Category Archives: County Profiles 2023

Estimate how much it costs to get broadband to your entire county in MN

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Last year, I estimated how much it would cost to get ubiquitous broadband to each county. I used number of households in each county without broadband based on percentages (and populations) from the Office of Broadband Development and an estimated cost of $9,300 per house, which is an estimate I heard at a MN Broadband Task Force meeting in November 2022. The Task Force didn’t meet most of 2023 but I thought I might use the same estimate with updated broadband rates to figure costs again. There is likely to be an updated cost per house. I suspect it might be more now due to rising prices and increased difficulty is reaching the last served locations, but I suspect the numbers are still in the right ballpark.

In March 2023, MinnPost reported on estimates for ubiquitous broadband…

State officials estimate it would cost $2.76 billion to serve the 291,000 households and businesses that lack the infrastructure for fast service. It’s an eye-popping price tag, but most of the money would not come from the Minnesota Legislature.

The short answer I’m getting below is $2,000,136,699 to serve 241,705 households. Minnesota’s allocation for the federal BEAD funding is $651,000,000.

Here are the counties with the smallest estimated bills, including three with ubiquitous broadband:

County number of residential locations ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds unserved households Cost for broadband
Lincoln 3,060 100 0 0
Red Lake 1,533 100 0 0
Rock 3,314 100 0 0
Lac qui Parle 3,279 99.94 2 7800
Big Stone 2,430 99.71 7 65100
Beltrami 18,401 98.75 230 213900
Pennington 5,585 99.53 26 241800
Ramsey 138,699 99.98 28 260400
Wadena 5,628 99.32 38 353400
Marshall 3,595 89.15 390 362700

And here are the counties will the largest estimated bills…

County number of residential locations ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds unserved households Cost for broadband
Wright 51,720 75.43 27708 257684400
Cass 23,214 56.15 10179 94664700
Pine 15,308 40.71 9076 84406800
Stearns 51,332 84.68 7864 73135200
Otter Tail 33,796 77.72 7564 70345200
Isanti 15,616 54.09 7169 66671700
Sherburne 31,373 87.19 7156 66550800
Carlton 14,071 54.47 6407 59585100
Crow Wing 38,718 85.84 5482 50982600
Kandiyohi 17,552 69.12 5427 50489700

And here’s the complete list of county’s locations, unserved households and estimated cost to expand broadband to everyone…

County number of residential locations ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds unserved households Cost for broadband
Aitkin 13,770 84.75 2100 19530000
Anoka 113,461 98.93 1214 11290200
Becker 18,130 84.75 2765 25714500
Beltrami 18,401 98.75 230 213900
Benton 13,116 94.14 769 7151700
Big Stone 2,430 99.71 7 65100
Blue Earth 21,603 76.46 5301 49299300
Brown 10,498 78.4 2268 21092400
Carlton 14,071 54.47 6407 59585100
Carver 33,530 91.15 2967 27593100
Cass 23,214 56.15 10179 94664700
Chippewa 4,702 84.52 728 6770400
Chisago 21,120 76.81 4878 45365400
Clay 20,173 90.71 59 548700
Clearwater 3,497 98.28 60 558000
Cook 5,012 90.36 483 4491900
Cottonwood 4,831 67.15 1587 14759100
Crow Wing 38,718 85.84 5482 50982600
Dakota 129,631 97.17 3639 33842700
Dodge 7,867 88.5 905 8416500
Douglas 18,783 77.58 4211 39162300
Faribault 6,344 70.43 1876 17446800
Fillmore 9,221 74.18 2381 22143300
Freeborn 12,485 89.1 1361 12657300
Goodhue 18,192 80.51 3546 32977800
Grant 3,032 77.18 692 6435600
Hennepin 335,210 99.11 2983 27741900
Houston 8,009 85.89 1130 10509000
Hubbard 13,926 93.63 887 8249100
Isanti 15,616 54.09 7169 66671700
Itasca 24,169 88.39 2806 26095800
Jackson 4,538 62.34 1709 15893700
Kanabec 7,358 20.45 5853 22826700
Kandiyohi 17,552 69.12 5427 50489700
Kittson 1,873 92.69 137 534300
Koochiching 6,948 73.83 1818 16907400
Lac qui Parle 3,279 99.94 2 7800
Lake 7,161 88.56 819 7616700
Lake of the Woods 3,286 78.82 696 6472800
Le Sueur 12,123 81.23 2276 21166899
Lincoln 3,060 100 0 0
Lyon 8,568 86.81 1130 10509000
Mahnomen 1,741 82.54 304 2827200
Marshall 3,595 89.15 390 362700
Martin 8,751 72.6 2398 22301400
McLeod 12,736 77.21 2903 26997900
Meeker 9,565 78.04 2100 19530000
Mille Lacs 11,698 68.72 3659 34028700
Morrison 14,892 82.53 2602 24198600
Mower 14,976 83.61 2455 22831500
Murray 4,413 55.9 1946 18097800
Nicollet 11,328 76.25 2690 25017000
Nobles 6,893 85.35 1010 9393000
Norman 2,573 54.22 1181 10983300
Olmsted 50,812 95.42 2378 22115400
Otter Tail 33,796 77.72 7564 70345200
Pennington 5,585 99.53 26 241800
Pine 15,308 40.71 9076 84406800
Pipestone 3,591 86.35 490 4557000
Polk 12,563 97.79 278 2585400
Pope 5,936 84.65 911 8472300
Ramsey 138,699 99.98 28 260400
Red Lake 1,533 100 0 0
Redwood 6,054 76.23 1439 13382700
Renville 6,546 72.23 1818 16907400
Rice 20,932 84.16 3316 30838800
Rock 3,314 100 0 0
Roseau 6,548 96.5 229 2129700
Scott 45,681 93.67 2892 26895600
Sherburne 31,373 87.19 7156 66550800
Sibley 6,040 63.51 2204 20497200
St. Louis 88,360 73.14 23734 22726200
Stearns 51,332 84.68 7864 73135200
Steele 13,384 87.59 1661 15447300
Stevens 3,171 96.06 124 1153200
Swift 4,239 98.94 45 418500
Todd 10,583 53.43 4929 45839700
Traverse 1,630 80 326 3031800
Wabasha 9,594 71.92 1735 16135500
Wadena 5,628 99.32 38 353400
Waseca 7,145 76.12 1699 15800700
Washington 82,618 97.09 2404 22357200
Watonwan 4,458 70.03 1336 12424800
Wilkin 2,574 81.97 464 4315200
Winona 17,214 85.33 2525 2343600
Wright 51,720 75.43 27708 257684400
Yellow Medicine 4,354 61.09 1695 15763500

