Rice County Digital Equity Profile – ranked 12

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

Rice County ranks 12 out of 87 counties for digital equity. The Rice County demographic tract rankings are varied. They are in better shape than most of the counties, but this is an opportunity for improvement and they are in a position where they need to work on the three pillars of digital equity: affordable access to broadband, device ownership and the skills to use them.

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)

Rice County	Ranking
Access to 100/20	24
No bachelors	12
No HS degree	54
Below 150% poverty (last 12 months)	32
Below poverty (last 12 months)	35
Disability	6
No computer	22
No broadband access	24
No subscription	13
Overall average	12

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.