Data Center Construction Hit an $85 Billion Pace in 2026, and Census First Estimates Ran Up to 32% Low
US data center construction spending reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $85.0 billion in August 2026, up 73% from a year earlier, according to the Census Bureau. Builders put $45.2 billion in place from January to August, 42% more than in the same months of 2025. Data centers are now 63% of private office construction, up from 5% in 2014.
We downloaded the Census Bureau’s monthly construction spending files, which carry a separate data center series from January 2014, and recomputed every month, year and share. We adjusted the series for construction price inflation, compared it with factories, warehouses and offices, and checked 9 earlier archived versions of the same Census file to see how much the first estimate changes. Our data center statistics report covers power use and jobs; this page is the full construction record.
Data center construction spending by month
Private data center construction, seasonally adjusted annual rate, Jan 2014 to Aug 2026
current dollars in Aug 2026 dollars computer, electronic and electrical factories
Census Value of Construction Put in Place, private. The dotted end of the blue line marks months still subject to routine revision (Jun revised, Jul revised, Aug preliminary). Inflation adjustment uses the BLS producer price index for new office building construction.
The series rose slowly for most of its first decade. The annual rate passed $10 billion in September 2020, $20 billion in August 2023 and $50 billion in April 2025. Then it accelerated sharply: from $58.1 billion in March 2026 to $85.0 billion in August, a 46% rise in five months. In April 2026 data centers passed factory construction for computers, electronics and electrical equipment, which they had trailed every month since June 2021. All manufacturing is still larger, at 2.0 times the data center rate.
Adjusted for construction prices, the August 2026 rate was 63% above a year earlier, against 73% in current dollars. Prices explain little of the jump.
Growth slowed to 18%, then sped up again
Change from the same month a year earlier, not seasonally adjusted, Jan 2015 to Aug 2026
Light bars are 2015 to 2025; dark bars are 2026. Each bar compares Census monthly spending with the same month of the prior year, so no seasonal adjustment is needed.
Year-over-year growth peaked at 89% in June 2024, then fell steadily as the base grew. By April 2026 it was down to 18%, the slowest pace since March 2022. Four months later it was 75%. The highest growth rate in the series, 126% in June 2015, came off a base of only $151 million a month, so large percentages in the early years mean less than the dollar gains since 2023.
Data centers are now most of US office construction
Data center share of private construction, seasonally adjusted, August 2026
Red ticks mark earlier shares, listed under each dial. Census classifies data centers as a subcategory of office, next to general office and financial buildings.
Census files data centers under office construction. In 2014 they were 5% of that category; by August 2026 they were 63%. General office construction fell from $66.8 billion in 2019 to $51.0 billion in 2025, so office spending as a whole now rises or falls with data centers. Across all private nonresidential building, data centers went from 6.3% to 11.0% in a year.
That growth is holding the nonresidential total up. Private nonresidential construction was 1.0% lower than a year earlier in August 2026. Without data centers it was 5.9% lower.
Data center construction by year
| Year | Data centers | Change | In 2025 dollars | Share of office | Share of private nonres. | General office | Warehouse | Chip and electronics factories | All manufacturing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $1.8B | $3.1B | 5% | 0.5% | $35.2B | $13.7B | $5.1B | $60.1B | |
| 2015 | $2.7B | +53% | $4.6B | 6% | 0.7% | $43.3B | $16.9B | $3.5B | $82.4B |
| 2016 | $4.1B | +50% | $6.8B | 7% | 0.9% | $53.4B | $22.6B | $2.0B | $78.9B |
| 2017 | $4.7B | +13% | $7.6B | 8% | 1.1% | $52.6B | $29.1B | $2.1B | $70.0B |
| 2018 | $6.9B | +49% | $10.8B | 10% | 1.5% | $57.7B | $33.1B | $5.5B | $72.0B |
| 2019 | $8.5B | +22% | $12.6B | 11% | 1.7% | $66.8B | $34.8B | $8.3B | $80.5B |
| 2020 | $9.2B | +9% | $13.4B | 11% | 1.9% | $68.7B | $42.4B | $9.2B | $75.1B |
| 2021 | $9.9B | +8% | $13.5B | 13% | 2.0% | $65.6B | $52.0B | $12.1B | $81.6B |
| 2022 | $12.6B | +26% | $14.2B | 15% | 2.1% | $67.7B | $72.0B | $42.7B | $124.5B |
| 2023 | $20.0B | +59% | $20.6B | 23% | 2.7% | $65.0B | $80.5B | $100.4B | $202.1B |
| 2024 | $34.8B | +74% | $35.5B | 38% | 4.4% | $53.4B | $64.8B | $122.1B | $243.4B |
| 2025 | $49.7B | +43% | $49.7B | 48% | 6.3% | $51.0B | $57.8B | $96.8B | $213.8B |
| 2026* | $45.2B | +42% | $43.5B | 58% | 9.1% | $30.4B | $35.3B | $37.9B | $114.6B |
*2026 is January to August only; its change compares the same months of 2025. Annual values sum Census monthly not seasonally adjusted estimates and match the Census annual table. Inflation adjustment: BLS PPI for new office building construction (PCU236223236223), 2025 average = 100.