 

How does your county ranking for broadband? Depends on how we measure it.

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Earlier today, I posted rankings on MN county broadband access to 25/3, 100/20 and Gig using the most recent data from the Office of Broadband Development on wireline broadband by county (Updated Oct 2023). This has been the source of data since I started doing the profiles. One of the reasons I’ve used the data from OBD is that the data informed eligibility for Minnesota broadband grants.

This year I also wanted to look at the FCC National Broadband data too because so much of future broadband funding will be coming through the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and it’s unclear what that will mean in Minnesota. For grant eligibility purposes, Minnesota looks at wireline access but the federal (NTIA) look a wired and licensed fixed wireless connection. In their draft Initial Proposal to the BEAD administrators, the Office of Broadband Development is proposing to continue with the wireline definition, but at public meetings discussing the draft proposal OBD did not sound optimistic about that happening.

So separate from the rankings I looked at earlier today, here are comparisons between the National Broadband Map “All Wired” and “All Wired and Licensed Fixed Wireless” access by county.

For some counties, there’s very little difference between to two measures. For others, there’s a big difference. The state maps below show the difference, the darker the color, the better the broadband.

 

I’ll dig deeper into what that means to some counties in the county profiles but wanted to share the info now. Here are top 10 counties with the biggest difference between the two measurements:

  • Yellow Medicine
  • Watonwan
  • Murray
  • Lyon
  • Waseca
  • Martin
  • Renville
  • Chippewa
  • Jackson
  • Pipestone

Here is the ranking for “All Wired and Licensed Fixed Wireless” at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 up:

