The Office of Broadband Development maps and county data are out! I am looking a percentage covered at various speeds, comparing county speeds and ranking for 25/3 speeds and comparing 100/20 rates and ranking (below). I’m doing this in three posts because the I think the data is valuable but best in small bites.
The MN State broadband speed goals are 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up by 2002 and 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps by 2026.
For the most part the change in rankings for 25/3 was pretty incremental. That is not the case for 100/20. Some counties ranking moved up as much as 55 places; some counties dipped 20+ places.
My observations at this point are only hypotheses, but if your ranking went down there are probably two factors. If your ranking went down and the reported percentage covered also went down, it likely reflects a correction in previous reporting. Some providers gave more granular data in 2019 and that changed the data. If your ranking dropped and your percentage covered increased, you’re just not deploying as fast as other counties. Perhaps you need to revitalize local interest to get the rest of the county covered.
If your ranking improved you might want to look at why, just to make sure to keep it up. Maybe you got a MN state grant, maybe particular providers are blasting away.
Here are the most improved counties:
- Benton County – moved up 55 places –part of MN Broadband grant
- Olmsted County – moved up 47 places –part of MN Broadband grant
- Chippewa County – moved up 46 places
- Freeborn County – moved up 46 places -part of MN Broadband grant
- Rice County – moved up 46 places – part of MN Broadband grant
- Blue Earth County – moved up 44 places
- Mower County – – moved up 43 places – part of a Mediacom upgrade
- Crow Wing County – moved up 40 places – Mille Lacs Energy part of USDA grant
I’ve noted where I know they received grants. I will be working on County Profiles to take a deeper dive, but thought it was interesting to get a high level peek. Happy to hear from folks why they think counties have improved or not.
The best way to get the info on the 100/20 percentage cover and ranking comparison between 2018 and 2019 is download the spreadsheet. I’m including it below too
| ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds 2019 | Ranking 2019 | Percentage Households Served 2018 | Ranking 2018 | Difference in ranking | |
| Aitkin | 37.74 | 80 | 17.55 | 82 | 2 |
| Anoka | 97.45 | 8 | 97.86 | 5 | -3 |
| Becker | 6.22 | 87 | 12.95 | 85 | -2 |
| Beltrami | 98.79 | 6 | 96.30 | 8 | 2 |
| Benton | 88.18 | 20 | 25.83 | 75 | 55 |
| Big Stone | 98.91 | 5 | 98.91 | 4 | -1 |
| Blue Earth | 77.91 | 39 | 14.13 | 83 | 44 |
| Brown | 74.50 | 44 | 73.76 | 27 | -17 |
| Carlton | 47.57 | 73 | 58.22 | 44 | -29 |
| Carver | 86.51 | 23 | 85.09 | 17 | -6 |
| Cass | 51.61 | 68 | 35.92 | 70 | 2 |
| Chippewa | 81.70 | 31 | 24.80 | 77 | 46 |
| Chisago | 71.26 | 51 | 69.53 | 32 | -19 |
| Clay | 82.32 | 29 | 82.52 | 19 | -10 |
| Clearwater | 89.30 | 17 | 89.30 | 13 | -4 |
| Cook | 94.50 | 13 | 94.50 | 10 | -3 |
