# Data Center Land per MW: Acres of Announced US Campuses | FOUND Research

How many acres per megawatt do announced US data-center campuses use? A sourced dataset with both MW and acres from public records, with the median and range.

Canonical: https://lotsfound.com/research/data-center-land-per-mw/

## How much land do data-center campuses actually take per megawatt?

A dataset of announced US campuses where public sources state both the planned power and the site size. Download it, cite it, or check your own site against it.

## What the data shows

Each point is one campus as its developer or a local government described it in public. The ratio of acres to megawatts spreads widely because the two numbers answer different questions: megawatts describe the buildings and their cooling, acres describe everything around them, from setbacks and substations to land held for later phases.

## How to use it

Use the median ratio as a first bracket when you size a search, then compare your concept plan against the campuses closest to your load. The data center land calculator on this site lets you change every assumption; this table shows what real projects announced.

## How this dataset was built

We collected announcements from company press releases, state and county economic development offices, planning filings, and established trade press between 2021 and 2026. A campus enters the table only when a public source states both the planned power and the site acreage. Where a source gives a range, the table shows the low end and the note carries the range. We do not estimate missing numbers. Where a source counts on-site generation rather than planned IT or utility load, the MW basis column says so and the row stays out of the median and the chart. Ranges and statuses change; the announced figures stay as published on the date we recorded them.

## Questions

### What is a typical acres per MW for a data center?

Announced campuses in this dataset span a wide range. The median and the range appear above the chart and update as rows are added. Single-building sites on small parcels sit at the low end; large multi-phase campuses that bank land sit at the high end.

### Why do some campuses use so much more land per megawatt?

Land held for future phases, on-site substations and generation, stormwater and buffer requirements, and low site coverage all push acreage up without changing the first phase's megawatts.

### Can I reuse this data?

Yes. The dataset is licensed CC BY 4.0. Cite FOUND and link to this page.

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