2023
34
+24.7 %
2024
58
+7.4 %
2025
83
+11.0 %
2026
178
-2.1 %
2027*
212
-5.7 %
*2027 reflects the construction pipeline. 2026 includes active and construction-stage sites with estimated 2026 activation dates. Recent incomes are based on 2024 American Community Survey estimates; each ZIP code is weighted equally regardless of population size.
Methodology
Data center inventory comes from Aterio's facility-level database as of June 30, 2026, covering U.S. facilities with at least 50 megawatts of selected power capacity and a known ZIP code; the main analyses use active facilities only, while 2026 and 2027 community-income comparisons also include construction-stage facilities. Residential proximity is measured as the straight-line distance from each home sale or listing to the nearest large data center, using Aterio facility coordinates and Realtor.com deed and listing records; sales within five miles are classified as near. The home-price event study covers 43 ZIP codes that received a large data center between 2019 and 2025, matched to comparison ZIP codes on pre-activation price level and population density, drawn from the same metro area in most cases and from the broader state for five ZIP codes in smaller markets, using Realtor.com deed records in states that publicly disclose sale prices (Texas and 11 other non-disclosure states are excluded). The property tax event study compares effective residential tax rates within three miles of a large data center against properties 10 to 25 miles away in the same state, using Realtor.com property records and activations between 2017 and 2023. The inventory event study uses annual June snapshots of active listings matched on pre-period list price, days on market and metro area. Community income figures use year-matched American Community Survey 5-year estimates and are compared against the national median household income from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, retrieved via FRED.
About Realtor.com ®
For over 30 years, Realtor.com ® has connected buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights, professional guidance and powerful tools to help them find their perfect home. Recognized as the No. 1 real estate site REALTOR® agents recommend, Realtor.com® delivers consumer connections and a robust suite of marketing tools to support business growth. Realtor.com ® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.
Media Contact: Mallory Micetich, [email protected]
SOURCE Realtor.com