Rank: 60
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Chisago County: resilience with a plan
Chisago County ranks 60 for broadband access out of 87 counties. Chisago County has 76.81 percent coverage of broadband of 100 Mbps down. They have 4878 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $45.3 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 |
| Chisago | 47.7 | 21,120 | 76.81 | 4878 | 45365400 |
Like several other counties, Chisago County has areas where there is one national provider (or another). Often national providers are not as engaged in rural areas as providers with roots in the community. Chicago has found creative ways to get around that in several towns in the county.
Few counties are as engaged as Chisago is with promoting better broadband; last year a report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance pointed out, they have a plan to apply for State funding one community at a time until they’re covered. With a plan like that, they get a green code, despite their numbers!
In December 2022, Qwest got almost $500,000 to deploy the fiber to 119 unserved and 66 underserved locations in Harris Minnesota.
Chisago County is getting a yellow ranking because they have been stagnant but I suspect their years of engagement will help prepare them to take advantage of incoming federal (BEAD) funding.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 76.81 | 73.63 | 73.34 | 71.92 | 71.26 | 69.53 | 65.45 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 79.08 | 78.7 | 79.21 | 84.34 | 83.85 | 73.27 | 65.25 |
Past grants:
- 2022: Qwest Corporation dba CenturyLink QC, $465,814.00
- 2017 – CenturyLink – Fish Lake Township FTTH Project – GRANT $1,833,724
- 2016 – SUNRISE TOWNSHIP (CENTURYLINK) FIBER TO THE HOME – GRANT: $1,074,852
- CenturyLink (Qwest Corporation) – Nessel Township FTTH Project – GRANT $1,657,550
Find more article on Chicago (https://blandinonbroadband.org/?s=chisago&submit=Search)
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.
