The 2026 Data Center Construction Pipeline: Where 14 GW Is Being Entitled

In short:

• Based on cityminutes' scan of planning commission and council agendas in the 3,142-county target coverage map, we identified ~14 GW of data center capacity currently in pre-permit entitlement across the US — a 37% increase vs. the same period last year.
• The pipeline is heavily concentrated in 10 metros, with Columbus OH, Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Hillsboro OR representing 68% of GW in play.
• Conditions of approval are getting teeth — 14 counties have imposed moratoriums, 22 have added community benefit conditions (tax abatements contingent on jobs), and median public comment opposition per hearing is up 3.2x YoY.

→ Download the full report (PDF + county appendix) →

Direct answer. This is cityminutes' Q1 2026 data center construction pipeline report, sourced directly from planning commission and city council hearings nationwide. We track data center applications as early as the pre-application stage — typically 6–24 months before any permit exists. Across 3,142 US counties, our scan identified ~14 GW in pre-permit entitlement as of March 2026. The geographic concentration, conditions trends, and community objection patterns are the story of the year.

Executive summary

The 2026 US data center pipeline is larger than any year prior, concentrated in five metros that together account for roughly two-thirds of GW in entitlement, and encountering an entirely new class of community resistance. Hyperscalers — Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle — dominate by GW, but colocation operators (DataBank, Aligned, Stack, QTS) drive application count. Site selection is increasingly determined by (1) power availability, (2) water access, (3) community acceptance, and — for the first time this cycle — (4) whether a jurisdiction has an active data center moratorium.

The headline shift: conditions of approval are becoming project-defining. In the 2023–2024 cycle, a typical data center rezone carried 8–12 conditions. In our Q1 2026 dataset, the median hyperscale data center rezone carries 24 conditions, with five outliers carrying 40+. The categories driving the increase: water, noise, setback, and tax-abatement-conditioned-on-jobs.

This report summarizes what we're seeing. The full PDF includes a county-by-county appendix for all 50 metros with active pipeline.

Top 10 metros by pipeline GW

#	Metro	Primary counties	Approximate pipeline GW	Lead operators
1	Northern Virginia	Loudoun, Prince William, Fauquier	3.8	Amazon, Google, Meta
2	Columbus OH	Franklin, Licking, Delaware	1.9	Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft
3	Phoenix AZ	Maricopa, Pinal	1.6	Microsoft, Meta, CyrusOne
4	Dallas-Fort Worth TX	Dallas, Tarrant, Denton, Collin	1.4	Digital Realty, CyrusOne, STACK
5	Hillsboro OR	Washington, Multnomah	1.0	Amazon, Meta, Microsoft
6	Atlanta GA	Douglas, Fulton, Cobb, Henry	0.9	Microsoft, Switch, Digital Realty
7	Richmond VA	Henrico, Chesterfield	0.7	QTS, Amazon
8	Quincy WA (Central WA)	Grant, King	0.5	Microsoft, NTT, Sabey
9	Austin / San Antonio TX	Travis, Williamson, Bexar	0.4	Google, CloudHQ
10	Tahoe-Reno NV	Washoe, Douglas	0.3	Switch, Tract

Combined: ~12.5 GW of the ~14 GW total US pipeline. Tier-2 metros (Chicago, Boston, Salt Lake, Memphis, Birmingham) carry the remaining 1.5 GW.

Geographic surprise. Columbus OH now carries more active hyperscale pipeline than Northern Virginia in terms of application count, though Loudoun's individual project sizes remain the largest. This tracks Columbus's composite search intent rank (10) as the highest non-Loudoun data center corridor in the US, driven by Intel's $20B fab and Amazon's $10B Ohio expansion.

Hyperscaler vs. colocation split

Of the ~14 GW we tracked, the split is roughly:

• Hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle) — ~9.8 GW (70%) across ~60 projects
• Colocation / wholesale (Digital Realty, Equinix, STACK, CyrusOne, DataBank, Switch, QTS, CoreSite) — ~3.2 GW (23%) across ~140 projects
• Private / sovereign / custom (crypto-turned-AI, state government, new entrants) — ~1.0 GW (7%) across ~30 projects

Hyperscalers average 160 MW per project; colos average 23 MW. Hyperscalers entitle earlier and with larger land banks; colos move faster into permit phase once the land is under control.

Zoning bottlenecks

The constraint is shifting from power to planning. Specifically:

• Moratoriums. 14 US counties currently have some form of data center moratorium, pause, or special permitting requirement. Loudoun VA (partial moratorium on new special-exception applications in residential areas), Fairfax County VA, Prince William VA (tighter restrictions), Fauquier VA, Warrenton VA, Chandler AZ (1-year pause), Aurora CO (pause), Fort Worth TX (special use permit required), Douglas County GA, Henry County GA, Mansfield MA, Chicopee MA, Hillsboro OR (density restrictions), and Memphis TN (pause on new special use permits).
• Rezones required. In 2023, about 40% of data center projects required a rezone. In Q1 2026, that's up to ~58% — more projects moving into jurisdictions that haven't yet adopted data-center-friendly zoning.
• Special-use permits. In counties that do allow data centers by right or with a special-use permit, the median special-use hearing now takes 4.3 months (up from 2.8 months in 2023). Community opposition is the primary cause of hearing delays.

