Houston County Digital Equity Profile – ranked 19

Every year, the Blandin on Broadband blog does County Broadband Profiles (and will do again when the new maps come out) but given federal opportunities are making it possible to get funding for access and adoption, I thought I’d try to present information for counties to assess their digital equity standing (see table below) and give options for who to contact locally for more information.

Summary

Houston County ranks 19 out of 87 counties for digital equity. The tract ranking for Houston that stands out for the wrong reason is the access to broadband at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 up at ranking 55. The other tracts have ranking generally in the top third but access is still an issue. The opportunity is likely there for more but access is still a priority.

Scroll down for details and suggested resources for more information.

Blandin Foundation is using the Microsoft Digital Equity Tool to determine needs by county and make high level recommendations for next steps to consider based on the data. (With special thanks to Carter Grupp, Broadband Coordinator Broadband Coordinator at American Connection Project for Otter Tail County.) Visit the tool if you want to look up more statistics on your community.

Demographic Data and Ranking (out of 87)

Houston County	Ranking
Access to 100/20	55
No bachelors	37
No HS degree	8
Below 150% poverty (last 12 months)	17
Below poverty (last 12 months)	22
Disability	23
No computer	27
No broadband access	58
No subscription	27
Overall average	19

The map below shows digital inequity by census tract. The bluer the better; yellow and orange colors indicate more inequity. This map can be helpful in figuring out which parts of your county need the most help.