A reference, not a take.
Data Center Record is an independent publication compiling verified information about the data center industry into one neutral, citable place.
The mission
Data centers have become critical infrastructure, and decisions about them now involve utilities, legislatures, county commissions, school boards, labor unions, and neighbors. Every one of those parties deserves access to the same clear, sourced account of what is being built, what it uses, and what it changes.
Today that account does not exist in one place. Coverage is split between trade press written for the industry, local reporting written around individual disputes, and company materials written to persuade. The Record's job is to compile what is verifiable from all of it, keep it current, and keep it neutral.
Editorial standards
- Primary sources first. The Record is built on permit filings, utility dockets, public records, official disclosures, and direct documentation. Secondhand reporting is used to find the trail, not as the final word.
- Neutrality in language. The same project can be an economic engine or a water risk depending on who describes it. The Record describes what is documented and attributes opinions to the people who hold them.
- Visible sourcing. Entries cite where the information came from so readers can verify it themselves.
- Public corrections. Errors are corrected openly, with a note about what changed.
- Independence. Inclusion in the Record cannot be bought and coverage cannot be suppressed. No company pays to appear, rank, or vanish.
Ownership and independence
Data Center Record is owned and operated by Colton Digital Consulting LLC. No developer, operator, utility, contractor, or advocacy group pays to appear in, rank in, or be removed from the record.
Nobody is paid from the Record and it carries no ads or sponsors. Its owner pays for it, with contributions from individual readers. It takes no money from data center developers or operators, from utilities, or from any campaign or political party. The rule on who may contribute and what contributions pay for are on the support page.
Where the Record stands today
The Record launched in 2026 and covers all 50 states. Every state has a page, with the sources read for it listed, and its records, rules and statements are added as they are sourced.
Today 726 data center sites, 395 buildings where disclosed, are on the record, in 50 states. 108 more sites the EPA's registry shows are listed apart as not yet verified and are not in that count.
Depth varies by record and by state. 286 records are reviewed in depth by a person, with a full history and every fact sourced, in 6 states; the other 440 are built from one source each and labeled so until a person reviews them. A state with few records reads as it stands, and a state page says when it has none.
How the Record is compiled, sourced, and corrected is documented on the methodology page. Corrections are published on the corrections log.
Commercial data and API access
The structured data is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 (opens in a new tab). It is free for personal, academic, civic and newsroom reporting use with attribution. Commercial, enterprise, financial or AI training use, and the nationwide dataset as one file or an API, need a commercial license. Single state, place and project exports stay on their pages.
For journalists and reporters: The Record is free for reporting, investigative desks, and checking every fact, as cited by Newsweek as an independent national tracker, October 12, 2026 (opens in a new tab). Write to contact@datacenterrecord.org or tips@datacenterrecord.org for background assistance on deadline.
Write to api@datacenterrecord.org with what you would use it for.
Contact
If you work in, report on, govern, or live next to this industry and want to point the Record to something it should document, send a tip or write to tips@datacenterrecord.org. Everything else goes to contact@datacenterrecord.org, or see the contact page.
Corrections are welcome and are published rather than folded in silently. Include the record and the source that shows the correct information.