70% of Young Adults Oppose New Data Centers in Their Towns

Seventy percent of American adults under 30 oppose new data centers in their area, according to a University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center survey conducted this summer. That figure outstrips the 61% opposition among all adults and the 57% among those 65 and older — a reversal of the usual pattern in which younger Americans embrace new technology faster, the researchers noted. Roughly seven in ten young adults rejecting a flagship industry is not a rounding error; it is a political fact with a price tag attached.

Elijah Lee, 18, has watched that shift from inside it. The high school chapters coordinator for Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led political advocacy group, lives in Virginia — the state with more data centers than anywhere else on the planet. "It's difficult to break the data center issue into one piece, but for young people, we know what data centers mean long-term," Lee said.

In Pennsylvania, the gap runs wider still: 83% of likely voters ages 18 to 29 opposed data center development, according to a poll reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Fortune has previously reported that Gen Z has become an organizing force behind the national backlash, and that opposition has spread well beyond the small share of Americans who live near a data center.

What has the activism actually achieved?

Voters of Tomorrow chapters are meeting local officials, running campus voter registration drives and holding information sessions at high schools. In Spartanburg, S.C., members of a high school chapter spoke against a proposed data center. The county council delayed a final vote on a one-year moratorium in August amid heavy public turnout, then passed the pause 5-1 in September — though the ban does not cover a data center already under construction there.

The pattern repeats nationally. A vote on a proposed Google data center in Hermantown, Minn., was postponed Monday night after two hours of protests. Campaigns have spent $45 million this year on ads mentioning data centers ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, most of them in opposition, according to CBS News. The caveat: moratoriums and delays are not bans, and projects already under construction proceed regardless.

Lee frames the fight around money first. The old promise — college, then a good job, then a house — no longer holds, he argued. "This isn't true for young people anymore, and data centers are making that much worse," he said. "The idea of now having to grow up and compete in terms of water prices and energy prices with a tech company is not something I can say I'm excited about."

The evidence on costs is real but qualified. A 2025 Bloomberg News analysis found wholesale electricity costs near significant data center activity ran as much as 267% higher for a single month than five years earlier. Wholesale prices, however, are typically only 30% to 50% of a household bill, per PolitiFact, so residential bills have not risen nearly that much. Experts told NPR that residential customers will ultimately cover a share of the AI buildout, and economists have warned lower-income households will feel it most.

Water adds another front. U.S. data centers directly used about 17 billion gallons in 2023, a figure Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates could reach nearly 73 billion gallons by 2028. In Spartanburg County, one developer recently raised its projected water use from 459,000 gallons a day to as much as 1.6 million.

"Think about what having a million data centers does to the energy grid in 30 years," Lee said. "Think about what it will do to our water and our ability to access clean water."

Do these voters reject AI itself?

No. In Deloitte's 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, more than half of respondents said they use generative AI at work daily, and nearly three-quarters of Gen Z expect it to change how they work within a year. The Annenberg researchers found AI usage did not predict opposition to a local data center. "We are not willing to take advantage of the tool that is AI so long as it compromises the livelihood of our fellow citizens," Lee said. He wants regulation, not prohibition.

Are politicians responding?

They are, and some are reversing course conspicuously. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro championed a $20 billion Amazon data center investment last year, then signed an August executive order blocking new projects unless they meet stricter electricity and water limits. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who once called his state "the epicenter of AI development," has paused environmental permits and grid connections; on ABC's This Week he said developers had "dug their own grave." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the nation's first statewide moratorium in July, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven bills in September to stop data centers passing energy costs to other ratepayers. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that large new data centers must generate their own electricity and pay host communities a "dividend."

Whether anger becomes votes is unproven. A recent Targoz poll found young voters rank cost of living and health care as top issues; electricity bills and data centers accounted for just 6% combined. Lee insists it is one fight: "Young people cannot afford to live this way. Building a future where we can actually live means backing down on data centers."

By Olivia Hart