Meta DeKalb data center, DeKalb, Illinois

Meta's data center in DeKalb, DeKalb County, Illinois, sits on former farmland roughly a mile from the nearest homes and started operating in 2022; it is the company's only site in the state. City manager Bill Nicklas says the city has had no complaints about noise or pollution since it opened, because Meta worked before construction to make the building less noticeable, and the project drew no opposition when it was announced in 2020, before data centers became a subject Illinoisans argued about.

The argument arrived with the next project. In December 2025 the DeKalb City Council approved Endeavour Energy's Edged division to build on 560 acres directly south of Meta, in the Chicago West Business Center. Megan Renwick, a lifelong DeKalb resident, told the council the new project would mean habitat loss and "light and sound pollution, both of which will disturb our natural environment along with the wildlife in it."

Jake Castanza, speaking for Local 32 of the laborers' union, backed the project: "We are thankful for what the Meta Data Center has done and what we know this data center will do if accepted," pointing to a new elementary school, a fire station and road work paid for out of data center revenue. Edged says its ThermalWorks cooling system will nearly eliminate the site's water use and its TurboCell generators, with far fewer moving parts than a standard diesel unit, are meant to cut noise; portions of the campus are expected to be finished through 2032.

DeKalb has so far avoided the noise fights that hit Aurora, 40 miles east, where 10 data centers must stay under 56 decibels at the property line by day.