Cushman & Wakefield's 2026 Data Center Development Cost Guide, released September 3 via Business Wire, puts a hard number on a trend contractors in this market have been feeling for two years: per-megawatt construction costs for data centers are up 21% from the firm's prior guide.

The topline release doesn't break out labor versus material versus equipment — that detail lives in the full guide, which Cushman & Wakefield is distributing to clients. What's public right now is the headline stat and the fact that it's a global research product the firm updates annually, not a one-region snapshot.

For New York and New Jersey contractors, this lands right on top of a trend we've already been tracking on this desk: nonresidential construction spending in July was propped up almost entirely by data-center building, even as Northern New Jersey towns fight new projects town hall by town hall. A 21% per-megawatt jump means the projects that do clear local approval are getting more expensive to build — good news if you're pricing electrical, mechanical, or precast scope on one of these jobs, and a margin risk if your estimate is still running last year's numbers.

If you estimate data-center work, get the full guide before your next bid. A 21% swing in per-megawatt cost is the kind of number that changes whether your contingency line still covers you. Ask Cushman & Wakefield for the regional breakout, too — a national average hides how much of that increase is concentrated in markets like ours, where land, power interconnection, and skilled trade labor all cost more than the guide's blended figure.