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Wisconsin is building massive data centers. But the group DC Byte says it has 21 total.
Data centers are appearing across the country as demand for artificial intelligence increases.
In Wisconsin, a Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant is nearing completion and already has 375 full-time employees, according to a company executive. A second Microsoft data center is under construction, with even more planned for the future, the Journal Sentinel previously reported.
In September 2025, Gov. Tony Evers applauded the company's investment by highlighting the jobs being created in the state.
“This project is creating good, family-sustaining union jobs across the entire region from carpenters, plumbers and electricians,” he said.
There are other data centers in Wisconsin too, including the Cogent, Vaultas Milwaukee and Data Holdings Milwaukee facilities.
What is the purpose of data centers?
The data center boom due in part to the rise of artificial intelligence, but the specific purpose of each data center can vary by location, Stafford said. They are also used for:
- Cloud computing and storage
- Streaming
- E-commerce
- Telecoms However, a University of Virginia report and a World Resources Institute report both put Wisconsin's total at about 50, as the Journal Sentinel previously reported.
There are 53 data centers listed for Wisconsin on datacentermap.com, a website that maps data centers across the country. That count includes 19 data centers in the Milwaukee area.
- IT infrastructure
- Telecoms
- Disaster backup
How many data centers are there in Wisconsin?
There are a few different totals, depending on how the facilities are counted.
DC Byte, a firm that tracks data center development, puts the count for Wisconsin at 21, including 12 data centers that haven't yet gone live.
However, a University of Virginia report and a World Resources Institute report both put Wisconsin's total at about 50, as the Journal Sentinel previously reported.
There are 53 data centers listed for Wisconsin on datacentermap.com, a website that maps data centers across the country. That count includes 19 data centers in the Milwaukee area.
Rob Stafford, of DC Byte, said some facilities may have multiple data centers in one location, and some counts include every individual data center. But DC Byte does not, Stafford said.
These are the DC Byte counts for Wisconsin's neighbors:
- Illinois – 91 data centers (51 not yet live)
- Minnesota – 36 data centers (14 not yet live)
- Michigan – 25 data centers (14 not yet live)
The World Resources Institute report lists these states as having the country's most data centers:
- Virginia - 566 data centers
- Texas - 391 data centers
- California - 287 data centers
- Illinois and Georgia - 195 data centers
- Ohio - 194 data centers
Stafford explained that it can be difficult to compare the size of different data centers because energy use can be hard to quantify, so DC Byte doesn't track it "in any comprehensive way." DC Byte uses proprietary information and talks to people living near data centers to compile its data, he said.
What do data centers do to the environment?
Some large data centers can as much as five million gallons of water a day, the same amount used by a town of 50,000 people, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Researchers who studied the affects of data centers on air quality say there could be as many as 1,300 premature deaths in the United States by 2030 due to air pollution from power plants supplying electricity to data centers,
At least a few Wisconsin communities have resisted data centers due to concerns about water use and electricity costs.
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