Free email playbook · IL
Get hired on Illinois's
data centers
Illinois is building 3.8 GW of new data centers across 14 sites. This shows you how to get one of those jobs.
14 sites |7,325 workers at peak |Built by Meta
Still to build
3.8 GW
Total workers on site at peak
7,325
Building sites
14
Why now
Why Illinois, why now
Illinois is one of the busiest data-center states in the country, with 14 sites from companies like Meta, Microsoft, T5 Data Centers, CoreWeave. The work is steady, it lasts for years, and there are not enough local workers for it.
The trades needed most here: electricians, carpenters, ironworkers. For electricians, the data centers alone need 0.3x as many new workers as Illinois usually adds in a year.
What's inside
The Illinois playbook
- Which trade to pick in Illinois — ranked by how short the builders are.
- The site map — every Illinois data center, who runs it, and where it stands.
- How to get hired — the Illinois unions and contractors, and how a new apprentice gets in.
- Illinois pay and how to get licensed — starting pay, the data-center bump, and the steps to journeyman.
Free by email
Get the free Illinois playbook by email
Get the free Illinois Data-Center Jobs Playbook by email
Be first when it is ready, plus Illinois updates as new sites come. Free.