The state that currently has the most data centers is Virginia.
The state of Virginia has over 600 data center facilities, which are most particularly concentrated in Northern Virginia, which is also known as the Data Center Alley, and acts as the world's largest data center market and also digital capital.
Texas also ranks second for the most data centers and California ranks third for the most data centers.
Texas is also known for high growth in data centers and is driven by availability of power and rapid development as Texas currently has over 460 total data centers.
California also ranks high, despite the high costs of infrastructure for data centers.
Other states that have the mot data centers are Georgia and Illinois, which are rapidly emerging, and Georgia's project pipeline for data centers is also exceeding it's current footprint by over 5 times.
Virginia is projected to become a major hub for data centers as a result of it's high capacity energy infrastructure.
The state that is banning new data centers is Maine.
As of April 2026, the state of Maine is the primary or main sate that has actually passed a statewide ban on new, large scale data centers being built.
However the measure of banning new data centers in Maine was also vetoed subsequently by the governor.
The governor of Maine "Janet Mills" vetoed the bill on banning data centers in Maine on April 24th, 2026, citing a need to support specific economic development projects in the area.
The Maine Legislature passed a bill (LD 307) in April of 2026, which aimed to place a moratorium on data centers with power needs of 20 megawatts or more until November 2027, although it's been vetoed.
And despite the veto, the move also highlights intense regional debate over energy consumption and the legislature also failed to override the veto.
And while state level efforts in Maine to ban new data centers were blocked by the veto, some local Maine municipalities, like Bango, Maine, passed their own temporary bans.
A dozen other states have also introduced or even considered their own legislation to pause or restrict development of data centers to study their impact on the electricity grids and costs.
People are saying no to data centers for several reasons, which includes lack of jobs and tax revenue, noise and air pollution concerns, massive use of water concerns, environmental and land use concerns as well as soaring energy costs and strain on the grid.
Even backlash against AI is also causing people to say no to data centers coming to their areas.
When it comes to AI, there's also a growing sentiment that AI is also a tool for corporate profit at the expensive of average workers, with the communities also questioning why they should bear the environmental resource costs for the technology that they believe will replace them.
The data center projects also often replace rural farmland and green spaces with large and industrial warehouses an so many farmers have also declined to sell their farmland and farms to data center developers.
And even despite the large physical footprints of data centers, the data centers actually provide very few jobs that are permanent, after construction.
And many data center companies also get tax breaks while also contributing very little to local school districts and community services.
Residents in communities and areas where data centers are located near them, often also complain of hearing a 24/7 "buzz" sound from the cooking systems of data centers.
And the backup diesel generators for data centers are also very noisy and emit nitrogen oxides as well as fine particles into the air, which are also linked to respiratory illnesses, which also creates health risks for neighbors and people living in those areas with the data centers.
And data centers also use millions of gallons of water a day for cooling, which is even worse when the data centers are in already water stressed regions.
For example the state of Georgia, had residential wells fail after a nearby data center went active, with one county expecting the water rates to also rise by 33 percent as a result of the increased load on the water supply.
Data centers, especially data centers for AI also require immense electrical power and some use as much power as 100,000 houses.
And this increase in demand for the electricity by the data centers also lead to consumers electric bills to rise and also stains the power grid, which also leads to the higher costs for residents.