Around 5% of electricity in the United States is used for data centers — far more than the global average

Around 1.5% of the world’s electricity was used for data centers in 2025. People are often surprised by how low this number is.

While data centers are a relatively small share of global electricity demand, this is not true everywhere. You can see the differences across several world regions in the chart.

The United States is home to the largest share of the world’s data centers. In 2025, they consumed around 5% of the country’s electricity.

But demand is even more localized than this. There are numerous states where data centers represent more than 10% of power demand. In Virginia, it’s over a quarter.

Even in Europe, this demand is very concentrated; beneath its 2% figure is Ireland, where data centers consume over 20% of electricity.

This local concentration of demand — combined with the speed at which AI is progressing — puts pressure on grids, even if electricity demand is not overwhelming at the global level.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Our World in Data. “Around 5% of electricity in the United States is used for data centers — far more than the global average” by Hannah Ritchie, published by Our World in Data under CC BY 4.0. Changed here: set as a page, its interactive charts shown as pictures. Data from third parties keeps its own licence.

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