Updated Oct 28, 2026
How many workers does a data center need?
Somewhere around 2.5 construction workers per megawatt is the middle of the pack. That's the median across the 29 projects on our tracker that report both a peak crew and a size in MW. The biggest single number we have is 10,000 for PORTS Technology Campus.
Treat these as rough. 26 of the 32 crew figures are "construction jobs as reported," which can mean total jobs over the whole build, not people on site on the same day. Each project page links the source so you can see how it was counted.
Do bigger campuses need more workers per MW?
Per megawatt, no. It goes the other way. On our data, projects of 1.5 GW and up have a median of 1.6 workers per MW (11 projects), and smaller ones come in at 4 (18 projects). Big campuses still need the biggest crews. They tend to build in phases, so the whole campus isn't under construction at once.
Which developers need the most workers?
Here's every developer with two or more projects on the tracker and at least one reported crew size. Developers with two or more reported crew sizes have their own page with the project-by-project numbers and sources.
| Developer | Projects tracked | With crew figure | Largest reported crew | Total MW listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta | 7 | 6 | 7,500 (Hyperion (Richland Parish)) | 10,420 |
| Tract | 5 | 1 | 1,000 (Morris Technology Park) | 10,100 |
| Applied Digital | 4 | 2 | 1,000 (Delta Forge 1) | 1,320 |
| Compass Datacenters | 4 | 1 | 1,000 (Hoffman Estates campus (five buildings, former Sears HQ)) | 520 |
| Crusoe | 4 | 1 | 5,000 (Stargate I / Lancium Clean Campus (Phases 1-2, 8 buildings)) | 4,000 |
| 4 | 2 | 5,500 (Google AI campus (Armstrong County)) | 2,700 | |
| Vantage Data Centers | 4 | 1 | 4,000 (Lighthouse / Stargate (four data centers, Port Washington)) | 2,670 |
| STACK Infrastructure | 3 | 1 | 1,000 (Stafford Technology Campus (four sub-campuses, 19 data centers)) | 1,300 |
| Aligned Data Centers | 2 | 1 | 3,000 (Project Phoenix (three facilities)) | 2,540 |
| Hut 8 | 2 | 2 | 1,900 (Beacon Point (Phases 1-2, Nueces County)) | 1,245 |
| Related Digital | 2 | 2 | 2,500 (The Barn / Stargate) | 1,420 |
| SB Energy | 2 | 1 | 10,000 (PORTS Technology Campus) | 11,200 |
Every reported crew size
| Project | Developer | Size | Peak crew | Workers per MW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PORTS Technology CampusPiketon, OH | SB Energy | 10 GW | 10,000 | 1 |
| Project Star energy campusEncinal, TX | Related Companies + NextEra Energy | 6.47 GW | ~8,400 | 1.3 |
| Paducah AI and HPC campus (former DOE enrichment site)Paducah, KY | Brookfield | 1.8 GW | 8,000 | 4.4 |
| Hyperion (Richland Parish)Holly Ridge, LA | Meta | 5 GW | 7,500 | 1.5 |
| Joliet Technology CenterJoliet, IL | Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers | 1.8 GW | 7,000 | 3.9 |
| Pecos datacenter campusPecos, TX | Microsoft | 2 GW | 6,000 | 3 |
| Google AI campus (Armstrong County)Amarillo, TX | — | 5,500+ on site daily | — | |
| Stargate I / Lancium Clean Campus (Phases 1-2, 8 buildings)Abilene, TX | Crusoe | 1.2 GW | 5,000 | 4.2 |
| Monarch Compute Campus (phase one)Point Pleasant, WV | Nscale | 2 GW | 4,375 | 2.2 |
| Project Jupiter (Doña Ana County)Santa Teresa, NM | Oracle | 2.45 GW | 4,000 | 1.6 |
| El Paso Data CenterEl Paso, TX | Meta | 1 GW | 4,000 | 4 |
| Lebanon data center campusLebanon, IN | Meta | 1 GW | 4,000 | 4 |
| Lighthouse / Stargate (four data centers, Port Washington)Port Washington, WI | Vantage Data Centers | 902 MW | 4,000 | 4.4 |
| Meta Mason County data center campusMason County, KY | Meta | 2.2 GW | 4,000+ | 1.8 |
| Project Phoenix (three facilities)Shippingport, PA | Aligned Data Centers | 2 GW | 3,000 | 1.5 |
| Midwest Digital GatewayCanton, OH | Corscale | 312 MW | 3,000 | 9.6 |
| Project Tembo (formerly Project Jade)Cheyenne, WY | 2.7 GW | 2,500 | 0.9 | |
| The Barn / StargateSaline, MI | Related Digital | 1 GW | 2,500 | 2.5 |
| Beacon Point (Phases 1-2, Nueces County)Corpus Christi, TX | Hut 8 | 1 GW | 1,900 | 1.9 |
| Cumberland County data centerFayetteville, NC | PRSM Group | 225 MW | 1,500 | 6.7 |
| New Albany Data Center / PrometheusNew Albany, OH | Meta | 1 GW | 1,200 | 1.2 |
| Stafford Technology Campus (four sub-campuses, 19 data centers)Stafford, VA | STACK Infrastructure | 1.1 GW | 1,000 | 0.9 |
| Morris Technology ParkMorris, IL | Tract | 1 GW | 1,000 | 1 |
| Delta Forge 1Boyce, LA | Applied Digital | 430 MW | 1,000 | 2.3 |
| River Bend (initial IT capacity)St. Francisville, LA | Hut 8 | 245 MW | 1,000 | 4.1 |
| Beaver Dam data centerBeaver Dam, WI | Meta | 220 MW | 1,000 | 4.5 |
| Delta Forge 2 / Project HighlandsBrookwood, AL | Applied Digital | 210 MW | 1,000 | 4.8 |
| Hoffman Estates campus (five buildings, former Sears HQ)Hoffman Estates, IL | Compass Datacenters | 200 MW | 1,000 | 5 |
| Project Red ClayFort Deposit, AL (Lowndes County) | Cloverleaf Infrastructure | — | ~1,000 | — |
| Hudspeth County data center (Desert Haven)Hudspeth County, TX | ServerDomes Global (involved) | — | 800 | — |
| Cheyenne campus (CoreWeave)Cheyenne, WY | Related Digital | 420 MW | 700 | 1.7 |
| Pennsylvania AI data center (initial 100 MW, expandable to 300 MW)Lancaster, PA | CoreWeave | 100 MW | 600 | 6 |
Canceled projects are left out. Crew figures are as reported by the source on each project page, most of them compiled through Apollo Technical's data center map. Have a better number for one of these? Send it in.