Key player in tech boom
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Texas continues to lead the charge in data center employment, with the second-highest number of jobs nationwide, new data shows.
Why it matters: Companies, investors and the government are pouring tons of money and resources into data centers to help power AI and other next-gen tech. But there's debate over how many jobs they'll create and whether they're worth the energy required to run them.
By the numbers: At 17%, California has the highest share of data center employment in the nation, followed by Texas, with 10% (47,856 jobs), per the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators.
- Texas has seen a 38% increase in data center jobs from 2018 to 2024.
- Travis, Dallas, Collin, Harris and Bexar counties accounted for nearly 76% of the state's total data center employment in the second quarter of 2024.
Zoom in: New data centers were recently announced for Hutto and San Marcos — and DataCenters.com lists more than 25 current data centers in Austin.
- Outside the nation's core data center hubs, such as Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley, the Austin-San Antonio region has the most data center space under construction in the country, per a 2024 report by real estate firm CBRE.
The big picture: This expansion is in line with the broader surge in data center investments by big tech companies, as the industry faces mounting demand to support AI's growing energy needs, Axios recently reported.
- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) forecasts that electricity demand from major users like data centers will jump nearly 60% from 2024 to 2025.