County “All Wired” ranking “All wired” percent of access to 100/20
Red Lake 1 100
Lac qui Parle 2 99.79
Ramsey 3 99.73
Wadena 4 99.35
Hennepin 5 99.28
Stevens 6 99.05
Big Stone 7 99.02
Pennington 8 98.75
Beltrami 9 98.73
Clearwater 10 98.66
Rock 11 97.97
Anoka 12 97.44
Polk 13 96.86
Lincoln 14 96.69
Dakota 15 96.09
Washington 16 95
Scott 17 94.83
Swift 18 94.58
Carver 19 93.72
Roseau 20 92.78
Olmsted 21 92.7
Hubbard 22 91.58
Clay 23 91.42
Itasca 24 90.11
Freeborn 25 89.39
Wilkin 26 88.92
Steele 27 88.68
Crow Wing 28 87.85
Dodge 29 87.73
Kittson 30 87.5
Sherburne 31 86.85
Rice 32 85.62
Pope 33 85.38
Winona 34 85.24
Stearns 35 84.22
Mower 36 84.06
Marshall 37 83.5
Morrison 38 82.76
Lake 39 81.9
Goodhue 40 81.82
Houston 41 81.17
Becker 42 80.99
Wright 43 80.94
Norman 44 80.9
Benton 45 80.34
Lyon 46 79.68
Nicollet 47 79.62
Douglas 48 79.23
Pipestone 49 78.99
Le Sueur 50 78.43
Lake of the Woods 51 78.28
St. Louis 52 77.99
Chisago 53 77.95
Nobles 54 77.61
Grant 55 77.07
Blue Earth 56 76.21
Brown 57 76.17
Chippewa 58 76.09
Koochiching 59 75.73
Mahnomen 60 75.62
Waseca 61 75.4
McLeod 62 75.08
Otter Tail 63 74.39
Traverse 64 74.26
Fillmore 65 74.06
Faribault 66 73.03
Aitkin 67 72.66
Wabasha 68 71.28
Renville 69 70.18
Martin 70 69.95
Kandiyohi 71 69.94
Watonwan 72 68.15
Mille Lacs 73 67.3
Cass 74 64.01
Redwood 75 63.97
Sibley 76 62.34
Meeker 77 62.33
Cottonwood 78 61.87
Jackson 79 61.47
Carlton 80 58.95
Isanti 81 57.26
Yellow Medicine 82 56.69
Todd 83 54.09
Murray 84 53.44
Pine 85 42.29
Kanabec 86 25.66
Cook 87 14.92

 

And here’s ranking to all wired access:

County All Wired and Licensed Fixed Wireless rank All Wired and Licensed Fixed Wireless percent of access to 100/20
Red Lake 1 100
Lac qui Parle 2 99.92
Lyon 3 99.81
Freeborn 4 99.76
Ramsey 5 99.75
Watonwan 6 99.74
Hennepin 7 99.59
Yellow Medicine 8 99.5
Wadena 9 99.35
Stevens 10 99.05
Big Stone 11 99.02
Polk 12 99.02
Steele 13 98.86
Swift 14 98.8
Pennington 15 98.77
Beltrami 16 98.73
Rock 17 98.72
Clearwater 18 98.66
Dodge 19 98.66
Waseca 20 98.56
Carver 21 98.54
Pipestone 22 98.5
Dakota 23 98.38
Chippewa 24 98.3
Clay 25 98.07
Murray 26 98.05
Anoka 27 98.01
Lincoln 28 97.67
Scott 29 97.01
Washington 30 96.79
Mower 31 96.78
Martin 32 96.72
Kittson 33 96.68
Renville 34 96.42
Le Sueur 35 96.24
Marshall 36 95.49
Blue Earth 37 95.31
McLeod 38 95.17
Olmsted 39 93.12
Roseau 40 93.03
Nobles 41 92.95
Hubbard 42 91.56
Stearns 43 90.35
Itasca 44 90.19
Kandiyohi 45 89.77
Wilkin 46 89.59
Jackson 47 89.57
Brown 48 89.45
Rice 49 89.42
Sherburne 50 89.37
Crow Wing 51 88.11
Cottonwood 52 88.02
Wright 53 87.76
Pope 54 87.63
Sibley 55 86.65
Goodhue 56 86.59
Meeker 57 85.8
Winona 58 85.78
Nicollet 59 85.54
Benton 60 84.87
Morrison 61 84.83
Norman 62 83.7
Faribault 63 82.55
Lake 64 82.3
Becker 65 82.11
Houston 66 81.91
Chisago 67 81.59
Douglas 68 79.97
Lake of the Woods 69 78.28
Grant 70 78.05
Mahnomen 71 76.49
Otter Tail 72 76.26
Koochiching 73 75.99
Traverse 74 74.61
Fillmore 75 74.42
St. Louis 76 74.11
Redwood 77 73.08
Aitkin 78 72.86
Wabasha 79 72.5
Mille Lacs 80 69.25
Cass 81 64.2
Carlton 82 60.88
Isanti 83 59.81
Todd 84 57.01
Pine 85 42.9
Kanabec 86 29.05
Cook 87 16.96

 

How does your MN county rank for access to wireline broadband Gig access?

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The Office of Broadband Development has shared data for wireline broadband by county (Updated Oct 2023), which is the first step to me doing the broadband profiles so expect some charts and ranking and then a lot of profiles in the next few weeks. This chart looks at access to Gig access. It’s a chance to congratulate the folks who are in a good position and maybe inspire folks who need a push. If you look at the list rural counties are leading the pack. Also, percentage of coverage ranges from 100 percent (in 2 counties!) to less than one percent in two counties. That’s quite a gap.

