In 2015, just 12 U.S. ZIP codes contained a large data center. The median large data center opening in 2026 is surrounded by roughly 70% fewer residential housing units per square mile than facilities opened in 2017. In the two years after activation, home values in data center ZIP codes generally tracked their matched communities — with no statistically meaningful gains or losses. Three years after a data center opened, communities retained 66% of their pre-opening active listings, compared with 43% in matched ZIP codes without a data center. Those differences could make the housing-market and infrastructure effects of the next phase of the data center boom harder to predict.