Data centers may be known for their data, but they have many other attributes that make them a great asset to the city in which they are located.
The Economic Benefits of Data Centers
Data centers have a direct and positive impact on a city’s economy. They create high-paying jobs, generate tax revenue, and spur economic development.
Data centers create high-paying jobs. The average salary for a data center technician is $85,000 per year. That’s near twice the national average salary of $47,000 per year. Data center technicians are in high demand because there are so few of them. In fact, there are only about 4,000 data center technicians in the United States. That’s less than one technician for every 10,000 people in the country.
Data centers also generate tax revenue for cities. Property taxes on data centers can be as much as $1 million per year. That money can be used to improve schools, roads, and other infrastructure. And when data centers expand, they often create even more jobs and generate even more tax revenue.
Data centers also spur economic development. When a data center opens in a city, it attracts other businesses that want to be near it. These businesses bring even more jobs and tax revenue to the city. So a data center can have a ripple effect on the local economy, making it stronger and more prosperous.
Why Data Centers are Important to Small Cities
Data centers play a critical role in powering small cities. They are the backbone of the digital economy and provide the infrastructure that supports our increasingly connected world.
Data centers are responsible for storing, processing, and managing data. This data is used by businesses and individuals to make decisions, power applications, and drive innovation. Data centers are also key to powering cloud computing services, which are essential for small cities that want to attract and retain businesses.
Cloud computing is a major driver of economic growth in small cities. It allows businesses to access powerful computing resources on demand, without having to invest in their own infrastructure. This makes it possible for small businesses to compete with larger enterprises on a level playing field.
Data centers bring numerous other economic benefits to their cities as well. They create jobs for skilled workers, generate tax revenue, and spur investment in other parts of the city. For all these reasons, data centers are an important part of any small city’s economic development strategy.
What Are Some Examples of Data Centers?
Data centers are critical infrastructure for the modern economy. They house the servers and networking equipment that power our online world. Data centers are also major employers, often providing high-paying jobs to skilled workers.
Some examples of data centers include:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center in Virginia, USA
- Google data center in Iowa, USA
- Microsoft Azure data center in Texas, USA
- Alibaba Cloud data center in Shenzhen, China
Conclusion
It’s clear that data centers offer a number of economic benefits to their cities, from job creation to increased tax revenue. For businesses considering locating their data center in a new city, these benefits should be taken into consideration. And for cities looking to attract new businesses, courting data centers could be a smart economic development strategy.
