Rank: 61
Code: Red
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Blue Earth County: Middle of the pack
Blue Earth County dropped from rank 41 to 61 for broadband out of 87 counties. They have se76.46 percentage access to 100 Mbps down and 20 up since 2019. They have 5301 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $49.1 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.
| County | Residential Location Density | number of residential locations | ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds | unserved households | Cost to close gap |
| Blue Earth | 28.2 | 21,603 | 76.46 | 5301 | 49299300 |
Blue Earth County seems to have gone backwards this year. Percentage of access has dipped five percent. I suspect that is due to map corrections, perhaps after challenges. They aren’t in line for any grants in the works.
Blue Earth County had a broadband feasibility study done in 2019. They might do well to loop back to that study for ideas of what to do to prepare for future funding. They are getting a red ranking because they have moved backwards and there doesn’t seem to be a current push to move forward. Their ranking dropped 20 points and that was the steepest drop this year.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 76.46 | 81.88 | 80.76 | 77.81 | 77.91 | 14.13 | 55.6 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 89.37 | 92.5 | 84.78 | 85.36 | 78.33 | 77.95 | 88.35 |
Grants:
- 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile Grant award: $808,080
Find more articles on broadband in Blue Earth County. (http://tinyurl.com/j5pe9kr)
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)
The maps below on the left comes from the Office of Broadband Development interactive map, reflecting data updated on Oct 31, 2023. Red dots represent locations unserved with wireline broadband; the Orange dots represent underserved locations. The map on the right comes from the FCC National Broadband map showing access to wired and licensed fixed wireless access, the darker the color, the greater percentage of broadband coverage.
