Small towns see economic boost from data center development rush

A digital gold rush is occurring as data center development sweeps through America’s small towns.

As for demand artificial intelligence, Cloud computing and digital storage are proliferating, leaving developers scrambling to secure land, power, and water.

That growth is increasingly concentrated, with nearly 1% of U.S. counties, roughly 33, accounting for 72% of all data center activity as of July 2025, according to a recent Goldman Sachs analysis. However, the map changes almost every day.

One community in Georgia is experiencing that change in real time.

Google invests $40 billion in Texas data centers to power AI at scale

Newton County, about an hour east of Atlanta, is one of four counties where Meta University’s Stanton Springs campus is located.

FOX Business was given an exclusive tour of the facility, which opened in 2018 and continues to expand, with a second campus currently under construction. The 1,000-acre site includes eight massive buildings the length of four football fields, packed with rows of high-speed servers that operate 24/7. Cable networks are long enough to reach the moon and back. and where is it Facebook data, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other Meta platforms are processed and pushed in record time.

Technology at Meta’s Stanton Springs data center in Social Circle, Georgia. (FOX Business Network)

This is just one of 26 data centers currently under construction or already in operation in the U.S., with further growth expected.

“I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years and I’ve never seen this much focus on the data center,” KC Timmons, Meta’s Director of SiteOps Global Operations, told FOX Business. “It’s innovative. There’s a lot we can do.”

Meta’s arrival was widely welcomed and its investment has become a major economic pillar for the region, creating hundreds of jobs, supporting local contractors and generating long-term revenue. tax revenue For schools and public services. The company currently employs approximately 400 people in HVAC, electrical, operational and technical roles, most of whom are hired from the surrounding area.

But the presence of meth is now in line with the explosive growth the county has experienced this year. And not everyone is excited about it.

“It’s all picture cake,” Newton County Commissioner Leanne Long told FOX Business. “It’s not what they say it is. These big developers come in with lucrative promises of zoning, water, electricity and things like that. This is the biggest smoke and mirrors thing you’ve ever seen.”

North Carolinians fight back against big tech project that could come to their town

Long, who is also a real estate broker in the area, wonders what will happen in a few years, once the industry’s footprint changes and large buildings are no longer needed.

“What happens to the communities we lose?” Long asked.

Newton County is one of Georgia’s most active areas for data center construction. Local officials say 11 additional data centers have been in various stages of planning and construction since January alone. Amazon is already Construction began on a $25 million land purchase (approximately $50,000 per acre) with support from Georgia Power. And in nearby Social Circle, where Meta is located and straddles Newton and Walton counties, officials have zoned seven more data center projects without developing long-term land use plans.

Staff at Meta’s Stanton Springs data center in Social Circle, Georgia. (FOX Business Network)

“Some people would say we’re building planes as we fly them,” Selah Hall, executive director of the Newton County Industrial Development Authority, told FOX Business.

Serra said Meta’s success has attracted a new wave of interest in the region, making strategy and coordination more important than ever. Since the beginning of this year, she says her phone has been ringing with inquiries from businesses looking to build nearby.

Mystery Company’s proposed $1.6 billion data center on Wisconsin farmland draws residents’ anger

Part of the reason growth is accelerating so quickly is the county’s access to electricity, proximity to Interstate 20, and extensive fiber infrastructure established by Meta. Efforts to create open source hardware for scalable and efficient systems through the Open Compute project co-founded by Meta data center This has contributed to cost reduction. The OCP initiative actively encourages and facilitates more companies to build and deploy highly efficient data center infrastructure.

“We’re trying to bring everyone to the table and slow things down,” Hall said. “It’s about walking the path together. It takes careful planning.”

Meta’s Stanton Springs data center in Social Circle, Georgia. (FOX Business Network)

What the influx of data centers brings Benefits beyond work. Since 2022, when Meta’s first taxable building became operational, the company has contributed $12 million in cumulative tax revenue, a number that is expected to increase as construction continues. Until Mehta’s arrival, the same land had been under government ownership and exempt from taxes for almost 20 years.

Meta has also launched initiatives to support small businesses, including workshops to teach local owners how to grow through Instagram Reels. Meanwhile, Amazon partnered with Newton County Schools and Gooder to open a free grocery store providing fresh and nonperishable food to students.

Still, residents say the promises don’t always match their actual experience. Several major manufacturers, including Meta, Rivian and Takeda, have partnered to recycle water to local communities, but concerns persist as development scales up.

Click here to read more on FOX Business

“This has become very popular since January 1,” Long said. “A year and a half ago we didn’t even know what a data center was. We just got bombarded.”

Long emphasized that the meta itself is not the issue; the campus is within a designated business zone and does not disrupt residential life. Her concerns include a wave of new entrants, the risk of large buildings becoming vacant in the future, and the impact of speculative development on home values.

For long-time residents, the pace of construction has become impossible to ignore.

Lisa Miller, 64, lives near land that once housed a sawmill and is now an Amazon construction site.

Amazon’s data center construction site in Oxford, Georgia. (FOX Business Network)

“We’re not a big company,” Miller told FOX Business. “People here are crazy about cows and horses.” The area has shifted between rural, suburban and industrial uses for decades, but never as quickly as this.

Blasts and large-scale construction have also raised safety concerns. Miller described one neighbor’s experience: “She heard an explosion and the whole ceiling in the living room fell in.”

Amazon told FOX Business that the $11 billion investment will enable AI innovation, create thousands of jobs from network engineers to construction workers, and give back to communities.

“We continue to be good neighbors as we build these facilities over the next few years,” the spokesperson said.

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

Energy demand is also a growing concern. Data centers will use approximately 8% of all electricity in the United States by 2030, requiring U.S. utilities to invest approximately $50 billion in new generation capacity to support their facilities. According to Goldman Sachs.

Inside Meta’s Stanton Springs data center in Social Circle, Georgia. (FOX Business Network)

Despite the concerns, local leaders and residents agree the solution is not to reject the industry, but to slow down, adjust and plan for long-term impacts.

As the earliest anchor in the region, Meta is committed to supplying more products. renewable energy We aim to be a model for responsible development and aim to proactively consume more water than we consume by 2030.

“If I could say one thing to the entire nation, it would be, ‘Think about it,'” Miller said. “Have a plan. Don’t just stick them in the pasture of every cow that goes up for sale.”