Talent Maps / Jacksonville / Data Center Engineers

Jacksonville Data Center Engineer Talent Map (2026)

What data center engineers earn in metro Jacksonville, which operators and utilities employ them, where in the metro the sites are, and the large projects and moratoria shaping demand.

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 data center engineers in the Jacksonville metro area (Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties). BLS has no data center engineer code, so pay figures use electrical and mechanical engineers from the latest wage survey (May 2025). The demand picture uses project and policy news published from 2025 to 2026. Our data center recruiters update it as new data comes out. See also our Jacksonville electrical, mechanical and controls engineer talent maps.

$116,480Median electrical engineer pay in metro Jacksonville, the main code for data center engineersBLS, May 2025

$99,500Median mechanical engineer pay in metro Jacksonville, the code for cooling and plant engineersBLS, May 2025

34 MWOperating data center capacity across 16 facilities and 575,476 square feetBaxtel

200 MWMicrogrid planned by NextNRG on 1,200 acres near Jacksonville International AirportJacksonville Today, 2026

3 countiesClay, Nassau and Putnam passed data center moratoria in 2026Hoodline, September 2026

$1.57BJEA’s planned 640 megawatt gas plant, expected to run by 2032Jacksonville Today, 2025

Data center engineer salaries in Jacksonville

The median electrical engineer in metro Jacksonville earns $116,480 a year, $11,700 above the Florida median of $104,780 and $4,150 below the national median of $120,630. Electrical engineers design the power side of a data center, from utility service to switchgear, generators and UPS systems, so this is the best local benchmark. The hourly median is $56.00.

Annual pay percentile	Jacksonville metro	Florida	United States
10th percentile	$74,530	$65,090	$76,550
25th percentile	$93,980	$80,860	$92,830
Median	$116,480	$104,780	$120,630
75th percentile	$136,260	$131,550	$152,950
90th percentile	$165,610	$164,210	$184,300

Electrical Engineers (SOC 17-2071), the main code for data center engineers. BLS publishes no data center engineer code. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. Wage surveys run about a year behind current offers.

Mechanical engineers cover cooling, chillers and plant design. Their median in Jacksonville is $99,500, which is $480 below the Florida median of $99,980 and $4,610 below the national median of $104,110.

Annual pay percentile	Jacksonville metro	Florida	United States
10th percentile	$67,920	$66,260	$73,990
25th percentile	$70,970	$79,090	$84,130
Median	$99,500	$99,980	$104,110
75th percentile	$129,960	$128,320	$132,590
90th percentile	$152,090	$153,950	$164,340

Mechanical Engineers (SOC 17-2141). Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. Wage surveys run about a year behind current offers.

What the spread means in practice: Orlando’s electrical median of $119,080 is $2,600 above Jacksonville’s, and its mechanical median of $103,380 is $3,880 higher. Jacksonville’s electrical engineers are better paid than the Florida median, and its 75th and 90th percentiles of $136,260 and $165,610 are above Orlando’s $128,490 and $159,060.

Where Jacksonville’s data center engineers work

Colocation and network operators

Baxtel lists 16 facilities from 12 providers. The largest by floor area are SBA Edge’s JAX NAP at 421 W Church (280,000 square feet), Cologix’s JAX2 (125,000), TierPoint (121,000) and ScaleMatrix (119,961). Flexential, EdgeConneX, Lumen, Windstream and American Tower also have sites.

Flexential

Its Belfort Road facility is 35,184 square feet with 1.39 megawatts of critical load UPS capacity, N+1 UPS and cooling redundancy and a Category 5 hurricane resistant design.

Developers

NextNRG, based in Miami Beach, holds a lease option on 1,600 acres in unincorporated Nassau County near Jacksonville International Airport. About 1,200 acres would host a 200 megawatt microgrid and about 400 acres a hyperscale data center.

Utilities

JEA serves more than 1 million residents in Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties. Florida Power & Light serves more than 6 million customer accounts statewide and lists solar and battery projects in Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties.

