Pope County Digital Equity Profile – ranked 46

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

Pope County ranks 46 out of 87 counties for digital equity. Pope’s ranking is middle of the pack. There seem to be too tracts that are bringing them down: access to broadband at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 up (rank 72) and broadband subscription rates (rank 65). This might indicate that they still need to focus on getting better access to the area.

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)

Pope County	Ranking
Access to 100/20	72
No bachelors	40
No HS degree	19
Below 150% poverty (last 12 months)	16
Below poverty (last 12 months)	12
Disability	63
No computer	39
No broadband access	17
No subscription	65
Overall average	46

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.