Rank: 9
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Clearwater County: nearly there
Clearwater County ranks 9 for broadband access and 84 for digital equity out of 87 counties. They have had more than 98 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up for two years. The percentage has decreased this year but within a margin of error, especially when providers often increase granularity of reporting. They have 51 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $475,713 to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.
| County | Housing Unit Density | Number of Housing Units | 100/20 Mbps | houses unserved | Cost to close the gap |
| Clearwater | 4.3 | 4,448 | 98.85 | 51 | $475,713.60 |
Clearwater County benefited from a Garden Valley Telephone Company upgrade in 2018. There hasn’t been much improvement since but they are very close to ubiquitous coverage. In fact, the estimated cost to get there is less than $500,000. That is why Clearwater gets a green code.
It is worth noting that while Clearwater’s access is good, their digital equity language is not. They may want to start to pivot to increasing broadband use as well as access.
Broadband Access:
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 98.85 | 99.59 | 89.32 | 89.3 | 89.3 | 73.41 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 99.29 | 99.76 | 99.74 | 99.74 | 99.58 | 99.58 |
Digital Equity:
Clearwater County ranks 75 out of 87 for digital equity. (See full Digital Equity Profile)
Clearwater County ranks 79 out of 87 for computer ownership. 87.1 percent of homes have a computer of device as compared to statewide ownership of 95.5 percent.
Past Grants/Funding:
- In 2018, Garden Valley Telephone Company received a $20 million loan from the USDA to deploy fiber in Polk, Clearwater, Pennington, Marshall and Red Lake counties.
- AT&T launched a new FirstNet cell site in Clearwater County.
Checklist:
- Find more articles on broadband in Clearwater County. (http://tinyurl.com/homdjrt)
- 100/20 Mbps ranking: 9 (down 5 places)
- Has worked with Blandin: no
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 4.3
I am doing the annual look at broadband in each county – based on maps from the Office of Broadband Development and news gathered from the last year. I’m looking at progress toward the 2022 (25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up) and 2026 (100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up) and will code each:
- Red (yikes)
- Yellow (warning)
- Green (good shape)
Blandin on Broadband 