In current dollars, 2025 spending was 28 times the 2014 level. In 2025 dollars it was 16 times, because the office building price index rose 84% between January 2014 and September 2026. Year to date, real spending is up 35%, against 42% in current dollars.
Data centers vs factories, warehouses and offices
| Private construction category | Aug 2026, annual rate | Aug 2025, annual rate | Change | Jan to Aug 2026, actual | Change vs same months 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data centers | $85.0B | $49.1B | +73.2% | $45.2B | +41.7% |
| General office (excl. data centers) | $45.8B | $50.7B | -9.7% | $30.4B | -11.1% |
| Warehouses | $53.1B | $57.8B | -8.1% | $35.3B | -9.6% |
| Computer, electronic and electrical factories | $52.3B | $95.4B | -45.2% | $37.9B | -45.3% |
| All manufacturing | $168.2B | $209.8B | -19.8% | $114.6B | -22.2% |
| Electric power | $141.2B | $127.4B | +10.8% | $89.7B | +6.1% |
| Health care | $57.0B | $60.3B | -5.4% | $37.4B | -5.2% |
| Lodging | $23.3B | $26.0B | -10.1% | $15.4B | -10.4% |
| Private nonresidential, total | $773.0B | $780.4B | -1.0% | $499.3B | -4.8% |
| Private construction, total | $1,655.3B | $1,707.4B | -3.1% | $1,093.3B | -4.4% |
Annual rates are seasonally adjusted; January to August totals are not seasonally adjusted. August 2026 is preliminary.
Among private construction categories running above $10 billion a year, data centers grew fastest. Factory construction for computers, electronics and electrical equipment fell 45% in the same year, after rising from $12.1 billion in 2021 to $122.1 billion in 2024. Warehouses and general office also shrank. Private electric power construction grew 11% to $141.2 billion, its highest monthly rate since the series begins in 1993. Census does not say how much of that is for data centers. Our AI energy consumption report tracks the demand side of that power build.
The first estimate is usually too low
Census publishes each month’s figure about a month after the month ends, revises it in the next two releases, and revises again once a year: the July 1, 2026 release revised unadjusted data back to January 2024. Census reports that its first revision to total private construction averages 0.75%. To see how much that matters for data centers, we pulled 9 archived copies of the Census not seasonally adjusted file from the Internet Archive, dated July 1, 2024 to September 1, 2026, and compared the newest month in each with the same month in the October 1, 2026 release.
Data center spending for the newest month: first published (open dot) vs October 1, 2026 release (blue dot)
Monthly spending, not seasonally adjusted. Recent months have had less time to be revised.
| Month | First published | First value | Now | Data centers | All private nonres. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | July 1, 2024 | $2.34B | $2.74B | +17.3% | +8.2% |
| Nov 2024 | January 2, 2025 | $2.58B | $3.33B | +29.0% | +8.0% |
| Feb 2025 | April 1, 2025 | $2.70B | $3.55B | +31.8% | +7.1% |
| Jul 2025 | September 2, 2025 | $3.58B | $4.13B | +15.5% | +6.1% |
| Dec 2025 | February 27, 2026 | $3.57B | $4.49B | +25.6% | +3.0% |
| Mar 2026 | May 7, 2026 | $4.01B | $4.78B | +19.3% | +2.4% |
| May 2026 | July 1, 2026 | $5.06B | $5.63B | +11.2% | +1.7% |
| Jun 2026 | August 3, 2026 | $5.98B | $6.24B | +4.5% | +1.7% |
| Jul 2026 | September 1, 2026 | $6.55B | $6.90B | +5.3% | +1.3% |
| Full year | Earliest archived file | Then | Now | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | July 1, 2024 | $18.2B | $20.0B | +9.9% |
| 2024 | April 1, 2025 | $28.5B | $34.8B | +22.2% |
| 2025 | May 7, 2026 | $41.2B | $49.7B | +20.8% |
Full-year totals moved too. The earliest archived file with all twelve months of 2024 showed $28.5 billion; the current figure is $34.8 billion. For 2025, $41.2 billion in the May 7, 2026 file became $49.7 billion in the July 1 annual revision. If the pattern holds, the 2026 figures on this page are more likely to rise than fall. That is an observation from 9 releases, not a Census forecast.
