71% of Americans now oppose data centers near their homes, up from 42% just nine months ago

[midian182]

A hot potato: It's no secret that Americans' feelings toward data centers are worsening, but the speed at which the public is turning on these facilities is surprising. There are plenty of reasons why people don't want them built near their homes, with rising electricity costs being one of the main factors.

A survey by Heatmap Pro found that 71% of Americans would oppose a data center being built near where they live, with 55% "strongly" opposing such a project.

What's interesting is the speed at which support for data centers has crashed over the past few months. When Heatmap first conducted its survey in August 2025, just 42% opposed these facilities. Another survey conducted three months ago saw the figure rise, but it was still just 51%.

The report found that across nine months, public support for data centers has declined 49 points.

Data centers were the top reason participants named for rising electricity costs. 53% blamed these facilities, up from 28% nine months ago.

Back in March, following a call to do so by President Trump, major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Oracle, OpenAI, and xAI signed a voluntary "ratepayer protection pledge" at the White House, promising to cover the energy costs of their rapidly expanding AI data centers rather than passing those costs on to local electricity customers.

The pledge remains voluntary and difficult to enforce, but it has pushed the issue into formal regulatory channels. FERC is preparing action on large-load interconnection rules, Congress has seen legislation that would make data centers pay for grid upgrades, and several states and grid operators are moving ahead with tougher requirements. Watchdogs, meanwhile, warn that surging AI data center demand is already helping drive up wholesale power costs in some regions.

Heatmap isn't the first to reach these conclusions. A Gallup survey in May also found 70% of Americans opposed local construction of data centers, up from 47% in late 2025. Water and energy consumption were the most-mentioned reasons for the pushback in that survey, which also found that people would rather live next to a nuclear power plant than a data center.

Beyond the electricity considerations, there have been numerous reports of data centers affecting nearby water supplies, including a report last year about an Amazon data center that was reportedly linked to rare cancers and miscarriages.

There was also Georgia's data center boom that sparked water worries and resident backlash, similar concerns around facilities in Virginia, and the recent story of a Fayette County construction site that used 29 million gallons of water without a single bill – all while residents complained of low water pressure.

And that's just data centers. AI itself is creating even more tension, from the layoffs it's causing to the slop it is filling the internet with. The outcry has led to a new narrative from the tech world, pushed by figures such as Sam Altman and one top economist, that things aren't really that bad – or even that there is "zero evidence" of AI-related job losses. But then Altman once said water-usage concerns over data centers were "fake," before highlighting the shocking amount of energy it takes to "train a human."

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71% of Americans now oppose data centers near their homes, up from 42% just nine months ago

 

[Megalomaniac]

If Nvidia wants to pay me, they can use my basement.
All I want is direct monthly payments and them to pay their share of the electric bill.
I have a big basement.

 

[dangh]

If Nvidia wants to pay me, they can use my basement.
All I want is direct monthly payments and them to pay their share of the electric bill.
I have a big basement.

Nice to have a big basement and no water to drink anymore, right?

Anyway, this is a classic mindset: money is the only thing many cares about. Surprisingly, when it gets clear you cant drink money, we see 70% people actually deciding that being alive is 'importanter'.

 

[The Talking Tech]

71% of Americans opposed it.... wouldn't you as well?

Sadly that's why these companies are in search of 3dr world countries that don't know any better and destroy their natural resources in exchange for a fraction of the cost.

 

[opckieran]

Datacenters should be required to be resource-sufficient: generate their own power, clean their own water, manage their own emissions, geo-engineer their constructions properly, tame their noise and light pollution...

 

[JamesBlond]

If I have access to the servers for 10min a day they can use my office

 

[godrilla]

Yesterday I got an add for Nvidia paying your electricity bill by installing a data rack on the side of your house. They are already installing micro data center networks on desperate and willing home owners to bypass the big data center stigma.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Maybe if they actually brought in tax revenue and jobs like they promised there wouldn’t be so much opposition.

The problem with selling pie in the sky promises is that you eventually have to deliver.

 

[NumberNine]

As if it will matter in the end.

 

[OortCloud]

NVidia, like Google and Meta, need to be broken up. They have become far too dominant and have squashed all competition. The current miss-administration won't lift a finger because they are too busy taking bribes and chasing the money but once they are gone at the next election (assuming they don't manage to stop elections taking place) the new leaders need to reverse this crazy dystopia the big-tech-sociopaths and the government are driving people into.

 

[netman]

"Beyond the electricity considerations, there have been numerous reports of data centers affecting nearby water supplies, including a report last year about an Amazon data center that was reportedly linked to rare cancers and miscarriages."

The more efficient open-looped cooling tower systems that the majority of Data Centers use were in highlight a few decades back for causing cardiovascular diseases because of lack of maintenance when Sick Building Syndrome was a controversial concern...!

 

[Vixiy]

(assuming they don't manage to stop elections taking place)

"Having an election would be a huge national security risk as electing me has proven"

 

[Endymio]

In the 1880s, a majority of Americans also opposed "The Great Electrification" of cities, bringing electric power service to homes and busineses. Luckily those nitwits didn't prevail.