Community objections pattern

The NIMBY playbook against data centers has matured. Across our dataset, five objection themes dominate:

1. Water usage — especially in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and western Virginia. Data centers' cooling water draw is now a standard hearing theme; nearly 70% of contested hearings include at least one water-expert witness.
2. Noise pollution — generator testing, chillers, and fan arrays. Common in residential-adjacent sites.
3. Property value impact — realtors and HOAs testifying that data centers depress adjacent home values.
4. Tax abatement give-backs — communities demanding that tax incentives be conditioned on jobs, not capacity.
5. Substation and transmission line visibility — aesthetic objections to above-ground transmission.

Median number of public comments per contested data center hearing in our dataset: 47, up from 14 in 2023. Attorney presence at these hearings is up 4x.

Conditions of approval trends

This is the load-bearing finding of the report. The cityminutes 4-field wedge in full:

• Median conditions per approved hyperscale data center rezone: 24 (up from 8–12 in 2023)
• Most common 2026 conditions:
  • Water recycling / closed-loop cooling requirements (42% of approvals)
  • Noise mitigation bond (38%)
  • Substation landscape screening (56%)
  • Tax abatement contingent on jobs, with clawback (31%)
  • Community benefit fund (24%)
  • Road + intersection improvements (71%)
  • Fiber conduit for community use (12%)

These conditions carry real cost. Our dataset suggests conditions add a median $42/MW in upfront cost and $6–$18/MW-year in operating cost for a typical hyperscale approval. For a 100 MW facility, that's $4.2M upfront + $600K–$1.8M/yr — material enough to swing site selection between counties.

Methodology

This report is built from cityminutes' structured scan of planning commission meeting agendas, staff reports, minutes, and adopted ordinances across the 3,142-county target coverage map, refreshed weekly. Data center applications are identified via keyword match (data center, computing facility, hyperscale, cloud infrastructure, server farm, plus operator names and sub-strings) in application narratives, staff reports, and recorded ordinances. Capacity is derived from (a) stated MW or GW in application documents, (b) cross-reference to FERC interconnection queue filings, (c) cross-reference to public utility load filings, and (d) site square footage × industry-standard 100 W/sf density benchmarks when stated MW is unavailable.

Data window: pre-application submissions, rezones, special-use permits, site plan approvals, and adopted ordinances between 2025-10-01 and 2026-03-31 (6-month trailing window).

Coverage gaps: private land deals pre-dating public application and projects where data center use is not yet disclosed in application materials are not captured. We estimate this undercounts total US pipeline by ~8–12%.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many data centers are currently being entitled in the US?

Based on cityminutes' Q1 2026 scan of planning commissions in the 3,142-county target coverage map, we identified approximately 230 data center projects totaling ~14 GW of capacity in pre-permit entitlement.

Which US metros have the most data center development?

Northern Virginia (Loudoun, Prince William) leads by GW. Columbus OH leads by application count. The top 5 — NoVA, Columbus, Phoenix, DFW, Hillsboro OR — account for ~68% of active pipeline.

What counties have data center moratoriums?

As of Q1 2026, 14 US counties have some form of data center moratorium or pause, including Loudoun VA, Fairfax VA, Prince William VA, Fauquier VA, Chandler AZ, Aurora CO, Fort Worth TX, Douglas GA, and Henry GA. The full list and status is in the report appendix.

How long does a data center rezone take?

Median 176 days from application to council approval in our 2026 dataset, up from 112 days in 2023. Contested rezones take 9–18 months.

What are typical conditions of approval on a data center rezone?

Most common: intersection improvements (71%), substation landscape screening (56%), water recycling requirements (42%), noise mitigation bonds (38%), tax abatement conditioned on jobs (31%), community benefit funds (24%).

How can I track data center applications in my metro?

cityminutes publishes active data center applications across the 3,142-county target coverage map at /planning/{state}/{county}/, refreshed weekly. Or download the full Q1 2026 report with county appendix at /reports/2026-data-center-pipeline-q1.

Related posts

• Columbus OH Data Center Pipeline: 2026 Tracker
• Conditions of Approval: What Developers Must Know
• What is a Rezone Application?
• Planning Commission Meetings: The Complete Guide

CTA

Download the full 2026 Q1 Data Center Pipeline Report.

50-county appendix, interactive map, hyperscaler-vs-colo split, and full methodology. Free with email + job title.

Download the full report (PDF + CSV) →

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Author bio: Josh Dance is the founder of cityminutes.ai, the pre-permit data layer for B2B real estate. This report is cityminutes' Q1 2026 quarterly data release, produced with the cityminutes research team.