Briefing, October 2026
State of data center hiring
Every number on this page comes from one of our studies, and every study comes from the 109 projects in our nine market trackers plus public records we read ourselves: BLS, the Department of Labor, each company's careers site and each project's own filings. The studies are linked where the numbers come from, and each one updates monthly.
By Czarina Tabayoyong, Founder, Critical Path Hiring. Former Amazon, AWS and Google recruiter.
Last reviewed · First published · Next update
Recomputed with every study refresh.
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The numbers
- 109
- projects tracked in nine markets. Source
- 5,204 MW
- stated capacity under construction. Source
- 10,008 to 27,755
- construction workers that capacity needs at peak, estimate. Source
- 31 of 109
- projects stalled, denied or withdrawn. Source
- 3,325 MW
- stated capacity on blocked projects, 2,951 of it stalled rather than cancelled. Source
- 7
- sites in their commissioning window this quarter, in 6 markets, plus 6 year-only targets. Source
- 21.5 months
- median from public approval to first stated completion. Source
- 12 months
- median from groundbreaking to first capacity. Source
- 18 of 23
- sites under construction held by established operators. Source
- 17 of 37
- projects from funds, landowners and first-time developers that were blocked. Source
- 2,314
- open hyperscaler data center roles, 66% of them Amazon. Source
- 68 of 109
- projects that state no permanent job figure. Source
The hiring chain
Read left to right, this is what the studies say happens to a tracked project and who gets hired when.
- 01
Approval
A council, commission or county vote. In Texas it usually comes late, as a tax abatement after design; in Illinois it comes first. Median 21.5 months from here to first capacity.
Study - 02
Groundbreaking
About 10 months after the vote on a typical tracked project. Construction hiring starts: an estimated 1.9 to 5.3 workers per MW at peak, drawn from a metro pool that in San Antonio and Columbus is small relative to the demand.
Study - 03
Peak construction
For every permanent job promised, about 16.1 construction jobs are stated by the projects that state both. Most of the workforce a site ever employs is on it now.
Study - 04
Commissioning window
The last two quarters before completion, about 6 months after groundbreaking. 7 tracked sites are in it this quarter. Commissioning agents and engineers are mostly hired through firms; only Amazon and Oracle post them under their own names.
Study - 05
Turnover
Construction and commissioning crews leave for the next site. The permanent operations team, a median of about 39 jobs per 100 MW where stated, stays. 68 of 109 projects never state that figure.
Study
Market scorecard
One row per tracked market, with each study's figure for that market. Hyperscaler roles are counted by state, so the two Texas markets share a figure.
- Under construction
- Blocked
| Market | Projects | Under construction | Blocked | MW under construction | Peak demand, share of metro construction workforce | MW blocked | Sites in Cx window now | No job figure | Open hyperscaler roles, state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Virginia | 10 | 1 | 2 of 10 | 1,000 | 1.7% to 4.7%113,410 employed | not stated | 6 of 10 | 46312 commissioning | |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 14 | 4 | 3 of 14 | 3702 with no MW | 0.4% to 1.2%162,920 employed | 48 | 1 | 12 of 14 | 41527 commissioning |
| Phoenix | 14 | 2 | 4 of 14 | 497 | 0.7% to 2.0%132,260 employed | not stated | 1 | 9 of 14 | 685 commissioning |
| Atlanta | 14 | 2 | 5 of 14 | 354 | 0.7% to 2.0%93,260 employed | 651 | 9 of 14 | 13013 commissioning | |
| Columbus | 14 | 5 | 4 of 14 | 1,0004 with no MW | 4.9% to 14%39,220 employed | 200 | 1 | 5 of 14 | 1434 commissioning |
| Salt Lake City | 11 | 3 | 2 of 11 | 1752 with no MW | 0.7% to 2.0%46,030 employed | 530 | 1 | 4 of 11 | 151 commissioning |
| San Antonio | 11 | 3 | 2 of 11 | 1,700 | 7.2% to 20%45,550 employed | not stated | 2 | 7 of 11 | 41527 commissioning |
| Hillsboro | 9 | 2 | 3 of 9 | 1081 with no MW | 0.4% to 1.0%57,870 employed | 10 | 7 of 9 | 2311 commissioning | |
| Chicago | 12 | 1 | 6 of 12 | not stated1 with no MW | 132,250 employed | 1,886 | 1 | 9 of 12 | 311 commissioning |
Commissioning
Pay
Median posted ranges from 48 public postings: commissioning engineers $101K to $159K a year (16 postings), commissioning agents $84K to $140K (5), commissioning technicians $38 to $60 an hour (5). Pay ranges
Credentials
17 of 46 postings name a commissioning certification and 2 require one. A PE license is named more often than any commissioning certification, in 14 of 46. Certifications
Who hires
24 employers had a live data center commissioning posting this fall, 8 of them commissioning, testing and engineering firms. Among the hyperscalers, 77 open commissioning roles, all at Amazon and Oracle. Employers
Timing
7 tracked sites are in their commissioning window this quarter across 6 markets, the peak quarter in the set. 2027 holds four to five every quarter. Windows by market
Studies
- Construction labor gap by metro
- Pushback study: why 31 projects were blocked
- What pushback took off the table
- The commissioning collision
- Hiring runway from approval and groundbreaking
- Who holds the pipeline
- Hyperscaler data center jobs index
- Job promises
- Construction jobs per permanent job
- Hiring windows by market
- Commissioning pay ranges
- Commissioning certifications employers ask for
- Who hires commissioning staff
To cite a figure, link the study it comes from. Each study page states its date, its base and its method, and most offer the data as a CSV. Quote the figure with its base, as we do: "31 of 109 tracked projects", not "28% of data centers".
Questions
- Where is data center construction labor tightest right now?
- San Antonio and Columbus. On stated capacity under construction, San Antonio's sites need an estimated 7.2% to 20% of the metro's construction workforce at peak and Columbus's 4.9% to 14%. Northern Virginia absorbs a build of the same size at 1.7% to 4.7%.
- How long does a data center owner have to hire after approval?
- About 21.5 months from the approving vote to the first stated completion on the projects we track, and about 12 months from groundbreaking. The commissioning window is the last two quarters before completion, so commissioning hiring starts roughly 6 months after groundbreaking.
- What do data center commissioning jobs pay?
- Median posted ranges in our October 2026 set of 48 postings: commissioning engineers $101K to $159K a year (16 postings), commissioning agents $84K to $140K (5), commissioning technicians $38 to $60 an hour (5). 17 of 46 postings name a commissioning certification and 2 require one.
Related
Hiring windows by market
When each market's tracked projects reach commissioning and turnover, 2026 to 2029.
Construction labor gap by metro
Tracked capacity under construction against the local construction workforce.
Hyperscaler jobs index
Open data center roles at Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle, by state and role type.
Hiring call
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Czarina Tabayoyong
Founder and principal recruiter, Critical Path Hiring. Czarina recruits commissioning, MEP, power and critical facilities people for data center builds. She previously recruited cloud and data center architecture talent at AWS Professional Services, and PMO and project delivery talent for hyperscale data center campuses in Texas and Virginia.