Half of Americans say they don’t want a data center built in their local community or county. That was the headline of our last piece, along with the surprise underneath it: about one in six U.S. counties actually welcome one. This piece asks the obvious next question.

For the other 2,576 counties, can local residents and hyper-scalers get to yes? If so, what would it take?

We asked what commitments, if any, would make people more supportive of a local data center. The answers came back clear — and clearly ranked. At the top, guaranteeing that utility bills won’t rise (53%). At the bottom, directing new tax revenue to local schools (33%). A 20-point gap between what communities value most and least.

Communities aren’t asking for gifts. They’re asking for protection from specific harms and investment in specific needs.

_{Source: Fraym data (July 2026) and analysis}

Opposition to data centers may look like a wall, but it clearly isn’t. Among the half of Americans who oppose a local data center, two-thirds name at least one commitment that would move them toward yes. Put differently: 34% of all American adults are opposed but open to a negotiated win-win outcome.

Only 16% of adults oppose and say nothing would move them. And the super hardcore opposers – those who say nothing would move them and believe data centers shouldn’t be allowed anywhere – are just 9%. One American in eleven, not one in two.

_{Source: Fraym dataSource: Fraym data (July 2026) and analysis. Share of all U.S. adults. Half oppose a local data center, yet most name at least one commitment that would move their opinion}

However, the offer must match local concerns. People respond to commitments that address their specific worry, not generic goodwill. Among Americans worried about higher utility bills, 61% say a bill guarantee would move them, versus just 40% of those who aren’t concerned about their utility bill. The same pattern holds across every fear we tested, by 11 to 21 points.

_{Source: Fraym data (July 2026) and analysis. Figures show the share naming each commitment among people worried about the same issue versus those not worried about the issue it addresses. The water-use concern maps to infrastructure upgrade investments as a potential fix, but less cleanly than the other concern/fix combinations presented}

Since worries differ from place to place, the right package differs from place to place too…

We took every net-negative county in America and asked how many of the five commitments it would take to reach solid majority support. The kind of durable local buy-in a multibillion-dollar, long-term facility needs. We were deliberately conservative. We assumed only soft opponents could be moved (i.e., people somewhat opposed who don’t rule out data centers everywhere), and that the most ardent opponents would remain hardcore under all scenarios.

It turns out that nearly half of opposed counties, which are home to 145 million people, are only one commitment away from solid majority support. It’s almost always the same commitment: guarantee that residents’ utility bills won’t go up. Another quarter need a package of two commitments, most often the utility bill guarantee plus local infrastructure investment.

All told, roughly seven in ten opposed counties are reachable with two commitments or fewer.

_{Source: Fraym data (July 2026) and analysis. Maps and figures represent how many of the five commitments it would take to reach solid majority support (net +10) in every opposed county}

In 379 counties — led by Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas, and Colorado — no combination of the five commitments gets to solid majority support. Too much of the local opposition simply isn’t open to a win-win deal. Those local communities have spoken, and the answer is simple – build somewhere else.

The national conversation treats data center opposition as a wall. It’s not. It’s a map of what communities need to see before they can say yes. Nearly half of opposed America is one commitment away. Another quarter needs two. The remainder aren’t reachable at any realistic price. For companies planning to be someone’s neighbor for years and years, that map is the difference between guessing and listening — and what residents want is no longer a mystery. County by county, commitment by commitment, the data exists now.

Interested in tracking trends like these down to the census tract level across the U.S.? Contact Melissa Persaud at [email protected].