Rank: 35
Code: Yellow
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)

county	25/3	253 rank	100/20	10020 rank	Gig	gig rank	Providers
Cook	93.02	40	92.97	35	92.97	12	8

 Cook County: stalled and not much help coming from BEAD

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 83 locations in Cook County. All of the locations will get satellite connections, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute.

There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Cook has not benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So maybe that’s a route to consider.) Statewide, there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.

Cook County has been so close for so long but the proposed BEAD funding will not help Cook County reach the MN State speed goals, so I have to bump them to a Yellow status.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
100/20 (2026 goal)	92.97	91.61	90.36	90.95	94.5	94.5	94.5	94.5	94.46
25/3 (2022 goal)	93.02	92.01	90.68	90.99	94.5	94.5	94.5	94.5	94.5

Possible BEAD support

The Minnesota BEAD Final Proposal has not yet been approved so the information below is subject to change; it includes the number of locations by county specifying provider and broadband type. (Learn more.)

Locations in Cook: 83
The locations all satellite connections.

County	Amazon Kuiper Commercial Services LLC	Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	Locations         Grand Total	County
Technology Type	Low Earth Orbit Satellite	Low Earth Orbit Satellite
Cook	77	6	83	Cook

 

Local Government Match for State Broadband Grants:

Over the years, many local governments (County, Municipal, Tribal) have invested in broadband deployment. This year, I have tracked how much local investment has been used to match MN State Grants. Local governments invest in other ways too, but this was one number I could realistically find and quantify investment by county, which means investment in that county, whether by county, cities or other local government entity.

In Cook County, $8,000 was invested in one project over the years.

No New Posts from 2025

Highlights from Past Reports

• 2023 estimates indicated that it would cost $4.5 million to get ubiquitous broadband in the county. (I haven’t updated the number because recent report offers scenarios of costs based on BEAD funding rules that make current estimates less predictable than in the past. Yet, I think the number is still helpful.)
• In 2022, Cook ranked 29 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.

Past Grants:

• 2010: Cook County formed a partnership with Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, which applied for and was awarded over $16 million in federal stimulus grants and low interest loans to build a fiber-to-the-home broadband network throughout Cook County.
• In addition, Cook County awarded Arrowhead Cooperative a $4 million grant from the 1% sales tax fund.

Find more articles on broadband in Cook County. (http://tinyurl.com/hgbzlt7)

The maps below come from the 

• Office of Broadband Development interactive map, reflecting data updated on December 16, 2025 – tracking wireline access.
• The FCC National Broadband Maps, reflecting data updated November 28, 2025 – tracking fixed wireless access.

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)