How do data centers benefit the places where they’re built? Local mayors
give mixed reviews
[May 11, 2026]
By Nikoel Hytrek and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)
The Illinois General Assembly continues to debate what to do about data
centers as the artificial intelligence business keeps booming, and
communities complain about their energy bills, noise and environmental
impacts.
Data centers are warehouse-like buildings that house computer servers
and other infrastructure that power the internet, cloud storage and
more, but massive data centers are necessary to power AI and other
high-level computing.
Developers of the facilities tout property tax revenue, economic
development and job creation as reasons for local governments to approve
projects that could require as much energy as the city itself — or more.
Opinions on these economic benefits differ. Some Illinois mayors say
data centers have worked miracles in their towns while others question
whether the benefits overcome the downsides — and whether the benefits
are as good as advertised.
Property tax benefits
Property tax revenue from data centers can be significant, but many say
the massive centers aren’t worth the millions of gallons of water they
consume or the stress they put on an already struggling electric grid.
The ComEd territory in northern Illinois, for example, has enough
large-load energy projects in its queue to more than double the amount
of energy demand in the territory by 2040.
“If all the projects in our pipeline come to be and they all reach their
maximum, requested demand will more than double our system peak it took
us 120 years to achieve, roughly by 2040,” Max Leichtman, the director
of economic and workforce development at ComEd, told a committee earlier
this year.
The recently approved CyrusOne data center in Sangamon County is
projected to bring $500 million in capital investments to the county.
Marc Ayers, a former Sangamon County Board member, said it’s estimated
to generate $5 million to $6 million in property taxes annually, with
around $98 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years.
A memo from the director of community development in Joliet projected
the Joliet Technology Center, a planned 795-acre data center project
that was approved in March, would generate approximately $310 million in
property taxes over 30 years, plus $40 million in utility taxes, “in
addition to standard industrial water and sewer rate revenues.”
DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said the Meta data center that has been
operational since 2023 has contributed significantly to the city with
community investments and around $250,000-300,000 in utility taxes.
The city has one Meta hyperscale data center, constructed in 2020, and
it recently passed a proposal for the development of a second.
“When Meta first came to our community, they specifically said they
wanted to make a significant impact in everything, and that’s just what
they did,” Barnes said. “But then, from property taxes, that’s where the
magic happens.”
From 2021-24, according to property tax records, Goldframe LLC, a Meta
subsidiary, paid a total of $48.5 million for the three sites. That
money, Barnes said, goes back to city services and public schools.
“Meta, right now, is our largest economic impact in our small community
in the city of DeKalb,” Barnes said.
Across three properties, 60.9% of Meta’s property taxes are paid to
School District 428 in DeKalb, according to records. Barnes said that
revenue allowed the district to build a new school, Mitchell Elementary,
which opened in 2025.
The company has also invested millions in grants for the city’s
nonprofit community and partnered with Northern Illinois University to
improve STEM education for local high schoolers.
Barnes said the city didn’t require Meta to sign any agreements for
those investments ahead of time, but making these investments is in
their interests.
“They know that wherever they go, if they build a data center that is
not friendly to the community, and if they operate on an annualized
basis — not in a partnership way — that could impact them from being
able to build the next data center,” he said.
The data center was billed $31.1 million for property taxes from 2025.
Other benefits
Brad Tietz, the Midwest policy director for the Data Center Coalition,
told a House committee in April that data centers are crucial to the
modern economy, especially as it becomes more dependent on computing.
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A new data center owned by CyrusOne is being built in Aurora. The
Texas-based CyrusOne received state backing for the project in 2024.
(Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)
“The data center industry is the 21st century infrastructure. Just like
roads and bridges supported the industrial economy, data centers
underpin today’s digital economy,” he said.
New data centers are being constructed and coming online all the time.
One estimate suggests data center capacity will double by 2030 and the
growth is driven largely by investments in AI.
Data centers can have big footprints in the places where they’re
constructed — lawmakers earlier this session held hours of hearings on
their impacts on water, energy use and the environment.
John Laesch, the mayor of Aurora, said the five operational data centers
in his community have provided generous tax payments, but those benefits
don’t outweigh the downsides data centers can bring to communities.
The data centers provide approximately $1.6 million in property and
utility taxes every year, he told a House committee in April. But Aurora
residents have complained about constant, low-level noise from data
centers that came online in 2025, and raised other concerns.
“But during our public hearings, we heard residents ask, is that $1.6
million worth the noise pollution and the strain on our power grid and
potential long-term risk to our climate?” Laesch said.
Tietz emphasized benefits beyond property taxes.
A 2023 study commissioned by the Data Center Coalition showed that from
2022 to 2023, the industry added 115,130 jobs across Illinois and
contributed more than $19 million to the state’s GDP.
Illinois has provided tax incentives for data centers since Pritzker
signed bipartisan legislation in 2019. According to the state’s 2024
report, at least 27 data centers have received incentives totaling $983
million in estimated lifetime tax breaks and benefits.
“Beyond the taxes, data centers invest directly in communities in which
they are located through community benefit funds and other mechanisms,”
Tietz said.
Community benefit agreements are common for large developments. In Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, two data center developers are required to invest in the
city’s Community Betterment Fund, though the city council decides how
the money will be used.
Other agreements require things like investments in education and
infrastructure.
When it comes to job growth, the picture is more mixed. Most of the job
growth from data centers comes during the facilities’ construction.
Barnes said the data center in DeKalb employed more than a thousand
union construction workers over the five years it took to build. Now, he
said there are hundreds of permanent jobs working on tech, electricity
and maintaining the HVAC systems.
Regulations and ordinances
In March, Aurora enacted ordinances that would require data center
developers to conduct and submit studies dealing with noise, water
consumption and energy needs. The ordinances also require future data
centers to meet standards for noise, vibrations, water use and energy
use. They will also need to get power from renewable energy sources.
“We also realized that while Aurora did our best to address these
concerns locally, we need to be acting regionally as a state,” Laesch
said, encouraging state lawmakers to pass regulations like those found
in the POWER Act, a major bill currently being debated in the General
Assembly.
The bill would require data centers to pay for their own energy and the
infrastructure to generate it, mandate transparency from data centers
about their water use and obtain permits from the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency for how data centers handle wastewater and meet
efficiency standards. It would also require community benefits
agreements that promote transparent engagement with the public.
Despite three hearings in the House and one in the Senate, it’s unclear
whether the bill will pass this spring or if there’s more work to be
done.
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