(I’ll be sharing a few quick ranking posts today. You can download the spreadsheet of data for posts on access to 25/3, 100/20 and Gig for easier manipulation.)

County ≥ 1 Gbps Download/1 Gbps Upload Speeds Gig ranking
Lincoln 100 1
Red Lake 100 1
Lac qui Parle 99.94 3
Beltrami 98.75 4
Clearwater 98.28 5
Stevens 96.06 6
Wadena 94.92 7
Pennington 93.64 8
Kittson 92.69 9
Cook 90.36 10
Steele 87.31 11
Lake 86.66 12
Marshall 84.39 13
Olmsted 82.15 14
Traverse 79.94 15
Grant 76.72 16
Itasca 75.97 17
Dodge 73.61 18
Big Stone 70.49 19
Wilkin 68.57 20
Wabasha 67.6 21
Swift 67.45 22
Rice 66.32 23
Freeborn 63.79 24
Hubbard 63.31 25
Jackson 61.75 26
Goodhue 61.56 27
Douglas 61.19 28
Faribault 60.45 29
Pope 60.18 30
Roseau 59.19 31
Mahnomen 59.16 32
Aitkin 56.85 33
Becker 56.85 34
Morrison 55.49 35
Polk 55 36
Nicollet 52.81 37
Cottonwood 49.93 38
Crow Wing 48.01 39
Scott 46.75 40
Meeker 43.44 41
Rock 42.97 42
Sibley 41.54 43
Todd 38.81 44
Otter Tail 37.97 45
Mower 37.49 46
Cass 37.26 47
Waseca 36.63 48
Norman 35.79 49
Redwood 34.7 50
Lake of the Woods 34.57 51
Dakota 33.39 52
Blue Earth 33.37 53
Le Sueur 32.88 54
Brown 29.74 55
Benton 26.67 56
Renville 26.38 57
Nobles 24.6 58
Hennepin 22.55 59
Watonwan 20.59 60
Clay 20.39 61
McLeod 19.29 62
Koochiching 17.5 63
Martin 17.37 64
Winona 16.53 65
Carver 16.4 66
Mille Lacs 15.94 67
Chippewa 14.5 68
Stearns 14.31 69
Fillmore 13.74 70
Pipestone 13.65 71
Lyon 12.62 72
St. Louis 12.13 73
Wright 12.09 74
Houston 12.07 75
Yellow Medicine 11 76
Sherburne 9.18 77
Murray 7.55 78
Carlton 6.72 79
Kandiyohi 6.59 80
Isanti 6.27 81
Washington 3.99 82
Ramsey 3.78 83
Pine 2.89 84
Chisago 2.71 85
Kanabec 0.87 86
Anoka 0.43 87

 

How does your MN county rank for access to wireline broadband access at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up?

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The Office of Office of Broadband Development has shared data for wireline broadband by county (Updated Oct 2023), which is the first step to me doing the broadband profiles so expect some charts and ranking and then a lot of profiles in the next few weeks. These charts look at access to 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps (100/20). Speeds slower than 100/20 are considered underserved and qualify for federal BEAD funding. It is also the Minnesota state speed goal for 2026 – for ubiquitous coverage at speeds of at least 100/20.

(I’ll be sharing a few quick ranking posts today. You can download the spreadsheet of data for posts on access to 25/3, 100/20 and Gig for easier manipulation.)

Here are the top 10 counties – with a look to their ranking last year:

County ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds 2023
100/20 ranking		 2022 100/20 ranking
Lincoln 100 1 2
Red Lake 100 1 1
Rock 100 1 3
Ramsey 99.98 4 5
Lac qui Parle 99.94 5 4
Big Stone 99.71 6 12
Pennington 99.53 7 6
Wadena 99.32 8 7
Hennepin 99.11 9 10
Swift 98.94 10 11

Here are the bottom 10 counties – with a look to their ranking last year:

County ≥ 100 Mbps Download/20 Mbps Upload Speeds 2023 ranking 2022 ranking
Jackson 62.34 78 76
Yellow Medicine 61.09 79 78
Cass 56.15 80 79
Murray 55.9 81 81
Carlton 54.47 82 83
Norman 54.22 83 80
Isanti 54.09 84 82
Todd 53.43 85 85
Pine 40.71 86 86
Kanabec 20.45 87 87

It’s hard to see counties maintain a stronghold on lower ranking despite best efforts. It’s fun to see more counties at the other get getting to 100 percent coverage but some of the most interesting stories come from movement in the middle. Here are the folks who saw the great movement up the ranking in 2023.

