US data centers consumed roughly 176 terawatt-hours of electricity annually as of 2026, accounting for about 4.4 percent of total national electricity use, according to federal and industry data. More than 4,500 active facilities drive that consumption, with over 700 additional data centers under construction across 38 states.

The load is set to expand quickly. Data centers' share of US peak summer power demand is projected to rise from 4.1 percent in 2025 to 5.3 percent in 2026, as total data center power demand climbs from 31 gigawatts to 41 gigawatts. Some broader estimates that include cooling, lighting, and other building uses place 2026 data center demand as high as 75.8 gigawatts.

The growth is driven largely by artificial intelligence workloads, which run on dense clusters of high-power servers that draw far more electricity than traditional computing. The Energy Information Administration has documented rising data center server energy use across the commercial building stock as these facilities multiply.

The concentration of demand raises planning questions for the power sector. Because data centers require firm, continuous electricity and cluster in specific regions, they place uneven pressure on local grids rather than spreading load evenly across the country.

The figures capture an industry that has moved from a modest share of national electricity use to a meaningful and fast-growing driver of overall power demand.

Source: US Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67704