What the Census number counts, and what it leaves out
Census defines the data center category as buildings that contain the hardware needed for storing, processing, and transmitting digital information. Value put in place covers materials installed, labor, a share of equipment rental, contractor profit, architecture and engineering, owner overhead, and interest and taxes during construction. Mechanical and electrical installations, including electrical work, central air-conditioning and emergency backup power, count as construction. Production and special-purpose equipment does not, and the Census definitions name racks and servers in data centers among the exclusions. The figure is the building with its power and cooling systems, not the computers inside.
It also measures work done each month, not the value of projects announced or started. Census samples private nonresidential projects from Dodge Data & Analytics project lists and follows each selected project monthly until it is finished; projects of $100 million or more are always selected. Project-start trackers count a project’s full value when it breaks ground, so they report larger totals. ConstructConnect’s October 2026 data center report, for example, puts January to August 2026 starts at $98.5 billion, compared with $45.2 billion of Census work put in place over the same months. The two figures measure different things and should not be compared as if they were the same series.
One more caveat: Census lists “computer centers” within general office, so some smaller computing facilities may sit in that category rather than in data centers. For where facilities are being built, see our data centers by state analysis; the Census series is national only.
Construction costs and the electrical trades
The BLS producer price index for new office building construction was 6.0% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier. The index for electrical contractors’ work on new nonresidential buildings rose 5.8% in the same year and 90% since February 2014, faster than the 72% for nonresidential buildings as a whole.
Employment at electrical contractors reached 1,160.5 thousand in August 2026 (preliminary), 4.1% more than a year earlier, against 1.4% for all construction. Average hourly earnings at electrical contractors rose 6.3% to $43.61, against 4.2% for all construction. These are national series for all building types; BLS does not publish data center construction employment separately.
| BLS employment series | Jobs, August 2026 | 1 year | Since Jan 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction, all | 8,353.0k | +1.4% | +10.0% |
| Nonresidential building construction | 949.5k | +3.1% | +16.8% |
| Nonresidential specialty trade contractors | 2,927.3k | +3.0% | +13.6% |
| Electrical contractors and other wiring installation | 1,160.5k | +4.1% | +16.4% |
| Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors | 1,338.6k | +1.8% | +12.8% |
| Occupation (OEWS) | Jobs, May 2025 | vs May 2024 | Median pay | vs May 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricians | 757,220 | +2.0% | $63,190 | +1.3% |
| Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters | 465,840 | +2.2% | $63,800 | +1.3% |
| HVAC and refrigeration mechanics | 409,670 | +3.2% | $61,010 | +2.0% |
| Sheet metal workers | 119,770 | +2.0% | $61,800 | +1.6% |
| Construction equipment operators | 478,090 | +1.9% | $59,850 | +1.9% |
| Construction laborers | 1,096,780 | +3.7% | $47,120 | +0.8% |
| All construction and extraction | 6,425,160 | +1.0% | $59,540 | +2.0% |
CES: seasonally adjusted, thousands of jobs; most recent month preliminary. OEWS: all industries, annual median wage. BLS cautions that OEWS estimates are not designed for year-to-year comparison, so treat the change columns as rough.
The ten states with the most mapped data center sites in the PNNL atlas added electricians at 2.5% between May 2024 and May 2025, against 1.6% in the other states. Across the 50 states and DC, the rank correlation between mapped sites and electrician job growth was -0.15, close to none. Virginia, with the most sites, reported fewer electricians in 2025 than in 2024. State OEWS estimates carry sampling error, and data center work is only one source of demand for electricians.
| State | Mapped data center sites | Electricians, May 2025 | vs May 2024 | Per 1,000 jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 239 | 23,630 | -2.8% | 5.8 | $62,900 |
| Texas | 117 | 76,770 | +6.8% | 5.5 | $58,570 |
| California | 109 | 73,310 | -0.1% | 4.0 | $76,160 |
| Oregon | 97 | 10,590 | +7.7% | 5.4 | $101,310 |
| Ohio | 74 | 28,950 | +6.6% | 5.2 | $64,700 |
| Arizona | 58 | 21,140 | -0.7% | 6.5 | $61,060 |
| Washington | 52 | 19,380 | +5.4% | 5.5 | $95,220 |
| New Jersey | 49 | 13,520 | -11.2% | 3.2 | $77,250 |
| Illinois | 44 | 23,120 | +1.0% | 3.8 | $99,560 |
| Iowa | 39 | 10,310 | +15.8% | 6.6 | $60,860 |
| United States | 1,207 | 757,220 | +2.0% | $63,190 |
What this means for MSPs
For MSPs and IT teams, the useful signals in this data are about timing and cost, not the headline.
Budget for electrical work at a premium. Electrical contractors’ pay rose 6.3% in a year and their nonresidential price index 5.8%. Server room upgrades, UPS and generator work and structured cabling that depend on licensed electricians are likely to cost more. Quote client projects with current subcontractor rates, not last year’s.
