The AI Data Center Acceptance Index
Understand what drives community support, opposition, and trust and what can shift them.
Based on a nationally representative survey of 3,000 U.S. adults, the AI Data Center Acceptance Index helps developers, utilities, public affairs firms, municipalities, economic development organizations, and infrastructure advisors understand what drives community support, opposition, and trust. And what can be done about it.
WHY COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE MATTERS
Public acceptance is becoming a development variable
AI-related data center development is accelerating across the United States, but community acceptance cannot be assumed. Concerns about electricity demand, utility costs, water use, land use, environmental impact, tax incentives, local control, and trust can create political, reputational, and development risk.
Understanding where resistance comes from, which concerns actually drive opposition, and what can change minds gives developers, utilities, public officials, and advisors a better chance to anticipate conflict before it becomes a barrier to development.
The study provides a national benchmark for AI data centers and can also inform strategy for large-scale data center development more broadly.
What the study answers
From opinion to action-ready guidance
- Drivers of support and opposition to AI data center development
- Which concerns are most important and likely to influence acceptance
- Who is firmly supportive, firmly opposed, or potentially persuadable
- Which messages, commitments, and community benefits are most effective
- Who communities trust to provide credible information
-
Which objections represent entrenched opposition versus concerns that can realistically be addressed
-
How attitudes differ across communities, regions, and key population segments
Buyer-Specific Online Dashboard
12months
Buter-specific dashboard access
Interactive
Filter by key audiences and markets
Support drivers
74
Community concerns
68
Trust and messengers
55
Message acceptance
63
Illustrative dashboard preview for mockup purposes only. Not actual study data.
Research assets built to turn insight into engagement strategy
Buyers receive both strategic interpretation and direct access to the underlying findings, making it easier to brief leadership, compare audiences, and support local engagement decisions.
Full strategic report and executive summary
Community Acceptance Index and audience profiles
National benchmarks with market-level comparisons
Analysis of concerns, benefits, trust, messages, and credible messengers
Strategic recommendations, detailed findings, and executive briefing
12 months of access to a buyer-specific Online Dashboard
Choose the license that matches how your organization will use the research
Core is designed for internal use. Advisory adds the right to use findings with clients, along with editable exports, deeper subgroup cuts, a workshop, and analyst consultation.
Core License
For internal strategy teams
$9,999
Up to 10 named users · one legal entity · 12 months dashboard access
- Interactive report and PDF exports
- Full national findings
- Atlanta and Northern Virginia comparisons
- Standard tables and subgroup views
- Executive briefing
- Local-market add-ons available
Advisory License
For firms using insights with clients
$19,999
Up to 25 named users · one legal entity · 12 months dashboard access
- Everything in Core
- Editable PowerPoint exports
- Up to five additional subgroup cuts
- Up to five named client engagements
- Client presentation toolkit
- 90-minute application workshop
- Written application summary
- Up to three hours of analyst consultation
Enterprise Advisory
For broader access and client-use needs
Custom
Firmwide, affiliate, multi-office, or expanded client-use
- Custom pricing
- Expanded analyst support
- Additional workshops
- Broader client-use rights
- Expanded users or entities by agreement
Core vs. Advisory at a glance
License comparison
Feature
Core License
Advisory License
Price
$9,999
$19,999
Named users
Up to 10
Up to 25
Legal entities covered
One
One
Online Dashboard access
12 months
12 months
Interactive report
Included
Included
PDF exports
Included
Included
Editable PowerPoint exports
Not included
Included
Full national findings
Included
Included
Hotspot market comparisons: Atlanta and Northern Virginia
Included
Included
Standard tables and subgroup views
Included
Included
Additional subgroup cuts
Not included
Up to five
Executive briefing
Included
Included
Use of findings in client engagements
Not included
Up to five named client engagements
Client presentation toolkit
Not included
Included
Application workshop
Not included
90 minutes
Written application summary
Not included
Included
Analyst consultation
Standard briefing only
Up to three hours
Editing access to dashboard
Access available by agreement
Access available by agreement
Add your local market and compare it to the national benchmark
Local Market Pulse
N=250
A focused read on local acceptance and how the market compares nationally.
$7,500
- General-population adult sample in the defined market
- Standard core questionnaire
- Direct comparison with the national benchmark
- Up to three custom closed-ended questions
- Local-versus-national scorecard
- Standard local findings section in the Online Dashboard
- PDF exports
- One 60-minute results briefing
Standard local pricing assumes a reasonably recruitable U.S. market, a general-population adult sample, the standardized questionnaire and reporting framework, and limited local customization. Additional complexity is scoped and priced separately.
Local add-ons, expanded client-use rights, additional users, custom analysis, and advisory services beyond the included scope can be handled through a separate agreement or statement of work.
Available only to Core or Advisory purchasers and commissioned within 12 months of the national study.
Local Market Diagnostic
A deeper local analysis of who supports, opposes, and can be persuaded.
N=400
$9,500
- General-population adult sample in the defined market
- Standard core questionnaire
- Direct comparison with the national benchmark
- Up to five custom closed-ended questions
- More detailed subgroup analysis
- Supporter, opponent, and persuadable profiles
- Expanded local findings section in the Online Dashboard
- One 90-minute results briefing
- Editable PowerPoint exports for Advisory license holders
Order the study
Request your study license
Use this form to request a license agreement, invoice, and procurement materials. Local add-ons and custom services may require a separate statement of work.
No raw respondent-level data or editing access to the underlying Online Dashboard is included in the standard licenses.
Why acceptance matters now
Across the U.S., proposed data center projects are facing growing scrutiny over electricity demand, water use, land use, noise, tax incentives, and community impact. In some markets, those concerns are showing up in contentious public meetings, organized opposition, delayed approvals, and calls for tighter restrictions.
For developers, utilities, public officials, and advisors, the challenge is no longer simply whether resistance exists. It is understanding what is driving it, where it is strongest, which concerns are most persuadable, and what can shift public opinion.
The AI Data Center Acceptance Index is designed to answer those questions and help organizations make better decisions about communication, engagement, and development strategy.