KEY POINTS
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ConstructConnect reported total data center construction starts spending of $10.8 billion in October 2025, spread across 23 projects.
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This marks a significant year-over-year (YoY) increase from October 2024, when 22 projects totaled $2.9 billion.
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Data centers are becoming significantly more expensive to build on a per-square-foot basis.
Data Center Construction Starts Spending
ConstructConnect reported total data center construction starts spending of $10.8 billion in October 2025, spread across 23 projects. This marks a significant year-over-year (YoY) increase from October 2024, when 22 projects totaled $2.9 billion.
Year-to-date (YTD) spending of $43.8 billion is more than double the $19.9 billion recorded through October 2024 and nearly eight times the $5.6 billion spent in the first ten months of 2023.
Chart of monthly average data center construction starts spending through October 2025. The line represents a 12-month moving average, in billions of dollars. Image and Data: ConstructConnect
Near-Term Data Center Groundbreakings
Based on the last 10 months of actual data, calendar year 2025 spending appears likely to exceed $52 billion. However, ConstructConnect Project Intelligence (CCPI) is currently tracking 18 data center projects in late-stage preconstruction, with anticipated start dates before the end of the year, totaling $16.2 billion in combined value.
It is worth noting that, despite being in the later stages of preconstruction, these projects have no guarantee of coming to fruition. Should these projects break ground as scheduled, total 2025 spending could exceed $60 billion.
Costs Rising for Building Data Centers
Data centers are becoming significantly more expensive to build on a per-square-foot basis.
Based on the last twelve months of data for facilities exceeding 2,000 square feet, the cost per square foot now averages $987, a 50% increase from just a year ago.
Due to their rapidly rising construction costs, the average price tag of a data center is currently $494 million. For comparison’s sake, a year ago, the average data center cost $400 million to build, at a cost of $630 per square foot.
The average data center project size has declined to just over 500,000 square feet, down from 635,000 square feet a year ago.
Geographic Spending Patterns
New data centers are being built all across the continental United States. However, they have largely clustered in a few select geographies.
Year-to-date, through October 2025, the top five states for data center spending are Louisiana, at $12.5 billion; Virginia, at $7.4 billion; Mississippi, at $6.0 billion; Texas, at $5.7 billion; and Arizona, at $2.6 billion. Image and data: ConstructConnect
By census region, the West South Central and South Atlantic divisions have captured nearly 60% of all year-to-date starts spending. The East South-Central division accounts for 16%, followed by Mountain at 11%. The five remaining census divisions combined represent just 14% of total investment.
This map shows US Data Center construction starts spending in billions of dollars for the trailing 12-month period through October 2025. Image and data powered by ConstructConnect Project Intelligence
Expected Six-Month Data Center Project Pipeline
ConstructConnect Project Intelligence (CCPI) is tracking 63 late-stage preconstruction data center developments with start dates within the next six months, totaling over $50 billion in combined project value. However, it is unlikely that all these planned facilities will reach ground-breaking.
The five largest planned projects account for over 70% of anticipated starts spending in this period. While geographically, Illinois, Virginia, Texas, and Arizona host 87% of total project value expected to break ground over the next six months.
The concentration trend in data center construction presents potential challenges for some contractors. Despite substantial capital flowing into data center facilities, investment remains clustered among a limited number of projects in select markets.
Firms without an established capacity or presence in these geographies may find limited construction opportunities to benefit from soaring data center spending.
This map displays the regional distribution of total potential data center construction start values across the four US census regions over the next 6 months. Image and Data powered by ConstructConnect Project Intelligence
Anticipated Impact on Energy Infrastructure Investment
ConstructConnect expects full-year 2025 Power Infrastructure starts spending to decline from the record levels set in 2024. However, the sector is projected to grow strongly in subsequent years, with total yearly starts spending forecasted to exceed $30 billion by 2027.
Power Infrastructure has followed data center development, with many large-scale facilities now building dedicated onsite power generation capacity.
This trend highlights the complementary relationship between Data Centers and Power Infrastructure, as available energy supply will constrain the pace of future data center expansion.
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ConstructConnect operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000.
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