Facts at a Glance:

  • Human capital constraints are the largest bottleneck to data center development; the gap in supply and surging demand fuels higher wages in both major markets and smaller communities.
  • Data center pay varies by 46 percentage points across the U.S., from Silicon Valley at 34.2% above the national average to Omaha at 11.8% below.
  • 25% of data center personnel are hired away by competing data center operators.
  • Workforce acceleration programs can build sustainable talent pipelines from adjacent industries.

TROY, Mich., Aug. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kelly (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB), a global workforce strategy and solutions provider, has published its 2026 Data Center Salary Guide , a comprehensive view of the data center labor market and a workforce blueprint for hiring across every stage of the data center lifecycle. The report combines compensation benchmarks, workforce trends, and market intelligence to help employers navigate this critical juncture as a looming staffing crisis threatens to stifle the acceleration of artificial intelligence and data center development.

Workforce Constraints Emerge as a Critical Risk to Data Center Deployment

The United States data center market is undergoing the largest buildout in history, driven by an unprecedented surge in AI investment and cloud infrastructure. Capital expenditure from the nation’s five largest digital infrastructure providers is projected to exceed $700 billion in 2026 alone. However, operational complexities and acute workforce shortages threaten to slow execution. The Kelly report reveals the single largest bottleneck to completing these multi-billion-dollar facilities.

“The biggest constraint on data center growth is no longer just power, land, or equipment. It’s talent,” said Joel Leege, President of Kelly Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom. “Without the skilled workforce to build, commission, and operate these facilities, even the most ambitious AI infrastructure investments will struggle to move at the speed the market demands.”

Ninety percent of data center operators identify staffing shortages as a critical constraint on their ability to build or expand facilities. With approximately half of U.S. data centers scheduled for 2026 delivery expected to face delays or cancellations, workforce planning failure represents the primary cause of delay fully within organizations’ control.

Compensation Premiums and Regional Multipliers Reshape Data Center Salaries

Data center salaries reflect strong sector-wide demand, with industry scarcity pushing wages higher. Specialized technical skills carry significant salary uplifts, led by liquid cooling commissioning (92% of employers report high demand), medium-voltage electrical expertise (88%), and graphics processing unity (GPU) cluster operations (84%). Specific market drivers, including on-call shift stacks, certification uplifts, and talent poaching premiums, further drive up compensation.

Compensation benchmarks illustrate the premiums commanded by specialized data center talent. National midpoint estimates start at $175,000 for AI Engineers, $178,000 for Data Center Operations Leaders, $135,000 for Commissioning Program Managers, $128,000 for Construction Managers, and $112,000 for Data Center Technician SMEs.

Salaries vary significantly by geography, driven by regional labor availability and living costs. Silicon Valley carries the nation’s highest premium at 34.2% above the national average (1.342x multiplier), followed by Northern Virginia at +16.0% (1.160x) and Chicago at +1.4% (1.014x). Conversely, emerging low-cost energy corridors offer regional labor discounts, including Dallas-Fort Worth (-2.2%), Phoenix (-3.8%), Salt Lake City (-4.4%), Las Vegas (-9.2%), and Omaha (-11.8%).

Data center development can create significant new demand for specialized skills, especially in emerging markets with smaller talent pools. Because those skills often overlap with construction, utilities, telecommunications, and other adjacent industries, employers need to understand how nearby data center growth can intensify competition for talent.

Sustainable Growth Demands a Transition to Workforce Acceleration Models

With permanent data center employment projected to reach 650,000 positions by 2026 (a 30% increase from 2023) and data center-related construction jobs expected to exceed 180,000 positions through 2028, talent competition has reached critical levels. Currently, 25% of data center personnel are hired away by competing hyperscalers and other data center operators. Talent poaching drives sector-wide wage inflation without resolving the root talent shortage.

Proactive, skills-based workforce approaches can maintain project momentum and build sustainable talent pipelines. Employers can fill critical roles by recruiting from adjacent technical sectors, such as telecommunications, utility grid operations, and industrial HVAC, and implementing rapid upskilling programs.

“The challenge isn't simply finding more people. The industry needs to expand the talent pool,” said Jake Rasweiler, Senior Vice President, Data Centers and Digital Infrastructure, Kelly. “Data center employers are competing for many of the same specialized workers, and that approach can't keep pace with the level of infrastructure investment we're seeing. Companies that plan their workforce earlier and create pathways for talent from adjacent industries will be much better positioned to keep projects moving.”

The report features extensive analysis of Kelly’s proprietary workforce data combined with data from trusted labor market partners, including more than 18 trillion data points validated against 8.6 million company pay stubs. Findings were also cross-referenced against U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. The research also includes actionable insights from industry experts, helping data center leaders, hiring managers, and job seekers navigate a rapidly evolving landscape where location, specialization, and intense competition for talent shape compensation levels and data center deployment success.

To explore the full report, access the 2026 Data Center Salary Guide here .

About Kelly ®
Kelly Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB) helps companies recruit and manage skilled workers and helps job seekers find great work. Since inventing the staffing industry in 1946, we have become experts in the many industries and local and global markets we serve. With a network of suppliers and partners around the world, we connect more than 375,000 people with work every year. Our suite of outsourcing and consulting solutions ensures companies have the people they need, when and where they are needed most. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, we empower businesses and individuals to access limitless opportunities in industries such as science, engineering, technology, education, manufacturing, retail, finance, and energy. Revenue in 2025 was $4.3 billion. Learn more at kellyservices.com .

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