Data Center Job Market Outlook 2026: 25% Growth Is Real
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the industry that contains data center operations will grow 25.1 percent between 2025 and 2035, adding 120,400 jobs. That is roughly seven times the 3.5 percent projected for the economy as a whole.
It makes data center infrastructure the second-fastest-growing industry in the United States.
That figure is five days old at the time of writing, and it is the single most useful number in any conversation about the data center job market outlook.
Here is the part almost nobody writes about. Payroll employment in that same industry has been flat since 2024.
The forecast says plus 25 percent. The current measurement says no change. Both are true, and this guide explains why.
You will get the occupation-by-occupation forecast, the six major employment projections side by side, and an honest read on which data center jobs are actually growing and which ones are not.
Last updated: September 3, 2026. Employment projections come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 to 2035 employment projections, released August 27, 2026. Current employment comes from the BLS Current Employment Statistics series for computing infrastructure providers, data processing and web hosting. Every figure below carries its source and publication date. DCGeeks compiled the six-forecast comparison from the original publications.
The 2026 data center employment forecast in six numbers
Six figures cover the whole picture. Two say the forecast is strong, one says the current measurement is flat, and three say demand for people is real.
- 25.1 percent, projected growth from 2025 to 2035 for computing infrastructure providers, data processing and web hosting, the BLS industry containing data center operations, adding 120,400 jobs (BLS Employment Projections, released August 27, 2026)
- 3.5 percent, projected growth for total US employment over the same decade, from 170.3 million to 176.2 million jobs (BLS Employment Projections, August 27, 2026)
- 461,100, current payroll employment in that same industry, roughly flat since 2024 (BLS Current Employment Statistics, June 2026, preliminary)
- 501,000, US data center workers counted in 2023, up from 306,000 in 2016 (US Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, January 6, 2025)
- 9 percent, projected growth for electricians from 2025 to 2035, about 72,700 openings a year at a $63,190 median wage (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data)
- More than half, the share of data center operators who report difficulty finding qualified candidates (Uptime Institute, 16th Annual Global Data Center Survey, more than 800 operators, July 28, 2026)
Read the first and third figures together. The gap between them is the whole story of this page.
Which data center jobs are actually growing
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track a “data center technician” occupation.
There is no SOC code for it, no projection for it, and any site showing you a BLS growth rate for that job title has made it up.
What BLS does track is every occupation the work is actually made of. Here is the current round, released August 27, 2026, with May 2025 wage data.
Occupation | Projected growth 2025-2035 | Openings per year | Median wage | Why it matters to data centers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Industrial machinery mechanics | 18% | 51,900 | $64,520 | Mechanical plant, chillers, pumps |
HVAC and refrigeration mechanics | 11% | 40,600 | $61,010 | The cooling trade, and the biggest transition route into the industry |
Electricians | 9% | 72,700 | $63,190 | The constraint trade on every build |
Construction managers | 9% | 49,700 | $114,990 | Runs the two to three year build |
Computer network architects | 8% | 9,600 | $134,050 | Network design at scale |
Computer network support specialists | 1% | Reported in a combined group | $76,220 | The nearest IT-side proxy |
Network and computer systems administrators | -4% | 13,400 | $99,130 | Projected to shrink, not grow |
The forecast splits cleanly, and the split is the story.
The trades grow. The desk jobs do not.
Every hands-on occupation on that list is projected to grow faster than the 3.5 percent national average. The two IT administration occupations are projected to be flat or to shrink.
BLS projects network and computer systems administrators to lose 4 percent of their jobs over the decade, even as the industry that employs many of them grows 25 percent.
The work that is growing is the work that has to happen inside the building: power, cooling, mechanical plant, and construction.
If you are deciding how to enter this field, read that table as a map rather than a scoreboard. Our data center career path guide walks the steps from each of those trades into a live facility.
Six forecasts, six different answers
Search for how many people work in data centers and you will get six answers that do not agree with each other.