| Cottonwood | 66.67 | 59 | 66.34 | 38 | -21 |
| Crow Wing | 88.04 | 21 | 41.66 | 61 | 40 |
| Dakota | 97.56 | 7 | 64.89 | 40 | 33 |
| Dodge | 77.08 | 41 | 74.59 | 26 | -15 |
| Douglas | 68.82 | 56 | 25.56 | 76 | 20 |
| Faribault | 39.20 | 77 | 42.28 | 60 | -17 |
| Fillmore | 50.30 | 70 | 44.19 | 58 | -12 |
| Freeborn | 83.88 | 25 | 34.18 | 71 | 46 |
| Goodhue | 71.84 | 50 | 55.99 | 47 | -3 |
| Grant | 43.02 | 75 | 39.93 | 65 | -10 |
| Hennepin | 98.94 | 4 | 98.97 | 3 | -1 |
| Houston | 67.81 | 57 | 66.63 | 37 | -20 |
| Hubbard | 74.21 | 45 | 46.61 | 55 | 10 |
| Isanti | 48.05 | 72 | 56.62 | 45 | -27 |
| Itasca | 83.06 | 27 | 79.44 | 23 | -4 |
| Jackson | 68.84 | 55 | 68.79 | 33 | -22 |
| Kanabec | 26.93 | 84 | 38.54 | 67 | -17 |
| Kandiyohi | 72.89 | 47 | 10.64 | 86 | 39 |
| Kittson | 74.99 | 43 | 71.38 | 30 | -13 |
| Koochiching | 73.41 | 46 | 73.44 | 28 | -18 |
| Lac qui Parle | 97.35 | 9 | 97.35 | 6 | -3 |
| Lake | 93.40 | 14 | 94.30 | 11 | -3 |
| Lake of the Woods | 53.93 | 65 | 50.47 | 52 | -13 |
| Le Sueur | 70.33 | 52 | 70.65 | 31 | -21 |
| Lincoln | 39.21 | 76 | 39.21 | 66 | -10 |
| Lyon | 81.89 | 30 | 72.77 | 29 | -1 |
| Mahnomen | 17.31 | 86 | 13.53 | 84 | -2 |
| Marshall | 53.08 | 66 | 48.20 | 54 | -12 |
| Martin | 55.22 | 64 | 54.80 | 48 | -16 |
| McLeod | 58.59 | 63 | 58.57 | 43 | -20 |
| Meeker | 45.08 | 74 | 45.08 | 57 | -17 |
| Mille Lacs | 52.77 | 67 | 54.42 | 49 | -18 |
| Morrison | 69.64 | 53 | 42.74 | 59 | 6 |
| Mower | 78.56 | 36 | 23.31 | 79 | 43 |
| Murray | 51.59 | 69 | 50.78 | 51 | -18 |
| Nicollet | 78.42 | 37 | 33.29 | 73 | 36 |
| Nobles | 77.66 | 40 | 77.18 | 24 | -16 |
| Norman | 20.62 | 85 | 20.55 | 80 | -5 |
| Olmsted | 92.66 | 15 | 41.29 | 62 | 47 |
| Otter Tail | 35.34 | 82 | 2.36 | 87 | 5 |
| Pennington | 96.18 | 11 | 90.75 | 12 | 1 |
| Pine | 37.26 | 81 | 38.18 | 68 | -13 |
| Pipestone | 79.73 | 35 | 79.73 | 22 | -13 |
| Polk | 88.35 | 19 | 85.39 | 16 | -3 |
| Pope | 68.92 | 54 | 23.67 | 78 | 24 |
| Ramsey | 99.84 | 2 | 99.82 | 2 | 0 |
| Red Lake | 83.17 | 26 | 83.17 | 18 | -8 |
| Redwood | 33.56 | 83 | 33.56 | 72 | -11 |
| Renville | 59.06 | 62 | 51.78 | 50 | -12 |
| Rice | 82.43 | 28 | 32.63 | 74 | 46 |
| Rock | 99.93 | 1 | 99.93 | 1 | 0 |
| Roseau | 72.59 | 48 | 67.30 | 35 | -13 |
| Scott | 89.15 | 18 | 88.61 | 14 | -4 |
| Sherburne | 72.36 | 49 | 67.11 | 36 | -13 |
| Sibley | 62.87 | 61 | 62.84 | 42 | -19 |
| St. Louis | 78.20 | 38 | 41.20 | 63 | 25 |
| Stearns | 81.07 | 32 | 40.17 | 64 | 32 |
| Steele | 86.86 | 22 | 56.16 | 46 | 24 |
| Stevens | 96.74 | 10 | 96.74 | 7 | -3 |
| Swift | 99.60 | 3 | 64.15 | 41 | 38 |
| Todd | 38.68 | 79 | 17.58 | 81 | 2 |
| Traverse | 49.39 | 71 | 45.62 | 56 | -15 |
| Wabasha | 66.31 | 60 | 66.17 | 39 | -21 |
| Wadena | 91.07 | 16 | 49.91 | 53 | 37 |
| Waseca | 75.20 | 42 | 75.06 | 25 | -17 |
| Washington | 95.80 | 12 | 96.10 | 9 | -3 |
| Watonwan | 67.75 | 58 | 68.42 | 34 | -24 |
| Wilkin | 80.84 | 34 | 82.08 | 20 | -14 |
| Winona | 86.43 | 24 | 86.31 | 15 | -9 |
| Wright | 81.02 | 33 | 80.61 | 21 | -12 |
| Yellow Medicine | 38.86 | 78 | 37.72 | 69 | -9 |
Blandin on Broadband 