Rank: 36
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Houston County: incremental change
Houston County ranks 36 (up 2) for broadband access out of 87 counties. They have 85.89 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 1130 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $10.5 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 |
| Houston | 14.1 | 8,009 | 85.89 | 1130 | 10509000 |
Houston County has seen incremental improvement since we started tracking it. Last year, they were part of a larger ReConnect project.
With slow progress, Houston County receives a yellow ranking.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 85.89 | 82.98 | 75.26 | 69.66 | 67.81 | 66.63 | 65.08 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 88.11 | 92.87 | 92.86 | 77.1 | 72.94 | 71.29 | 72.23 |
Grants:
- 2022: The investment, provided through the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s ReConnect program, will help connect over 6,000 people, 150 businesses, and 680 farms across Freeborn, Morrison, Stearns, Houston, and Todd counties.
- 2019: AcenTek – Rural Houston Exchange FTTH – GRANT $2,895,318
Find more articles on broadband in Houston County. (http://tinyurl.com/zst4kf5)
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.