Nobody puts them in one place, so here they are.
Source | Published | What it projects or measures | The number |
|---|---|---|---|
US Bureau of Labor Statistics | August 27, 2026 | Employment in the industry containing data center operations, 2025 to 2035 | +25.1%, +120,400 jobs |
US Census Bureau | January 6, 2025 | Direct data center employment, measured, 2016 to 2023 | 306,000 to 501,000, an increase of more than 60% |
PwC, commissioned by the Data Center Coalition | May 2026 | US jobs supported by data centers in 2024, including indirect and induced | 5.5 million |
Food & Water Watch | January 2026 | Permanent US data center jobs in 2024, direct only | About 23,000 |
McKinsey Global Institute | June 30, 2026 | Global data center capacity, not jobs | 82 GW in 2025 to about 220 GW in 2030 |
JLL | January 5, 2026 | Global capacity added 2026 to 2030, not jobs | About 100 GW, a 14% compound annual growth rate |
Two of those numbers describe the same country in the same year and differ by a factor of 239.
That is not one of them lying. It is three different definitions of the word “job.”
Food & Water Watch counts only people permanently employed inside data centers, which is a small number because a finished data center is a quiet building.
PwC counts everyone whose paycheque touches the industry: construction crews, equipment manufacturers, the contractors who cut the grass, plus modelled indirect and induced effects.
Census counts payroll inside an industry classification that also holds web hosting and payroll processing.
Each is defensible. None is comparable to the others.
Two things are worth saying plainly. Food & Water Watch opposes data center construction and PwC’s study was paid for by the industry’s trade association, so both numbers arrive with an interest attached.
And the capacity forecasts from McKinsey and JLL, which are the numbers most articles quote, are not employment forecasts at all. A gigawatt is not a job.
For the capacity and investment side of the picture, see our breakdown of data center industry growth.
Is the data center job market growing or shrinking?
Growing on every forward-looking measure. Flat on the one backward-looking measure.
Here is the forward evidence.
BLS projects the industry at plus 25.1 percent through 2035. Indeed Hiring Lab found data center roles reached 6 of every 1,000 US job postings by mid-2026, roughly double where they sat two years earlier, at a time when total US postings fell 12 percent.
The Uptime Institute’s July 2026 survey of more than 800 operators found more than half cannot find qualified candidates for open positions. Lightcast reported in June 2026 that global construction postings mentioning data centers rose 23 percent in six months.
Now the backward evidence.
Payroll employment in the BLS category that holds data center operations was 461,100 in June 2026, and it has not grown since 2024. The Census Bureau’s growth from 306,000 to 501,000 workers happened between 2016 and 2023, before the current AI build-out started.
The lag explains both.
A campus announced in 2025 or 2026 does not staff up until it energises, and that is two to four years out. The hiring on those sites today is construction hiring, which lands in a different BLS category entirely.
Operations payroll follows commissioning, not groundbreaking. That is the whole reason the two numbers look like they disagree.
The shortage side of this is covered in depth in our guide to the data center workforce shortage.
What the forecast means for data center technicians
A data center technician is an operations professional who monitors and maintains the electrical, mechanical, and IT infrastructure inside a live facility.
No government forecast covers that job title directly, so the honest way to read the outlook is through the occupations the role is built from.
Industrial machinery mechanics at 18 percent growth. HVAC and refrigeration mechanics at 11 percent. Electricians at 9 percent with roughly 72,700 openings a year.
All three sit well above the 3.5 percent projected for the economy as a whole.
The demand side agrees. Indeed Hiring Lab found that installation and maintenance roles make up about a quarter of all data center job postings, and that those roles advertise about 42 percent more per hour than comparable work outside the industry.
One honest constraint belongs next to that. The top ten technology firms control 71 percent of all data center job posting volume, so the outlook is strong but concentrated in a handful of employers.
For the role-specific forecast and the signals worth watching, see our data center technician job outlook. For pay by experience level, employer, and state, start with the national data center technician salary guide.
Data center job growth through 2030
The most reliable predictor of future hiring is not a forecast. It is what is already under construction.
CBRE reported 7,481 MW under construction across North America’s primary markets in the first half of 2026, with supply up 33.7 percent year over year to a record 10,903 MW and vacancy at a record low 1.4 percent.
JLL projects about 100 GW of new capacity added globally between 2026 and 2030, doubling world capacity at a 14 percent compound annual growth rate.
Turning megawatts into headcount is where the honest uncertainty sits.
Announced AI campuses are running near 0.2 permanent jobs per megawatt. Virginia’s operating fleet delivered roughly 1.1 permanent jobs per megawatt over 2023 and 2024.
Those two ratios differ by more than five times, and which one holds decides whether the next decade delivers BLS’s 120,400 jobs or something smaller.
Two forces are pulling against each other. Automation and remote monitoring keep cutting staff per megawatt at large sites. Rising rack density means more hardware to swap and a coolant system that older buildings never had.
Nobody knows yet which one wins. Anyone telling you they do is guessing.
For how those numbers play out project by project, see our tracker on data center job creation.
Highest paying data center jobs in 2026
Pay and growth are two different questions, and the answer to one does not settle the other.
DataX Connect’s 2025 US Data Center Salary Survey, built on more than 1,500 responses across roughly 100 job roles, puts construction managers at $162,000 to $227,000 with an average of $195,000.
Commissioning engineers run $100,000 to $141,000, averaging $126,000. Data center technicians run $82,000 to $101,000, averaging $92,000.
BLS puts computer network architects at a $134,050 median, the highest of any occupation on the forecast table above.
Now put pay and growth side by side, because that is the part a salary page cannot tell you.
Network and computer systems administrators earn a $99,130 median inside an occupation BLS projects to shrink 4 percent. HVAC mechanics earn $61,010 inside an occupation projected to grow 11 percent with 40,600 openings a year.
A high wage in a shrinking occupation is a worse ten-year bet than a middling wage in a growing one. That is the single most useful thing the 2026 forecast tells a career changer.
For pay on the build side of the industry, see our data center construction salary breakdown.
Training programs that actually exist
A lot of data center career content lists training programs that cannot be found anywhere. Here are four that publish real details.
Google’s Skilled Trades Readiness (STAR) program is a five-week paid training program covering electrical work, carpentry, HVAC, welding, and plumbing. It runs in six states, and at Northern Virginia Community College the fifth cohort graduated in April 2025 with 13 students. Google says every graduate to date has received a job offer.
Texas State Technical College’s MEI Data Center Pathway is a 12-week, 224-hour program reporting a 90 percent placement rate, with most graduates hired within a month of finishing. Employer partners include Compass Datacenters, CBRE, Schneider Electric, and Vertiv.
Microsoft’s Datacenter Academy runs with more than 30 partner institutions across roughly 10 US states plus international sites, including Laramie County Community College in Wyoming and Gateway Technical College in Wisconsin.
Columbus State Community College’s Data Center Technician Certificate is funded in part by Amazon Web Services, with scholarships up to $3,000, and feeds central Ohio’s data center cluster. Amazon also runs the Amazon Technical Apprenticeship Program and AWS re/Start.
Northern Virginia Community College, Laramie County Community College, Columbus State, and Ivy Tech in South Bend all run genuine data center operations programs worth checking against your zip code.
On the credential side, the certifications that carry weight in 2026 are Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) and Accredited Operations Specialist (AOS), the DCA Global CDCP, CDCS and CDCE series, BICSI DCDC, CompTIA Data+, and NFPA 70E arc flash training for anyone working on energised electrical systems.
Full rankings sit in our guide to the best data center certifications, and paid routes in are covered under data center apprenticeship programs.
What operators say about hiring right now
Three surveys published in 2026 point the same direction, and all three name their sample.