county 2022 100/20 ranking 2023
100/20 ranking		 delta
Aitkin 77 40 37
Mahnomen 66 47 21
Redwood 84 63 21
Traverse 70 52 18
Marshall 39 27 12
Otter Tail 68 56 12
Fillmore 75 66 11
Lake 36 29 7
Sherburne 40 33 7
Pipestone 42 35 7

And here are folks who saw the greatest decrease in ranking:

county 2022 100/20 ranking 2023 100/20 ranking delta
Mower 37 46 -9
Brown 45 54 -9
Grant 50 59 -9
Nicollet 53 62 -9
Waseca 55 64 -9
Faribault 62 72 -10
St. Louis 57 68 -11
Rice 32 45 -13
Wright 49 65 -16
Blue Earth 41 61 -20

I’ll learn more about these folks when I dig into the county profiles. Sometimes the jump or drop in ranking has a lot more to do with what’s happening in other counties. If you’re near the top of the list, you can celebrate with your peers. If you’re dropping down the list you probably need to look at what’s happening and how you can turn it around.

How does your MN county rank for access to wireline broadband access at speeds of 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up?

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It’s broadband county ranking time of year! The Office of Broadband Development has shared data for wireline broadband by county (Updated Oct 2023), which is the first step to me doing the broadband profiles so expects lots of charts and ranking and then a lot of profiles in the next few weeks – starting with wireline access to 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up (25/3).

Unserved areas are defined as experiencing speeds under 25/3; Minnesota looks a wireless access. The good news for counties near the bottom of the list, there will be funding available through the federal BEAD program and reaching unserved areas is a priority.

If you are a community leader or resident, you will want to be thinking about how to tap into that funding. Do you have an incumbent provider that might be able to step up? Is there another provider that might be interested in stepping in? Do these numbers ring true with what you are experiencing in the county?

(I’ll be sharing a few quick ranking posts today. You can download the spreadsheet of data for posts on access to 25/3, 100/20 and Gig for easier manipulation.)

County ≥ 25 Mbps Download/3 Mbps Upload Speeds 25/3 ranking
Lincoln 100 1
Red Lake 100 1
Rock 100 1
Ramsey 99.98 4
Lac qui Parle 99.94 5
Stevens 99.81 6
Norman 99.73 7
Big Stone 99.71 8
Pennington 99.55 9
Swift 99.41 10
Wadena 99.36 11
Clearwater 99.26 12
Hubbard 99.25 13
Anoka 99.22 14
Hennepin 99.19 15
Beltrami 98.93 16
Washington 98.17 17
Polk 97.83 18
Dakota 97.48 19
Clay 96.75 20
Roseau 96.56 21
Olmsted 96.18 22
Benton 95.46 23
Scott 94.9 24
Itasca 94.6 25
Otter Tail 94.48 26
Douglas 94.06 27
Aitkin 93.96 28
Becker 93.96 29
Kittson 92.69 30
Carver 92.22 31
Grant 92.15 32
Cass 91.79 33
Pope 90.82 34
Cook 90.68 35
Stearns 90.65 36
Mahnomen 90.52 37
Crow Wing 90.27 38
Sherburne 90.08 39
Freeborn 89.96 40
Dodge 89.87 41
Blue Earth 89.37 42
Marshall 89.15 43
Faribault 89.01 44
Rice 88.89 45
Pipestone 88.81 46
Lake 88.59 47
Steele 88.38 48
Houston 88.11 49
Nobles 87.76 50
Winona 87.55 51
Mower 87.37 52
Wilkin 87.33 53
Redwood 87.31 54
Lyon 87.07 55
Lake of the Woods 85.45 56
Chippewa 85.37 57
Nicollet 85.19 58
Morrison 85.16 59
McLeod 83.75 60
Le Sueur 83.68 61
Brown 83.31 62
Goodhue 82.14 63
Meeker 81.27 64
Traverse 80.55 65
Wright 80.54 66
Kandiyohi 80 67
Fillmore 79.54 68
Todd 79.33 69
Chisago 79.08 70
Martin 78.92 71
St. Louis 78.35 72
Waseca 78.18 73
Koochiching 76.37 74
Wabasha 75.96 75
Mille Lacs 75.01 76
Watonwan 74.61 77
Cottonwood 74.17 78
Renville 73.98 79
Yellow Medicine 68.63 80
Sibley 66.82 81
Isanti 65.98 82
Jackson 63.88 83
Carlton 63.33 84
Murray 58.69 85
Pine 49.95 86
Kanabec 38.42 87