Areas Where Data Centers Are Causing Land Prices to Surge
Some communities are putting a temporary stop on data center development, in some cases to protect land from transitioning from agriculture to feeding the country's need for additional digital storage. Other communities are seeing their land prices soar as data center development projects push land values far beyond what buyers would pay for agricultural purposes.
Datacenters.com identified some of the areas across the United States where land prices have grown the most: Columbus, Ohio; Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, TX; and Portland, Oregon.
What Do Data Center Developers Want?
Carter Malloy, founder and CEO of Acres, a land data technology company, told American Farmland Owner that access to electricity is among the most important considerations for data center development.
“Power and water. I think power is the very, very large one, right? So, access to power, headroom, and availability of that power there locally,” Malloy said.
That demand can create new interest in agricultural properties, particularly where infrastructure and utility capacity make development feasible. However, not every farm is a candidate for a data center, and the presence of development interest does not automatically mean a landowner will receive a premium offer.
The potential for competing uses also highlights a defining characteristic of farmland: its value is not determined by financial calculations alone.
RELATED: Why this family turned down $26 million for a proposed data center development
Why Is Farmland Considered an Emotional Asset?
Malloy said land is an emotional asset class, unlike publicly traded stocks, which investors may readily sell when offered an attractive price.
“When it comes to our land, we all have varying levels of emotional investment, but there's almost always some real emotional investment there, and that does have real impact on prices,” he said.
Should You Sell Your Farmland?
For farm families, that connection may reflect generations of ownership, memories of working the ground, or a desire to preserve agricultural land for the next generation. Those considerations can influence whether an owner is willing to sell, even when a developer offers a price that exceeds the property's traditional agricultural value.
As data center development expands, landowners face an increasingly important question: What is their property worth not only as farmland, but also for its potential alternative uses?
Malloy's perspective underscores the importance of reliable land data in evaluating those opportunities. Understanding local power availability, water access, and competing demand can help owners make more informed decisions.
RELATED: Carter Malloy explains in this American Farmland Owner podcast how to understand the data to know how much your land is worth.
