Koochiching County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2024	#68 of 87	74.92%
2023	#67 of 87	73.83%
2022	#63 of 87	72.3%
2021	#60 of 87	72.85%
2020	#60 of 87	68.6%
2019	#47 of 87	73.41%
2018	#28 of 87	73.44%
2017	#27 of 87	68.55%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Wired (wireline) and wireless (fixed, non-mobile) served location percentage at various speeds.

Koochiching County: Incremental Increases

Koochiching County ranks 74 (down 7 places) for broadband access out of 87 counties. Koochiching County has been hovering around 73 percent coverage for a while now.  It seems as if the small grant they received last year helped with incremental progress but as of know there are no MN State grant funds coming in 2024 so it doesn’t look optimistic.

• Over the years, Koochiching County (or cities within) has invested $26,000 (total) for matches for 1 successful MN Broadband grants. This is an indicator of local government that is engaged and (literally) invested in better, local broadband.
• Koochiching County will not benefit from a 2024 MN Broadband grant award.
• Koochiching County will not benefit from line extension awards.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $16.9 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, Koochiching ranked 78 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.