The homeowners on a once-quiet Virginia cul-de-sac are speaking out against the noise pollution coming from newly constructed data centers.
The residents of Statesboro Place in Loudoun County were plagued with months of construction noise, explosions, heavy machinery and red dust coating their neighborhood as the campus of windowless buildings went up.
Now that the data towers are finished, the people of the formerly peaceful dead-end street have to live with insufferable sounds of facilities powering America’s AI hype, Fox News reported.
The buildings behind the neighborhood are run by Amazon and Microsoft.
One resident told Fox News: ‘It’s like 150 feet away and just constant noise.
‘So far, they’ve planted some trees, thinking that would solve the issue.’
The residents interviewed asked to remain anonymous because of discussions with the Homeowners Association (HOA) and county officials.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Fox News the company is ‘actively meeting with nearby HOAs to address community priorities, including landscaping, lighting and noise, working to ensure that our development lives up to residents’ expectations.’
Tech giants have been outbidding homebuilders for land across the US so that they can build data centers. A Microsoft data center in Virginia near a cul-de-sac is pictured
Northern Virginia has become the data center capital of the world due to its flat land, power infrastructure and network of fiber optic cables
Data center developers are outbidding home builders for land by orders of magnitude
An Amazon spokesperson said the company has ‘been part of Loudoun for 20 years’ and that it is working out solutions with a local team, residents and the HOA.
‘We’re committed to building responsibly and being good neighbors,’ the spokesperson told Fox News.
Another resident said the hum goes beyond their backyard and is disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of the walking trails in the area.
‘Only two data centers are active right now and two additional ones are planned to be active next spring,’ the resident added.
Loudoun County is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers and one of the most densely built-out AI infrastructures in the US.
More than 230 data centers have been built across the county in the past six months, Fox News reported. Another 116 are yet to come.
Northern Virginia especially has emerged as the data center capital of the world due to its flat land, power infrastructure and dense network of fiber optic cables laid down during the dot com boom.
These are just some of the buildings that make up Virginia’s ‘Data Centre Alley’ in Loudoun County
Prince William County in Virginia is another hotbed for data center construction
Another resident told Fox News: ‘When I moved in, it was an open field. I had a nice backyard and there was not an ugly building to look at.
‘Are we the guinea pigs? It feels that way,’ the resident asked.
The data centers that transformed the landscape have also reshaped the area’s economy.
County officials say data centers generated $1.2 billion in tax revenue in fiscal year 2026 – 39 percent of the county budget. That figure is projected to rise to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2027.
The revenue is supposed to fund county services and keep tax rates lower. However, residents have complained their individual bills keep rising.
One Loudoun County homeowner shared property tax records with Fox News and demonstrated that the annual real estate tax bill rose from $17,391 in 2021 to about $22,250 in 2026.
This suburban region of Northern Virginia is known as Data Center Alley
AI data centers are becoming so vast that the length of the largest is measured in miles
‘In our experience, our taxes have not gone down. We also own multiple properties and vehicles in Loudoun County, and we have not experienced a reduction in our real estate or personal property tax burden,’ the homeowner said.
Little River District Supervisor Laura TeKrony said Loudoun County should limit data center development to industrial areas.
‘I have not voted for one data center application since my term started in 2024,’ TeKrony told Fox News.
‘There are some things that matter more than additional tax revenue: our land, our water, our quality of life and our community character.’
Residents also told Fox News they are doubtful the data centers will go away.
Instead, they are pushing county leaders to build sound barriers to reduce the ongoing noise.
‘Trees are not a solution,’ one resident said.
Other neighbors proposed tax cuts for the community.