Read the Census figures as a floor. If you cite data center construction in client briefings or board reports, use January to August totals rather than one month’s annual rate, label August as preliminary, and expect upward revisions. Every first estimate in our 9 archived releases was raised.
Watch power, not just buildings. Data center construction and private electric power construction are rising together. Colocation and cloud capacity depend on both. Our data center electricity prices report tests whether states with faster data center load growth saw bigger power price increases.
Frequently asked questions
How much is spent on data center construction in the US?
Private data center construction put in place was $49.7 billion in 2025, according to the Census Bureau, and $45.2 billion from January to August 2026. In August 2026 the seasonally adjusted annual rate was $85.0 billion (preliminary).
Is data center construction still growing?
Yes. The August 2026 annual rate was 73% above August 2025, and the not seasonally adjusted monthly value was 75% higher than a year earlier. Growth had slowed to 18% in April 2026 before speeding up again.
How much has data center construction grown since 2014?
From $1.8 billion in 2014 to $49.7 billion in 2025, about 28 times as much in current dollars. Adjusted with the BLS price index for new office building construction, the increase is about 16 times.
What share of construction spending goes to data centers?
In August 2026, data centers were 63% of private office construction, 11.0% of private nonresidential construction and 5.1% of all private construction, including housing, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Does the Census figure include servers and chips?
No. Census counts the building and its installed systems, design, labor, overhead and contractor profit, but its definitions exclude racks and servers in data centers. Company capital spending totals that include servers and chips are therefore not comparable with it.
Are the latest data center construction numbers final?
No. August 2026 is preliminary and the two months before it are revised. In all 9 archived Census releases we checked, the first estimate for the newest month was later revised up, by 4.5% to 31.8%.
Methodology
Construction spending. U.S. Census Bureau, Value of Construction Put in Place (C30), private construction time series, seasonally adjusted annual rate and not seasonally adjusted, release of October 1, 2026 (data through August 2026). “Data center” is a detail series under Office (Office = general, data center, and financial) and starts in January 2014; it does not appear in the headline release tables, only in the time series spreadsheets. Monthly comparisons use the seasonally adjusted annual rate; annual and year-to-date totals sum the not seasonally adjusted monthly values, and our annual sums match the Census annual table to within rounding. August 2026 is preliminary and June, July 2026 are revised. The next release, with September data, is scheduled for November 2, 2026.
Inflation adjustment. BLS Producer Price Index for new office building construction (series PCU236223236223), monthly, rebased to the 2025 average for annual values and to August 2026 for the monthly line. It prices a generic new office building, not a data center; data centers carry more electrical and mechanical work, whose index rose faster (90% vs 84% since early 2014), so real growth may be slightly overstated.
Revisions. We downloaded every archived copy of the Census file privtime.xlsx from the Internet Archive since 2024 (10 copies, the newest a copy of the current release; release dates read from each file) and compared the preliminary month in each with the same month in the October 1, 2026 release. Census’s own revision analysis is published annually for major categories; the data center figures here are our calculation.
Labor. BLS Current Employment Statistics (seasonally adjusted, national) and Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 and May 2025, cross-industry estimates. State site counts are distinct data center sites in the PNNL IM3 Open Source Data Center Atlas (BSD 2-Clause; locations derived from OpenStreetMap), de-duplicated as in our data centers by state report.
Context figure. The ConstructConnect number is a proprietary project-start total quoted from its public report for context only; it is not used in any calculation.
Retrieval. All data retrieved October 30, 2026. Census HTML pages returned errors that day, so the definitions page and methodology document were read from Internet Archive copies (snapshots of October 22, 2026 and March 22, 2025).
Not advice. This is an analysis of public statistics, not investment or procurement advice.
Cite as:The Uptime Report. "Data Center Construction Hit an $85 Billion Pace in 2026, and Census First Estimates Ran Up to 32% Low." October 2026. https://theuptimereport.com/data-center-construction-spending/
References
- U.S. Census Bureau, Construction Spending (C30), historical value put in place tables (privsatime.xlsx, privtime.xlsx, private.xlsx). Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Construction Spending, August 2026 (release CB26-158, October 1, 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Construction Spending definitions (Internet Archive copy, October 22, 2026). Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Construction Spending methodology (Internet Archive copy). Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly Construction Spending, May 2026 (July 1, 2026 release with annual revision; Internet Archive copy). Accessed October 2026.
- Internet Archive, archived copies of the Census privtime.xlsx and privsatime.xlsx files, 2024 to 2026. Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index by industry (series PCU236223236223, PCU236400236400, PCU236400236400222). Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, construction series. Accessed October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 and May 2025 national and state files. Accessed October 2026.
- PNNL IM3, Open Source Data Center Atlas (datacenter-atlas repository). Accessed October 2026.
- ConstructConnect, October 2026 Data Center Report (context only). Accessed October 2026.
Leave a Reply