A new Pew Research Center study reveals widespread negative public sentiment toward data centers in the U.S., with most Americans believing they harm the environment, increase local energy costs, and reduce quality of life for nearby residents. While some surveyed believed data centers could boost local jobs and tax revenue, research indicates the promised high-paying, long-term employment often fails to materialize, as these facilities operate more as infrastructure projects than traditional businesses.
The article details a growing backlash, citing specific community conflicts and environmental concerns over massive, rapidly built data center projects that consume vast amounts of energy and water. This public opposition is gaining political traction, evidenced by Senator Bernie Sanders proposing a legislative moratorium on new data center construction, arguing Congress is unprepared to manage the societal impacts of the AI-driven technological revolution.
The main topics covered are: public opinion on data centers, their perceived and researched community impacts (environmental, economic, quality of life), specific local conflicts over construction, and the emerging political and legislative response.
A new study from the Pew Research Center asked Americans about their feelings toward datecenters and it’s not positive. Pew published the study the day after Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a moratorium on the construction of datacenters in the United States amid mounting public concern around the building’s impacts on local communities.
Pew surveyed 8,512 adults in January and asked them a broad range of questions about how they felt about datacenters. Most of the respondents said they’d heard of datecenters and the more they’d read, the less they liked them.
Most of the Americans surveyed believe that datacenters are bad for the environment, home energy costs, and the quality of life of people living nearby and the numbers aren’t close. Only four percent of people thought datacenters were good for the environment, six percent good for jobs, and six percent good for people’s quality of life.
Despite those negative feelings, many of the people surveyed thought that datacenters would be good for jobs in the communities where they’re built and would boost local tax revenue. “Still, Americans are less likely to express positive views of data centers’ impact in these areas than to express negative views of their effects on the environment, energy costs and people’s quality of life nearby,” the research said.
Research shows that the reality of job creation by datacenters doesn’t actually live up to the promises from those lobbying to build them. “Data centers do not bring high-paying tech jobs to local communities because they operate as infrastructure projects rather than traditional jobcreating businesses,” University of Michigan researchers wrote in a 2025 brief. “Although the construction of data centers can create many jobs, those are short lived.”
The survey charts a growing anti-datacenter sentiment in America. The US is in the middle of a massive infrastructure project similar to the Manhattan Project. In a mad dash to build out AI systems, companies are constructing massive buildings and energy infrastructure across the country, often with little input from local communities and at a massive cost.
The city of Ypsilanti, Michigan is fighting to stop the construction of a $1.2 billion datacenter that would be used to test nuclear weapons. In the middle of a massive winter storm that paralyzed the state in January, lawmakers in a rural South Carolina county pushed through the approval of a controversial $2.4 billion datacenter. In Oklahoma, police arrested a man who was speaking in opposition to a datacenter after he went slightly over his time during a city council meeting.
Datacenters are terrible neighbors. The buildings drive up the cost of energy for people who live nearby, consume massive amounts of water, and can produce noises and fumes that hurt locals. In Mississippi, locals are concerned about the pollution and noise caused by an xAI datacenter powered by gas turbines. A proposed datacenter project near Amarillo, Texas would be powered by four massive nuclear generators and pull water from an aquifer with dwindling reserves. In an effort to quell fears about power consumption, Trump made Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and xAI sign a pledge to keep energy costs down. But a pledge isn’t a law. It’s not even an executive order.
Pew’s research came out the day after Sanders announced he was proposing legislation to put a moratorium on the construction of new datacenters in the US. “We are at the beginning of the most profound technological revolution in world history. That’s the truth,” Sanders said in a video posted on social media. “This is a revolution which will bring unimaginable changes to our world. This is a revolution which will impact our economy with massive job replacement. It will threaten our democratic institutions. It will impact our emotional well-being and what it even means to even mean to be a human being.”
“Congress hasn’t a clue how to respond…and protect the American people. It’s not only not having a clue, they’re busy out raising money all day long from AI and their super PACs,” Sanders said. “We need a moratorium on datacenters. We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.
Meridiano
