Kittson County Digital Equity Profile – ranked 67

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

Kittson County ranks 67 out of 87 counties for digital equity. The standout positive ranking for Kittson is their high school degree, where they rank 7^th. The harder rankings relate directly to broadband access. They rank 74 for access to broadband at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 up; broadband subscriptions rank 85. It makes sense that the subscription rate would be lower when the connections aren’t as good. But the numbers indicate that access to broadband still needs to be a priority in Kittson.

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)

Kittson County	Ranking
Access to 100/20	74
No bachelors	23
No HS degree	7
Below 150% poverty (last 12 months)	38
Below poverty (last 12 months)	53
Disability	42
No computer	55
No broadband access	67
No subscription	85
Overall average	67

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.