Six Americas and Data Centers

A Spring 2026 survey of 1,060 U.S. adults reveals that a majority of Americans (56%) oppose building data centers in their local areas and 59% expect such developments to increase their electricity bills. There is strong broad support (73%) for requiring data center developers to offset electricity use by installing rooftop solar or weatherizing local homes. While views on global warming vary across the 'Six Americas' segments, opposition to local data centers and support for energy efficiency offsets are relatively consistent across most groups, with the 'Alarmed' showing the highest opposition and the 'Dismissive' the lowest support for offsets.

• A majority of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their local communities, though the level of opposition varies by their views on global warming, ranging from 71% among the Alarmed to 32% among the Disengaged.
• Most Americans believe that the opening of a local data center would lead to an increase in their electricity bills, with 59% expecting an increase and only 5% expecting a decrease.
• There is significant public support (73%) for a policy requiring new data centers to offset their electricity consumption by providing rooftop solar installations or weatherization and insulation for nearby homes.
• The 'Disengaged' segment of the population is the most likely to be undecided or uninformed about data center impacts, with 59% neither supporting nor opposing local construction and 42% not knowing the effect on electricity bills.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2026). Six Americas and Data Centers. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/six-americas-and-data-centers/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Six Americas and Data Centers. 2026. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/six-americas-and-data-centers/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Six Americas and Data Centers |date=25 August 2026 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/six-americas-and-data-centers/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2026six, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Six Americas and Data Centers}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2026}, month = aug, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/six-americas-and-data-centers/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }