Rob Cleveland, the president and CEO of Grow NELA, said he often hears questions about the impact the giant Meta Hyperion data center construction project is having on the 10-parish region in northeast Louisiana.
So the economic development agency has started posting some of the dollars and cents details of the story.
Cleveland and his five-member Grow NELA staff started by collecting publicly available sales tax data for the past five years and posting it on His organization will continue to track the data “so long as the data continues to be meaningful.”
The move comes as communities from Utah to Virginia have fought against data center development on the grassroots and legislative levels. At least 75 data center projects worth about $130 billion have been blocked or delayed on the local level in the first quarter of the year, a, which tracks opposition to data centers nationwide,.
“Facts could matter,” he said. “We felt that it was really important to share the economic impact that is being felt throughout the entire northeast Louisiana region.”
For the first quarter of 2026, Richland Parish, which is the epicenter of Hyperion construction, collected $38.7 million in sales taxes — more than six times greater than the $5.3 million it collected during the same period a year ago.
Rob Cleveland, President and CEO of Grow NELA, a 10-parish economic development organization in northeast Louisiana.
Provided
What of nearby parishes?
Increased sales tax collections are also being reported in the ring of parishes around Richland, as materials such as aggregate are offloaded and driven to the Meta site.
“Franklin Parish saw a 14% increase; East Carroll Parish sales taxes up over 8%. That's not all attributable to Meta, but the most of it is,” Cleveland said.
Ouachita Parish, where the area's largest city, Monroe, is located, is estimated by Grow NELA to in sales taxes, versus its pre-Meta best of $223.7 million in 2024.
Part of downtown Rayville, La., shown here Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024.
By JILL PICKETT | Staff photographer
Richland Parish’s 2026 estimate is $97.7 million, nearly five times greater than its pre-Meta high of $20.6 million. Richland Parish is one of the poorest in the state and had a population of 20,000, according to the 2020 U.S. census.
By comparison, Bossier City, home of Barksdale Air Force Base and with a population of more than 63,000, collected $67.5 million in sales taxes during 2025.
Though sales tax data was publicly available before, Cleveland said it was not always easy to access.
“We were thrilled to get it,” he said, admitting that their first goal was simply to push it out. He hopes more details, such as breaking down sales tax by their North American Industry Classification System code, will follow.
ANAICSbreakdown will show not only how much sales tax is being collected, but also give a better view of where it is being spent. NAICS has 20 broad categories, including construction, utilities, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, real estate and rental and leasing, and others.
“We just haven’t gotten there yet,” Cleveland said.
An aerial view of part of the site under construction for the Meta Data Center in Richland Parish, La.
Meta
Sales tax is just one data point
There are other individual success stories to tell, too, as well as job creation and property tax assessments, all numbers that Cleveland hopes to gather later.
“We need more hotels. We need more apartments. We need more housing. Those are going to take a little more time to come online, and then another area where we expect long-term gains.”
Cleveland said the ripple effect of the Meta activity can be felt across the region. A recent meeting with a development group that came specifically to build a data center near Hyperion led to them invest, part of the 3.7-acre Ouachita Candy Co. property, which they plan to transform into a multimillion-dollar mixed-use development.
Local companies like Copeland Electric, MOEbiz and ServiceMaster Pro also are seeing a bump, he said.
All concerns have not abated
Though money is changing hands at a rapid clip, there are still concerns about Meta. Water use, a , the loss of farmland, significant increases in traffic, and a big change in the way of life are the chief issues.
Cleveland said he appreciates when people ask him about those concerns, but that isn't the focus of Grow NELA.
"If you don't like change, you didn't want change, well, I get it," he said. "I absolutely get it.”
But he said there's never been any confusion about what could happen on the Hyperion site, formerly a large farm in tiny Holly Ridge. For more than 20 years, the state owned the property and marketed it to large-scale manufacturers in hopes they would build a plant or factory and created jobs.
Said Cleveland, "This didn't just happen overnight."