Data Centers Next Door: Why Neighbors Are Saying No

A new database of more than 10,000 public comments finds that over 90% of people who speak at local meetings about proposed data centers are against them.

Water use is the most common worry, and fewer than one in four comments mention AI at all.

The numbers are striking, but they measure who turns up to speak - not what every American thinks.

Here is what the database shows, where it comes from, and what other research says about the questions people keep raising.

What the Database Found

The database, called American Sentiment, collects comments made at local-government meetings where data center projects came up. It counts 10,202 comments from 906 meetings in 48 states.

• Against: 9,232 comments, or 90.5%.
• In favor: 718 comments, or 7%.
• Asking questions: 252 comments, or 2.5%.
• Meetings with no supporters at all: 73%.

Opposition looked almost identical in Democratic-voting and Republican-voting counties, at about 92% and 93%. The one group mostly in favor was union workers, who backed projects in 79% of their 183 comments.

What People Are Worried About

Most speakers raise more than one issue - 88% of comments do, according to the database. The most common topics are:

• Water use: 36% of comments.
• Quality of life: 34%, covering noise, traffic and the look of large buildings near homes.
• Lack of transparency: 33%, often about deals agreed before residents heard of them.
• AI: only 21% mention it, even though AI is driving much of the new building.

Smaller groups of comments question the benefits, saying projects bring few jobs or rely on taxpayer subsidies. The database also says talk of data centers at local meetings has risen about 22 times since 2022.

Who Made the Database - and What It Can't Tell You

American Sentiment is run by Prophecy Gov, a San Francisco AI startup that sells software for processing local-government meetings. It says it uses only public records and holds "no other positions nor endorsements".

It hasn't published how comments were collected or how each one was labelled as for or against. Its own site also notes that "public comments don't always match America's true sentiment".

Wider polling points the same way, though less sharply. A Gallup poll earlier this year found that about seven in ten Americans oppose building AI data centers in their area.

Do Data Centers Really Raise Electricity Bills?

This is the question many residents ask, and the research so far is mixed.

• Rutgers University: a state-funded study of 24 states found no clear effect on household bills through 2024. Its title sums it up: "Mostly not. Yet."
• Electric Power Research Institute: a 2026 study by utility-industry researchers found average home rates fell slightly as data centers grew between 2015 and 2024.
• The data center industry: a report it commissioned found no evidence of data centers raising home bills. The same release admits data center growth caused about half of a recent capacity price rise in the PJM grid region, which covers 13 states and Washington, D.C.

All three look backwards, mostly at years before the AI building boom. Several researchers warn that the picture could change as much larger projects connect to the grid.

How Much Power Are We Talking About?

According to a US Department of Energy report, data centers used about 4.4% of all US electricity in 2023. It expects that to reach between 6.7% and 12% by 2028.

How much water a site uses depends mostly on how it is cooled and on the local climate. That is why water is often the first question at local hearings, and the hardest for residents to get a straight answer on.

Why This Affects You Even Without One Nearby

Nearly everything you do online - streaming, cloud backups, video calls and AI chats - runs on servers in data centers. More of us using more of these services is a big part of why new ones keep being proposed.

Files you keep and play on your own device don't need a data center at all. A free player like VLC Media Player opens almost any video or music file straight from your drive.

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