The Data Center Comes With Its Own Worker Housing. What Does That Leave for Evanston's Market?

"We can't have workers come with nowhere to live." Kemmerer Mayor Robert Bowen said that to Cowboy State Daily this month, about the 1,600-plus workers expected for TerraPower's nuclear project an hour north of us. Kemmerer had hoped existing homes, new building and extra RV spaces would absorb that crowd. Now a temporary housing hub is the backup plan, and it depends on a contractor that hasn't been named yet.

Evanston took the opposite approach. Uinta County leased land for worker housing before the data center's first shovel went in. That puts the question for Evanston buyers, owners and landlords in a different place. The size of the construction workforce is already known. What matters is whether the crews arrive before the building meant to house them is ready.

Thousands of jobs, most of them temporary

Prometheus Hyperscale's project is a 1.25-gigawatt AI data center on 506 acres, about 12 miles east of Evanston on the south side of I-80. Founder Trenton Thornock told Cowboy State Daily in May that the campus would create 3,800 temporary construction jobs and 200 long-term operating jobs. He said the construction workforce would build up over time rather than arrive all at once.

That split shapes the housing question. For every permanent job there are 19 temporary ones. Most of the people coming to build the data center are expected to leave once it's built, which is why the county set up housing designed to be temporary.

What the county actually approved

On Aug. 18, 2026, the Uinta County Commission approved a land lease with Target Hyperscale for worker housing on part of the 1,000 acres of county land next to Bear River State Park, according to the lease report in wyomingnews.com.

The hub's planned size has changed over time. In May, the Uinta County Herald reported 2,500 beds, a small rec center, a golf center and a convenience store, all "to lessen the impact on the city of Evanston." By October, Cowboy State Daily described a facility built for about 3,300 workers during the data center's main construction phase, about eight miles from the construction site. County proceedings published in the Herald's July 30 legal notices also list fire pits, golf simulators, workout facilities and an on-site medical clinic. Commission Chair Mark Anderson explained the reasoning there: if the community is going to have 3,000-plus construction workers, it's better to house them in a controlled hub.

Two things in the approvals matter for the housing market. Even at its larger size, the hub holds fewer people than the 3,800 temporary jobs the company has projected. And nothing in the published lease or permit materials requires workers to live there. The hub is an option for workers, and it can't stop anyone from renting in town.

The schedule matters more than the size

Here is the order of events, based on what has been published:

1. May 2026. Thornock told the Herald that construction could start six to nine months after permits were approved, "which could be as early as November," with the data center running by the end of 2027. He also said "the tenant and some final permits are still pending."
2. July 21, 2026. The county approved Target's conditional-use permit for the hub. County proceedings say Target hadn't started work at the site yet.
3. Aug. 25, 2026. Cowboy State Daily reported that data center construction hadn't begun and Prometheus was still working through county processes.
4. Sept. 15, 2026. Commissioners approved a separate permit for the project's power plant, with conditions that include starting within five years.
5. October 2026. Target estimated about a year to build the hub, with completion targeted for October 2027 "if the project remains on schedule."

If data center construction starts soon and crews build up through 2027, some of those crews could arrive before the hub opens. Workers who show up during that gap need somewhere to stay, and the only options are the rentals, motels and RV parks Evanston already has. If both projects start later, or the hub gets built first, the gap gets smaller.

Cowboy State Daily's August report said data center construction hadn't begun, and Target's October estimate gave a completion target for the hub without a start date. In February, Cowboy State Daily described Prometheus as being in talks with several possible customers.

September's price jump isn't a data center effect yet

Anyone looking at Evanston right now will run into a striking number. Over the three months ending September 2026, the city's median sale price was about $372,000, up 31.6% from the same period a year earlier, according to MLS-based market data. It's easy to assume the data center is behind that.

The rest of the same data points the other way. Only 28 Evanston homes sold in September 2026, down from 41 in September 2025. Median days on market was 40, compared with 44 a year earlier. Countywide, Uinta County's September 2026 median was about $304,000, up just 1.8% from a year earlier, on 17 sales, with median days on market at 51, which is 14 days longer than the year before.

When only a couple dozen homes sell in a month, a few higher-priced sales can move the median a lot. A real demand surge would also show up as more sales and faster ones, and sales actually fell. Construction crews hadn't arrived as of the August reporting, so worker demand can't explain this summer's numbers.

For sellers, that means there's no data center premium to price in yet. For buyers, the headline percentage says more about which homes happened to sell than about a market that has already moved.

The 200 who stay

The construction crowd is the short-term story. The 200 permanent operating jobs are what lasts. Thornock described them as long-term roles, and the company's statewide community-benefit framework from January says local hiring would get priority for construction, operations and long-term positions. Some of those jobs may go to people who already live here, and only workers coming from outside would add new demand for homes.

For a sense of scale, 200 jobs is roughly what seven Septembers of Evanston sales look like at this year's pace. Those jobs won't show up all at once either. They start when the data center starts operating, which the company has projected for the end of 2027.

What to watch between now and spring

• The community-benefit agreement. The Uinta County Herald reported that residents pressed for answers about the agreement being negotiated with Prometheus at an Oct. 12 listening session hosted by the Wyoming Outdoor Council. Its terms on local hiring and infrastructure will show how much of the workforce comes from outside the area.
• A tenant announcement. In May, the company said construction depended on securing a tenant. A named customer is the clearest sign that the timeline is real.
• The hub's groundbreaking. The October 2027 target assumes about a year of construction. Every month the start slips moves that target back too.
• Water and sewer. County Attorney Loretta Howieson Kallas said the city is finalizing water and sewer plans with Target. City engineering director Damon Newsome said Evanston can serve the site "to the end of the line" and the engineering beyond that is still to be worked out.
• Kemmerer's Dec. 8 deadline. Target's lease option on city land in Kemmerer runs until Dec. 8. Mayor Bowen has said the Prometheus project could become another source of demand for housing there, which makes the two towns part of the same regional market for worker housing.
• Small additions in town. The Evanston City Council approved the final plat for Chaparral Estates Ninth Addition, a twin-home development, on second reading, according to the Herald.

Quick answers

Will data center workers rent homes in Evanston? Some might. The hub is built for about 3,300 workers, the company projects 3,800 construction jobs, and no published condition requires workers to live at the hub.

When is the worker hub supposed to open? Target estimated about a year of construction, with completion targeted for October 2027 if the project stays on schedule.

Is the data center already pushing up prices? September's numbers don't show that. The city median rose, but sales fell to 28 for the month, and the countywide median rose 1.8%.

Where exactly is the hub? It's on county land next to Bear River State Park, east of town and about eight miles from the data center site.

If you own a rental, or you're weighing a purchase and wondering when the data center crews might actually show up, text or call Britany Erickson at (307) 799-8096. She follows the county approvals as closely as she follows the sales, and she can go through how this timeline affects your property.