In preparation for the 2025 County Broadband Profiles, I’m looking at the county ranking for broadband access. I am looking at STATE and NATIONAL data. (Read more about why.)

Below is information from the National/FCC maps. There are three posts looking at:

• Access to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up (see below)
• Access to 100/20 (see below)
• Access to a 1000/100

Notes on Ranking for 25/3

I looked at percentage of households with access to broadband at speeds of at least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up because the state goal is to have all Minnesota businesses and homes must have access to high-speed broadband with minimum download speeds of 100 Mbps and minimum upload speeds of 20 Mbps by 2026.”

There are a lot of changes in ranking and the coverage rates. Without digging into the details (which I will do with the County Profiles), it’s difficult to tell if this reflects greater broadband expansion in the field or reflects the inclusion of fixed wireless to the definition of broadband.

Top 10 Counties with access to 100/20

The top 10 counties have 100 percent coverage. Last year only Red Lake had 100 percent.

Bottom 10 Counties with access to 100/20

Six of the bottom counties are new to the bottom list – in bold. Or at least weren’t on it last year. The difference in coverage rates is striking. In 2025, the bottom ranking counties have coverage from 70 to 80 percent. In 2024, the range was 36 to 67 percent. Hopefully, we can learn more when I dig into the County Profiles

Here is the full list of ranking: