Building the Backbone
Florida’s Data Center Advantage
Across the Sunshine State, data centers are becoming the foundation of innovation – fueling new jobs, cleaner energy, and stronger communities. With smart policies and responsible growth, Florida can lead the nation in building the backbone of tomorrow’s digital economy.
Powering Innovation in the Sunshine State
Florida’s Digital Future Starts Here
Florida stands at the threshold of a new era in energy and innovation. As global demand for data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing grows, data centers are becoming the digital backbone of modern life — powering everything from online banking and healthcare to public safety and national defense.
Around the world, competitors like China are investing heavily to control the technologies of tomorrow. Here in the United States — and especially in Florida — we succeed differently. Our free-market innovation, energy reliability, and pro-growth policies give us a decisive edge. But to stay competitive, we must build and protect the infrastructure that keeps our economy and energy grid strong.
That means investing in data centers — responsibly.
Data centers are not just storage facilities; they’re engines of economic growth, job creation, and energy innovation. They create thousands of high-paying jobs, generate millions in local tax revenue, and partner with utilities to modernize Florida’s power grid — ensuring families and businesses have access to reliable, affordable energy for decades to come.
As this growth accelerates nationwide, Florida has the opportunity to lead — proving that with smart policy and responsible energy management, we can power progress sustainably while delivering real benefits to every community.
The Digital Engines Behind Everyday Life
What Are Data Centers?
Every time you send an email, stream a movie, make an online payment, or use an app — you’re connecting through a data center. These highly secure, energy-powered facilities store, process, and transmit the information that keeps our digital lives running smoothly.
In Florida, data centers are rapidly becoming part of the state’s essential infrastructure — much like highways, ports, and power plants. But instead of moving cars or goods, they move data, the lifeblood of modern commerce, education, and communication.
A single facility can support everything from hospital systems and emergency communications to cloud-based businesses and artificial intelligence. As Florida’s economy grows, these centers are helping ensure that the state stays competitive, connected, and secure.
How Data Centers Drive Jobs, Growth, and Opportunity in Florida
Creating Thousands of High-Paying Florida Jobs
Data centers are among the most powerful economic engines Florida can attract. Building even one large-scale, one-gigawatt facility can create more than 45,000 construction jobs and over 5,000 permanent, high-wage positions in fields like IT, engineering, and operations.
Boosting Local Wages and Small Business Growth
These careers bring nearly $300 million in sustained annual earnings to Florida workers — well above average local wages — while supporting small businesses, contractors, and suppliers statewide. The broader impact reaches billions in economic activity, helping strengthen local economies from the Panhandle to South Florida.
Generating Revenue That Strengthens Communities
Data centers generate hundreds of millions in recurring state and local tax revenue, funding schools, first responders, and public infrastructure — all while placing minimal strain on community services like housing, traffic, or utilities.
Proven Success: A Model Florida Can Follow
Florida has the opportunity to replicate success stories seen across the nation. In Virginia’s “Data Center Alley,” for example, every $1 in local services provided to data centers returns $26 in tax revenue, delivering more than $100 million a year to public schools. With smart policy, Florida can achieve — and exceed — those results.
Smart Growth That Benefits Florida Communities
Strengthening Florida’s Power Grid for the Future
As Florida expands its role in the digital economy, energy innovation and responsible development must go hand in hand. Data centers are proving that it’s possible to meet growing demand for power and connectivity while protecting natural resources, strengthening local infrastructure, and respecting community character.
Through collaboration with Florida’s electric providers, data centers are helping to expand the use of renewables, natural gas, nuclear, and advanced technologies like microgrids and small modular reactors. These innovations make power cleaner, more efficient, and more resilient — benefiting not just data centers, but Florida families and businesses as well.
Data centers provide some of the highest tax revenue per acre of any industrial use — with minimal demand on public services like schools, roads, or emergency response. Even when local governments offer short-term incentives, these projects quickly become top taxpayers in their communities, returning far more in long-term benefits than they receive.
By pairing smart energy planning with thoughtful design, Florida can build the backbone of tomorrow’s digital future — sustainably and responsibly.
Data centers are not just energy consumers — they’re partners in modernization. Across Florida, developers work directly with utilities to plan, build, and finance the infrastructure needed to meet future demand. Their power needs are forecasted years in advance, and all costs for transmission, generation, and interconnections are covered by the project itself — not by other customers.
Because they provide steady, predictable demand, data centers give utilities the financial stability to invest in stronger, more reliable systems. In one example, a Georgia utility was able to freeze customer rates for three years thanks to the stable growth offered by data centers in the region. Similar investments in Florida can reinforce our energy grid and keep power affordable for everyone.
Florida knows the importance of reliability. Modern data centers are designed to withstand hurricanes, floods, and extreme weather, operating through 200-mph winds with redundant power and telecom systems. Their resilience helps maintain continuity for essential services, protecting both local economies and community safety during crises.
At a time when nations like China are heavily investing to dominate artificial intelligence and computing, Florida’s growing network of data centers reinforces America’s free-market advantage — where innovation, not central planning, drives progress. Each new facility strengthens the backbone of the national economy, creating high-skilled jobs, attracting investment, and modernizing the systems that enable everything from small business operations to emergency response.
Today’s data centers are designed with efficiency in mind. Modern facilities use air-cooled, closed-loop, and hybrid systems that dramatically reduce water use — often matching or improving upon the consumption of typical commercial developments. Many even repurpose wastewater, providing environmental benefits and reducing strain on local resources.
Far from being noisy or disruptive, most data centers are one- or two-story structures located in rural or industrial zones, away from neighborhoods. Developers use landscaping, setbacks, and soundproofing to minimize their footprint, ensuring facilities remain quiet, low-impact neighbors. They also adhere to dark-sky lighting standards to reduce light pollution and preserve community character.
Responsible development means partnership. Leading operators in Florida and across the country host public forums, publish environmental impact reports, and invest in local benefits like workforce training, STEM education, and community beautification. These open, collaborative efforts build trust and ensure that growth aligns with community priorities.
Take Action: Help Shape Florida’s Energy and Innovation Future
Download the Florida Data Center Toolkit
Florida has the opportunity to lead the nation in responsible data center development — creating jobs, strengthening the grid, and securing America’s digital future. But smart growth depends on informed communities and engaged citizens.
The Florida Data Center Toolkit brings together the facts, resources, and guidance you need to get involved:
Understand the issue: Learn how data centers power innovation, economic growth, and energy reliability across Florida.
Get the facts: Access easy-to-read summaries debunking common myths about energy use, water consumption, and community impact.
Engage locally: Find tips for talking with local leaders, understanding policy proposals, and supporting responsible growth in your community.
See the benefits: Discover how data center investments are already driving jobs, funding schools, and modernizing energy infrastructure.
Together, we can ensure Florida builds the strong, sustainable digital backbone that powers innovation and protects our shared energy future.
Join the effort
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