AFCOM’s 2026 State of the Data Center report, the tenth edition, found 87 percent of operators say workforce gaps are affecting operations, up from 85 percent the year before.
The roles operators name as hardest to fill are data center engineers at 56 percent, multi-skilled operators at 40 percent, and power and energy engineers at 36 percent.
Turner & Townsend’s Global Construction Market Intelligence 2026 found labour shortages in 71 percent of markets worldwide, with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades short in 87 to 90 percent of them. About 79 percent of North American markets reported shortages.
Infrastructure Masons put US electrician openings above 80,000 a year in its May 2026 State of the Digital Infrastructure Industry report, against a pipeline that is not keeping up.
Three independent bodies, three different samples, one answer. The people shortage is real on the build side and on the operations side.
Frequently asked questions
Is the data center job market still growing in 2026?
Yes, on every forward-looking measure. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the industry containing data center operations will grow 25.1 percent from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5 percent for the whole economy. Job postings mentioning data centers reached 6 per 1,000 US listings by mid-2026, roughly double two years earlier.
Is a data center job a good career?
For hands-on trades, the evidence is strong. Electricians are projected to grow 9 percent to 2035 with about 72,700 openings a year, and HVAC mechanics 11 percent. Data center installation and maintenance roles advertise about 42 percent more per hour than comparable work outside the industry, per Indeed Hiring Lab.
What is the job outlook for a data center technician?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes no projection for data center technician, because no such occupation code exists. The closest official proxies are electricians at 9 percent growth, HVAC mechanics at 11 percent, and industrial machinery mechanics at 18 percent, all 2025 to 2035. Any site quoting a BLS rate for the title itself invented it.
Do data centers have a future as an employer?
The projections say yes and the current payroll numbers say not yet. Employment in the BLS category holding data center operations was 461,100 in June 2026 and has been flat since 2024. Campuses announced in 2025 and 2026 do not staff up until they energise, two to four years later.
How many people work in data centers in the United States?
The answer depends on the definition. The Census Bureau counted 501,000 data center workers in 2023, up from 306,000 in 2016. Food and Water Watch, counting only permanent on-site staff, estimated about 23,000 in 2024. PwC, for the industry trade group, counted 5.5 million jobs supported.
Which data center jobs are most in demand?
AFCOM’s 2026 operator survey names data center engineers at 56 percent, multi-skilled operators at 40 percent, and power and energy engineers at 36 percent. Eighty-seven percent of operators say workforce gaps are affecting operations. Turner and Townsend found mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades short in 87 to 90 percent of markets.
Will automation reduce data center jobs?
Partly, and it is already visible in the projections. BLS forecasts network and computer systems administrators to decline 4 percent through 2035 while the industry employing many of them grows 25 percent. Remote monitoring cuts staff per megawatt at large sites. Physical trades are the roles automation has not touched.
Which trades are most in demand for data center construction?
Electrical first. Turner and Townsend found mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades short in 87 to 90 percent of global markets, with about 79 percent of North American markets reporting labour shortages. Infrastructure Masons’ 2026 report puts US electrician openings above 80,000 a year against a shrinking pipeline.
Your next step
Three things are worth taking away from the 2026 data center job market outlook.
The official forecast is strong and it is specific: 25.1 percent growth and 120,400 jobs over ten years, in an industry BLS ranks second-fastest in the country.
The growth is concentrated in the trades. Power, cooling, mechanical plant, and construction all beat the national average, and the IT administration side is projected to shrink.
The hiring has not landed yet, because operations payroll follows commissioning by two to four years.
The practical move is to be qualified before the buildings energise rather than after.
Pick one of the four training programs named above that runs in your state, check whether your existing trade already maps onto the work, and add NFPA 70E or CompTIA Data+ while you are waiting for a posting.
The campuses being permitted this year need staffed control rooms in 2028 and 2029. Whoever holds the credential when that hiring starts gets the job.
Related reading:
How to Get Into the Data Center Industry
