NEW: Surplus tax revenues from a single AI data center could pay every family in a rural county up to $8,900 a year in the form of a “data center dividend.” BPI’s new research applies the sovereign wealth fund model to America’s rural counties to make the case for data center dividends, which are payments or credits provided every year to every household in a county that hosts a data center. Our financial model borrows from the logic of the Alaska Permanent Fund, which for the last decade, has paid every Alaskan family about $3,900 a year in dividends earned from investing oil revenues. By comparison, we estimate that data center dividends could pay families between $4,500 to $8,900 a year in the average rural county, and even more than $11,000 a year in places like Louisiana. These payments or credits would be funded by a fixed share of the property tax revenue the county already collects from that data center while still leaving ample funds to finance schools, police departments, and public works projects. By hosting hundreds of data centers, America’s rural counties have helped usher in the greatest technological revolution of our lifetimes. The men and women who live in these counties deserve to share in the massive economic prosperity being unlocked by AI. Data center dividends make this possible.