NAR Report: How Data Centers Impact Realty

In Washington, The impact of data center development on the real estate market clearly differs depending on the housing, employment and utility cost situations in each local region, says the 2026 Data Center Impact Report just published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The report combines national, state and county-level information evaluations with surveys created by agents who are Realtors working in these markets. Their combined summaries paint a fuller and more detailed picture of just what data center growth means to American neighborhoods.

The NAR report concludes there is no uniform data center effect on local real estate markets, with results instead being dictated by regional economic considerations. While counties with high data center concentrations see elevated property values and job growth, these areas often reflect pre-existing prosperity and face steeper increases in residential electricity rates.

A data center, the birthplace of AI, is a large, physical facility housing computer systems, servers and networking infrastructure designed to store, process and distribute large amounts of information. They form the backbone of a modern digital economy, powering everything from cloud computing and online streaming to complex artificial intelligence (AI) training.

Driven by the expansion of AI, data center growth has sparked considerable national debate over the sharing of resources between the centers themselves and surrounding communities, and how they impact each other.

Data centers require immense amounts of electricity as well as water for cooling, leading to local pushback, proposed moratoriums and billions of dollars in delayed projects across the United States, says the NAR report. Recently, Data Center Watch reported that roughly $68 billion in projects faced local disruptions or delays due to community opposition.

The NAR report says data centers are highly concentrated in a small number of markets. While they are found across much of the country, 92% of U.S. counties have no mapped data centers, and only 1% have designated 10 or more.

Some of the largest clusters are in Northern Virginia, where Loudoun and Prince William counties alone account for about 19% of all mapped data centers nationwide. Other major clusters include Silicon Valley (5%), central Ohio, including Franklin and Licking counties (5%), the Phoenix area (4%) and central Washington (4%).

Counties with a larger number of data centers usually have higher home values, higher household incomes and stronger long-term job growth than counties without them. The median home value in counties without data centers is $174,500. In counties with 10 or more centers, the median home value soars to $431,750.

The value of residences in those high-concentration regions grew 95% over the past decade, compared with 64% in counties without data centers.

The report does caution that a correlation is not causation. In counties with many data centers, the higher median home price and more intense price growth are not necessarily driven by the presence of these facilities. The counties were already high-income, highly educated tech hubs before the recent surge in data centers.

No Single Data Center Effect

“There is no single data center effect,” said Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Instead, the story varies significantly depending on the local market.” The number of data centers alone does not tell us what will happen to home values, jobs or utility costs.”

Perceptions of residential impact were mixed, with 25% seeing a positive effect on nearby home values and 22% perceiving a negative one.

The commercial picture was more clearly positive, with 50% reporting increased nearby commercial property values and 42% reporting increased demand for nearby commercial space, particularly industrial properties and land.

At the same time, Realtors pointed out real concerns expressed by clients, led by displeasure over energy costs (61%) and concerns about extensive water use (56%).

“We do not see evidence of weaker housing markets in counties with a large data center presence,” Yun said. “But these are county-level numbers, and they can’t tell us what happens to an individual home located next to a data center facility. That’s why local knowledge and credible information is needed so much right now.”

NAR does not currently have an official policy position on data centers. The research in the report is intended to help NAR better understand their potential impacts on housing, commercial real estate, local economies and communities as the issue of data center expansion continues evolving.

More Findings from Report

• The 10 counties with the most data centers hold about 42% of all facilities nationwide, with Loudoun County alone accounting for 14% of all data centers.
• Median household income is about $89,000 in counties with 10 or more data centers versus $64,000 in counties with fewer.
• About 41% of adults in counties with 10 or more data centers hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 22% elsewhere.
• Employment grew about 16% from 2014 to 2024 in counties with 10 or more data centers, versus 2% in counties without.
• Residential electricity rates rose 21.4% from 2020 to 2024 in counties with 10 or more data centers, compared with 15.7% in counties without.
• Real estate firms make up about 6.4% of businesses in counties with 10 or more data centers, versus 4.9% in counties with none.