Rural Washington has become the epicenter of booming electrical work as AI firms flock to the state's small towns to set up shop. On the road, electricians have found an unlikely hot spot in rural Washington, where data centers have been built to harness the areas power sources.

As AI continues to advance, it requires a vast amount of electricity and computing. Traveling electricians found their best job prospects in a triangle of towns - Wenatchee, Quincy and Malaga-in Washington around 140 miles from Seattle, where an abundance of of hydropower comes from dams along the Columbia River. A life on the road may not sound glamorous, but their work of overtime, bonuses, and 60-hour weeks can land them as much as $2,800 a week after taxes. Expand article logo Continue reading

One traveling electrician, Mr Bennett, was from Erin, Tennessee. A 'middle of nowhere town' he was urged to travel to see more, build more and earn more. In central Washington, he makes twice what he would back home. 'Our whole M.O. is just to go to a big job like this one, work six days a week, for months at a time, and then actually go home,' he told the New York Times.

The town of Quincy also boasts a new high school that was built with property taxes that one union official described as 'straight-up data center money.' Yet, while the agricultural town is rich, the residents are not. Their gleaming new high school still has four out of five students that are eligible for free lunch. The poverty rate has gone down over the last decade, but little is known for how far opportunities will stretch to cover the rising cost of living.

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