Data Center Boom Turns RV Parks Into Workforce Housing

At a 450-campsite RV park near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 70 Amazon packages recently piled up at the front desk — deliveries not for tourists, but for the hundreds of data center construction workers now living there long-term. The scene is repeating itself across the country as Google, QTS, Meta and other operators build one of the largest infrastructure projects in US history, and traveling workers put their per diems toward RVs instead of hotel rooms.

For employers and HR teams staffing data center construction, the shift touches core people-process decisions: how per diem allowances are structured, whether housing stipends follow workers across multi-year projects, and how mobility affects retention when projects wind down.

Jamie Wolter, manager of Amana RV Park & Event Center, says her park typically hosts up to 60 long-term campers. Workers have now arrived from as far away as Oregon and Washington, some with spouses and homeschool-age children. "It's like you're a landlord now, and you never used to be," Wolter said, noting staff who once fielded complaints about missing fire rings now weigh whether to evict tenants behind on rent.

What does the boom mean for the RV industry?

US wholesale RV shipments fell 13.7% through September compared with the same period last year, according to the RV Industry Association. Data center buyers are cushioning that slide.

At ATC RV Center in Cedar Rapids, manager Joel Philipp said data center workers kept unit sales roughly flat from a year earlier. "Without them, it would have been really slow for us," he said. The dealership used geofenced ads targeting workers browsing their phones near construction sites — and buyers showed up.

In Abilene, Texas, marketing director Shannon Calkins of Clear Creek RVs estimates about half the dealership's business now comes from data center workers, up from 15% to 20% before the buildout, when pipeline and solar workers dominated that segment.

How do the economics work?

Calkins' finance team has seen per diems ranging from about $100 to $300 a day. A small travel trailer costs around $20,000, with loan payments of $400 a month or less. Combined with a $600 campsite, monthly housing runs about $1,000 before electricity, insurance and food — money that otherwise goes to hotel rooms. Philipp also saw demand for fifth-wheel models at $60,000 to $70,000, often shared by coworkers in bunkhouse configurations.

Some buyers have limited credit histories, which makes loans harder to secure and more expensive. Employers structuring per diems as taxable allowances rather than direct payments may want to consider how credit access affects workers' housing options.

What happens when construction ends?

At Abilene RV Park, all weekly and monthly spaces and long-term cabins are full, with a waitlist of 20 to 30 people, according to manager Debbie Coffey. The park raised its monthly rate by $50, to $600 plus electricity, and keeps five of its 66 spaces open for transient guests.

Near Meta's Richland Parish, Louisiana campus, Corporate Mobile Housing has grown from 300 beds before Meta's late-2024 announcement to 1,500 today, with director of strategic growth Heather Kleinpeter expecting that to double next year. "People are just taking advantage of the opportunity on every level," she said.

Meta says its expanded campus will support more than 7,500 jobs at peak construction but only 1,000 once operational — a 90% workforce reduction that will send traveling crews elsewhere.

The political climate adds uncertainty. In this month's midterms, Texas elected Gina Hinojosa, who backs a statewide moratorium on new data center approvals, as governor; Texas accounts for about one in five US data center buildings planned or under construction, per industry tracker Cleanview. Michigan elected Abdul El-Sayed, who has called for a pause, to the Senate, and voters in several towns approved restrictions or bans on new facilities.

As projects finish and crews hitch up for the next job, employers recruiting mobile construction talent will face the same housing scarcity that drove workers into RVs — while the parks they leave behind, as Calkins put it, may sell for "pennies on the dollar."