 

[SRB]

In the 1880s, a majority of Americans also opposed "The Great Electrification" of cities, bringing electric power service to homes and busineses. Luckily those nitwits didn't prevail.

The only problem with that is that the system they set up separates generation, transmission, and users. As one article has shown before, one of these grid transmission companies is trying to stick end users for the bill for new transmission lines for data centers. This isn't fear of something new (Electricity) or irrational fears (nuclear), this is reality, compounded by the tech companies repeated backing out or finding loopholes in their promises, and doing whatever they wanted to in the first place leaving customers holding the bag.

Remember, the tech companies only promised they would pay their own way. They've signed NOTHING thats legally binding and won't stick to it if push comes to shove.

 

[Endymio]

.As one article has shown before, one of these grid transmission companies is trying to stick end users for the bill for new transmission lines for data centers...

11 of the last 12 anti-AI articles I've seen have been outright disinformation, filled with falsehoods, such as one which claimed datacenters were responsible for a utility abandoning its residential customers. As for grid upgrades, we've been told for decades these are urgently required -- mostly due to burgeoning power generation by sources like wind and solar, which being non-demand based, require far more grid capacity than conventional sources.

Power utilities have been sticking residential consumers with these enormous 'green energy' charges for over 20 years now: why no outrage there?

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

China would be glad to help out.

 

[Hecate91]

Unsurprisingly 71% of Americans would be opposed to water being polluted, noise pollution, air pollution, and the average person being left to pay for these datacenter expenses with electricity rates skyrocketing.
Remember how AI was supposed to make everything easier and cheaper, I'm sure those who have to live anywhere near a datacenter wouldn't agree.
Also interesting how climate change no longer matters with these companies, especially while they're using more energy than entire cities.

 

[Hecate91]

Yesterday I got an add for Nvidia paying your electricity bill by installing a data rack on the side of your house. They are already installing micro data center networks on desperate and willing home owners to bypass the big data center stigma.

I seen some coverage on those micro datacenters, which have 3TB of RAM, 4 RTX 6000 pro GPU's and take power and internet from the homeowner. Meanwhile tech is being priced right out of the hands of the average consumer, it's a slap in the face and a kick in the groin to have a corporation install one of those and have you foot the bill for powering it.
It's honestly shocking they're installing those, I guess anything is possible since no one cares to regulate companies against putting power guzzling noisy server racks right next to peoples homes.

 

[Win7user]

They should be required to bring or build their own power. The landline telephone companies have their own power. That's why landline phones don't go out when the power company goes dark.

 

[p51d007]

Something else to think about. There are numerous articles how money is being funneled to stop data centers being built in the USA.
Granted, I'm not for sucking all the water/power out of a city, but you can bet there are closed loop systems that may not use as much resources. Plus, if a center can build its own power source/water supply that should help offset the problem.
The real fly in the pie problem is who is funneling a lot of the money into these areas to drive the stop.
CHINA. We all know China would LOVE to corner the market on AI data centers like they control numerous other things like Lithium batteries, pharmaceuticals, electronics etc. If you do some looking on maps, you will see they have built HUNDREDS of solar farms all over the desert areas of China for power, along with hydro power, nuclear and other sources.

China Foreign Donors Fuel US Data Center Opposition, Records Show

 

[SRB]

11 of the last 12 anti-AI articles I've seen have been outright disinformation, filled with falsehoods, such as one which claimed datacenters were responsible for a utility abandoning its residential customers. As for grid upgrades, we've been told for decades these are urgently required -- mostly due to burgeoning power generation by sources like wind and solar, which being non-demand based, require far more grid capacity than conventional sources.

Power utilities have been sticking residential consumers with these enormous 'green energy' charges for over 20 years now: why no outrage there?

The reason the green energy was such a disaster is that none of it was dependable 24/7, a necessity for the grid to function correctly. The other issue that affected both was the "not in my back yard" syndrome. Texas has it's own grid, and we spent a fortune to connect these semi useless wind farms. So you are correct in that the consumer was ripped off. So since that was done, it's OK if we do it for AI?!?!?!?

No, it's not a falsehood that the grid in most places is a mess, and it was well known during the electric car debacle that the grid operators run it on the edge and have avoided necessary expansion and repairs. Data centers may just be exposing the current flaws, but since this is part of the game, the data center should pay the freight, not the customer. The government made a huge mistake with green energy, that doesn't mean we should extend it to cover AI.

 

[Endymio]

The government made a huge mistake with green energy, that doesn't mean we should extend it to cover AI.

Three problems with this:

1. Those opposing AI haven't acknowledged the enormous energy cost hikes due to green power; they're STILL advocating grid upgrades for it.

2. The grid upgrades for datacenters are an order-magnitude smaller than those required for wind and solar; many need upgrades at all.

3. In the medium and long term, datacenters *lower* electricity costs: they don't raise them. Per unit energy, they have much lower distribution and billing costs, but more importantly they use power at a much more level rate than residential customers, and it is the highs and lows that cost utilities much more than steady consumption.

 

[The Eck]

Nice to have a big basement and no water to drink anymore, right?

ROFL no one’s dumb enough to think people are going thirsty even if datacenters used 10x as much water