Talent Maps / Houston / Data Center Engineers

Houston Data Center Engineer Talent Map (2026)

Houston is a smaller data center market than Dallas, but the pipeline is growing fast. Here is what data center engineers and technicians earn, who employs them, where the campuses are and what stands in the way.

Staffing a data center project?

A talent map shows where a group of professionals works, what they are paid and who else is trying to hire them. This one covers the engineers and skilled technicians who design, build and run data centers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area. Pay figures come from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey (May 2025), and market figures from CBRE, CenterPoint Energy and company reports from 2025 and 2026. Our data center recruiters update it as new data comes out. See also our Texas data center tracker, our Dallas-Fort Worth data center talent map and our Houston electrical and mechanical engineer talent maps.

154 MWData center capacity in Houston, a secondary marketCBRE, H2 2025

28.5 MWUnder construction at the end of 2025CBRE, H2 2025

2xCBRE says Houston’s capacity could more than double by 2028Energy Capital HTX, 2026

8 GWData center load CenterPoint expects to energize by 2029CenterPoint, April 2026

500+ MWPotential capacity of Serverfarm’s Houston campusesServerfarm

$131,070Median electrical engineer pay in HoustonBLS, May 2025

Data center pay in Houston by role

BLS does not track data center engineers as a separate job, so the table below shows the occupations that design, build and run data centers. Houston pays its electrical and mechanical engineers well above national rates because the energy industry competes for the same people.

Role (Houston metro)	10th percentile	Median	90th percentile
Electrical engineers	$77,170	$131,070	$207,990
Mechanical engineers	$79,470	$125,350	$198,730
Network architects	$67,020	$124,900	$171,760
Construction managers	$68,500	$103,530	$170,590
Network and systems administrators	$66,770	$101,430	$157,980
Electricians	$38,800	$59,180	$84,470
HVAC mechanics and installers	$38,780	$58,940	$83,120

Annual pay. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. Data center employers often pay above these metro figures for critical facilities experience and on-call duty.

What the spread means in practice: Houston data center operators are hiring from the same pool of electrical and mechanical engineers as refineries, LNG plants and utilities, so plan to pay near the top of these ranges for experienced critical facilities staff. Read our guide on how to hire data center engineers.

Who employs data center talent in Houston

Colocation operators

DataBank runs four Houston data centers with 36.4 MW of critical IT load, including the former CyrusOne sites it bought in 2022. Skybox’s Houston One campus in Katy has 26 MW and a roof rated for winds above 190 mph. TRG’s Houston campus offers up to 24 MW and stayed online through Hurricane Beryl.

Digital Realty also runs a Houston colocation facility.

New hyperscale campuses

Serverfarm is building in northwest Houston, with campuses that could reach more than 500 MW, backed by a $3 billion credit facility closed in December 2025.

In Brazoria County, a proposed $3.5 billion Old Ocean project would pair two 310 MW data centers with two gas plants, though the county denied it a tax break in March 2026.

Server makers and technology companies

Apple builds AI servers in Houston, and Foxconn runs five campuses and 11 facilities there, mostly building data servers. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Spring headquarters has more than 120,000 square feet of lab and data center space.

Utilities, designers and contractors

CenterPoint Energy is building the grid capacity these campuses need. Houston’s EPC firms and electrical contractors, such as Burrow Global, which runs a data center group from Post Oak, design and build critical facilities.

Where the campuses are: Houston submarkets

Northwest Houston and Cypress

HyperscaleNew campuses

Serverfarm’s campuses near Hockley and Cutten Road, with on-site substations.

Katy and the west side

Colocation

Skybox Houston One in Katy and DataBank’s Westway Park campus.

Galleria and central Houston

ColocationEnterprise

DataBank’s Galleria site and the downtown colocation facilities that serve energy companies.

North Houston and I-45

Colocation

TRG’s two data centers near I-45.

Brazoria County

ProposedPower-paired

Large proposed projects with their own generation. The county adopted data center rules in June 2026 after noise complaints.

What stands in the way in 2026

A state audit of grid connections. In August 2026 Texas ordered an audit of every data center waiting to connect to the ERCOT grid, and in September it halted state environmental permits for data centers until the audit is done.
Power. CenterPoint submitted more than 17 GW of large-load projects to ERCOT’s first batch study, about 14 GW of which it expects to qualify. That is more than 65% above its current Houston-area peak.
Storms. Hurricane Beryl left more than 2.6 million Texas customers without power in July 2024. Houston campuses sell resilience, and buyers ask hard questions about wind ratings and backup power.
Neighbors. A May 2026 Hobby School survey found about 63% of Houstonians would oppose a data center within a mile of their home.
Labor. Refineries, LNG plants and utilities pay well for the same electrical and mechanical skills.

The talent pipeline

Lone Star College. Lone Star partners with Foxconn and placed its first 10-student intern cohort in September 2026.
San Jacinto College. San Jacinto offers a cybersecurity bachelor’s degree and an NSA-validated associate degree.
Houston City College. Formerly Houston Community College, it was picked in September 2026 for a Google-backed workforce accelerator.
Adjacent trades. Houston has no dedicated data center technician program yet, but its instrumentation, electrical and HVAC programs train the technicians data centers need. See our Houston controls talent map.

What this means if you’re hiring

Recruit from industrial plants. Refinery, chemical plant and LNG staff already run critical electrical and cooling systems around the clock.
Pay energy-industry rates. Houston engineers earn well above national medians. Offers built on national data will fall short.
Sell stability. Many Houston engineers have lived through oil downturns. A long-term data center operations role can be an attractive alternative.
Watch the audit. Projects still waiting on power may slip. Hire first for sites that are already connected.

Staffing a Houston data center project?

Apollo Technical has recruited engineers since 2010. Our recruiting teams place electrical, mechanical, controls and critical facilities talent on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire basis.

Call 832.519.1704 or see our Houston engineering recruiters page.

Hire data center talent

Frequently asked questions

How big is the Houston data center market?

CBRE counted about 154 MW of data center capacity in Houston at the end of 2025, with 28.5 MW under construction. That is far smaller than Dallas-Fort Worth, but CBRE says Houston’s capacity could more than double by 2028.

How much do data center engineers make in Houston?

BLS does not track data center engineers separately. In Houston, electrical engineers earn a median of $131,070 and mechanical engineers $125,350, among the highest in the country.

Which data center companies operate in Houston?

DataBank, Skybox, TRG, Digital Realty and Serverfarm all run or are building Houston data centers. See our US data center map.

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