One Virginia county holds the largest concentration of data centers on Earth
- Loudoun County: ~199 data center buildings, 49 million square feet
- Data centers fund 38% of the county’s general-fund revenue
- Traces to AOL’s 1990s dial-up headquarters in the same county
- The Old Dominion, "Mother of Presidents" — 8 born here
How Virginia’s digital economy grew
Virginia becomes the 10th state
Ratifying the Constitution on June 25.
How a Loudoun hayfield became the internet’s busiest interchange
MAE-East launched in 1992 when network engineers connected their gear in a cinder-block room in Vienna. AOL’s Loudoun County headquarters turned that exchange into a genuine chokepoint — by 1997, an outsized share of the era’s much smaller global internet ran through it, forcing a 1998 move to Ashburn just as Equinix opened its first facility there. That’s the real origin moment, not a marketing coincidence: cheap flat land, fiber routes anchored by Dulles Airport, and federal-adjacent demand did the rest.
A popular claim says 70% of the world’s internet traffic flows through the county — researchers who actually track global bandwidth say that’s not true; the US as a whole carries only about a quarter of the world’s international internet capacity. What is true, and doesn’t need exaggeration: Northern Virginia holds roughly 22 to 23% of global data center capacity in one place, the single largest concentration on Earth by that measure.
What the data centers actually fund
Loudoun County’s own figures: data centers now pay $894.5 million in county property taxes, funding an estimated 38% of general-fund revenue while occupying only about 4% of commercial land. Statewide, Virginia’s data center industry drove an estimated $40 billion in economic impact and more than 112,000 jobs in 2025.
How Virginia businesses buy websites
Data Center Alley gets the headlines, but most of Virginia’s businesses are the trades and shops serving Richmond, Virginia Beach, and towns across the rest of the state.
Trades and home services
Northern Virginia and the rest of the state are very different markets — say plainly which one you serve.
Professional and B2B services
A tech and federal-contracting economy rewards clarity about exactly what you do.
Shops and hospitality
Clear hours and location, readable on a phone, win the quick local search.
How well do you know Virginia’s digital economy?
3 quick questions. Get all 3 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
Virginia quiz · 1 of 3
Loudoun County is often said to carry "70% of the world’s internet traffic." What do researchers who track global bandwidth actually say?
Why FastSites works here
A state that quietly runs a fifth of the world’s data infrastructure understands the value of solid, unglamorous infrastructure done right. A clear one-page site, live in days, at a published price, is that same instinct for a small business.