Where the talent sits: Jacksonville submarkets

Downtown

ColocationNetwork

JAX NAP at 421 W Church is the largest facility listed by Baxtel at 280,000 square feet, and GoRACK has sites at 421 W Church and 800 Water.

Southside and Belfort Road

ColocationEnterprise

Flexential’s facility at 4905 Belfort Road offers SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001 and PCI compliance.

Nassau County near the airport

ProposedHyperscale

NextNRG says power, water and fiber are already in place. No active applications were pending as of mid 2026, and the county has adopted a 12 month moratorium.

Clay and Putnam counties

Moratorium

Clay voted 4 to 1 for a one year moratorium in June 2026. Putnam’s runs through August 2027.

Duval County

Policy

About a dozen smaller facilities operate in Jacksonville and no hyperscale project has been proposed. Council member Moné Holder plans a public meeting on October 7, 2026.

What’s driving demand for data center engineers in Jacksonville

A small base of colocation sites. Baxtel counts 34 megawatts and 575,476 square feet across the metro, so most work is upgrades, expansions and retrofits.
NextNRG in Nassau County. The 200 megawatt microgrid and 400 acre hyperscale site was announced in September 2025. No formal applications had been filed as of mid 2026.
County moratoria. Nassau passed a unanimous 12 month moratorium and Clay a one year moratorium in June 2026. Putnam acted in September, and St. Johns County has discussed one.
State law. Senate Bill 484 took effect in July 2026 and applies to data centers using 50 megawatts or more.
Power supply. JEA’s $1.57 billion, 640 megawatt plant is expected to run by 2032. JEA expects a 406 megawatt deficit in the early 2040s without new supply.
Duval policy. Moné Holder won a special election on August 18, 2026, was sworn in August 31, and is weighing a moratorium or protections.

Data center specialties tied to these projects

Mission critical electrical engineers for switchgear, UPS, generator and utility interconnection design.
Mechanical and cooling engineers for chilled water, liquid cooling and plant design.
Microgrid and power systems engineers for on-site generation such as the NextNRG plan.
Commissioning engineers for retrofits and expansions at existing colocation sites.
Site civil engineers for large campuses. See our Jacksonville civil engineer talent map.

The talent pipeline

University of North Florida. UNF’s BS programs in electrical and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
Licensing. Senior design roles usually require a Florida PE license from the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, which requires the FE and PE exams.
Hiring guides. See our guide to hiring data center engineers and our data center jobs page.

What this means if you’re hiring

Expect steady work, not a boom. Jacksonville has 34 megawatts of operating capacity and no hyperscale project proposed in Duval, so plan around retrofits and expansions.
Price senior electrical roles at $136,260 or higher. That is the 75th percentile for electrical engineers in metro Jacksonville.
Watch the policy calendar. Duval’s October 7, 2026 meeting and any county moratorium will shape whether larger projects come to the metro.
Look at Orlando for competing offers. Its electrical median of $119,080 is $2,600 above Jacksonville’s.

Staffing a Jacksonville data center project?

Apollo Technical has recruited engineers since 2010. Our recruiting teams place data center, electrical, mechanical and commissioning engineers on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire basis.

Call 813.701.2797 or see our Jacksonville engineering recruiters page.

Hire data center talent

Frequently asked questions

How much do data center engineers make in Jacksonville?

BLS has no data center engineer code. The median electrical engineer salary in metro Jacksonville is $116,480 a year, according to May 2025 data, and the median mechanical engineer earns $99,500. The middle half of electrical engineers earn between $93,980 and $136,260.

Do data center engineers earn more in Jacksonville or Orlando?

On the electrical engineer code, Orlando is slightly higher. Its median is $119,080, against $116,480 in Jacksonville. See our Orlando data center engineer talent map.

Who hires data center engineers in Jacksonville?

Colocation and network operators such as SBA Edge, Cologix, TierPoint, Flexential, ScaleMatrix and EdgeConneX, developers such as NextNRG, and utilities such as JEA and Florida Power & Light.

Sources (20)