It’s broadband county ranking time of year! The Office of Broadband Development has shared data for wireline broadband by county (Updated Oct 2023), which is the first step to me doing the broadband profiles so expects lots of charts and ranking and then a lot of profiles in the next few weeks – starting with wireline access to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up (25/3).
Unserved areas are defined as experiencing speeds under 25/3; Minnesota looks a wireless access. The good news for counties near the bottom of the list, there will be funding available through the federal BEAD program and reaching unserved areas is a priority.
If you are a community leader or resident, you will want to be thinking about how to tap into that funding. Do you have an incumbent provider that might be able to step up? Is there another provider that might be interested in stepping in? Do these numbers ring true with what you are experiencing in the county?
(I’ll be sharing a few quick ranking posts today. You can download the spreadsheet of data for posts on access to 25/3, 100/20 and Gig for easier manipulation.)
| County | ≥ 25 Mbps Download/3 Mbps Upload Speeds | 25/3 ranking |
| Lincoln | 100 | 1 |
| Red Lake | 100 | 1 |
| Rock | 100 | 1 |
| Ramsey | 99.98 | 4 |
| Lac qui Parle | 99.94 | 5 |
| Stevens | 99.81 | 6 |
| Norman | 99.73 | 7 |
| Big Stone | 99.71 | 8 |
| Pennington | 99.55 | 9 |
| Swift | 99.41 | 10 |
| Wadena | 99.36 | 11 |
| Clearwater | 99.26 | 12 |
| Hubbard | 99.25 | 13 |
| Anoka | 99.22 | 14 |
| Hennepin | 99.19 | 15 |
| Beltrami | 98.93 | 16 |
| Washington | 98.17 | 17 |
| Polk | 97.83 | 18 |
| Dakota | 97.48 | 19 |
| Clay | 96.75 | 20 |
| Roseau | 96.56 | 21 |
| Olmsted | 96.18 | 22 |
| Benton | 95.46 | 23 |
| Scott | 94.9 | 24 |
| Itasca | 94.6 | 25 |
| Otter Tail | 94.48 | 26 |
| Douglas | 94.06 | 27 |
| Aitkin | 93.96 | 28 |
| Becker | 93.96 | 29 |
| Kittson | 92.69 | 30 |
| Carver | 92.22 | 31 |
| Grant | 92.15 | 32 |
| Cass | 91.79 | 33 |
| Pope | 90.82 | 34 |
| Cook | 90.68 | 35 |
| Stearns | 90.65 | 36 |
| Mahnomen | 90.52 | 37 |
| Crow Wing | 90.27 | 38 |
| Sherburne | 90.08 | 39 |
| Freeborn | 89.96 | 40 |
| Dodge | 89.87 | 41 |
| Blue Earth | 89.37 | 42 |
| Marshall | 89.15 | 43 |
| Faribault | 89.01 | 44 |
| Rice | 88.89 | 45 |
| Pipestone | 88.81 | 46 |
| Lake | 88.59 | 47 |
| Steele | 88.38 | 48 |
| Houston | 88.11 | 49 |
| Nobles | 87.76 | 50 |
| Winona | 87.55 | 51 |
| Mower | 87.37 | 52 |
| Wilkin | 87.33 | 53 |
| Redwood | 87.31 | 54 |
| Lyon | 87.07 | 55 |
| Lake of the Woods | 85.45 | 56 |
| Chippewa | 85.37 | 57 |
| Nicollet | 85.19 | 58 |
| Morrison | 85.16 | 59 |
| McLeod | 83.75 | 60 |
| Le Sueur | 83.68 | 61 |
| Brown | 83.31 | 62 |
| Goodhue | 82.14 | 63 |
| Meeker | 81.27 | 64 |
| Traverse | 80.55 | 65 |
| Wright | 80.54 | 66 |
| Kandiyohi | 80 | 67 |
| Fillmore | 79.54 | 68 |
| Todd | 79.33 | 69 |
| Chisago | 79.08 | 70 |
| Martin | 78.92 | 71 |
| St. Louis | 78.35 | 72 |
| Waseca | 78.18 | 73 |
| Koochiching | 76.37 | 74 |
| Wabasha | 75.96 | 75 |
| Mille Lacs | 75.01 | 76 |
| Watonwan | 74.61 | 77 |
| Cottonwood | 74.17 | 78 |
| Renville | 73.98 | 79 |
| Yellow Medicine | 68.63 | 80 |
| Sibley | 66.82 | 81 |
| Isanti | 65.98 | 82 |
| Jackson | 63.88 | 83 |
| Carlton | 63.33 | 84 |
| Murray | 58.69 | 85 |
| Pine | 49.95 | 86 |
| Kanabec | 38.42 | 87 |