Jackson County

Table of goal data by year

Year	100/20 Mbps	1 Gbps
2025	#80 – 72.89%	#26 – 72.89%
2024	#83 – 60.86%
2023	#78 – 62.34%
2022	#76 – 61.98%
2021	#65 – 68.84%
2020	#59 – 68.84%
2019	#55 – 68.84%
2018	#33 – 68.79%
2017	#26 – 68.9%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Jackson County sees improvements

Jackson County saw a nice increase in broadband in 2025, which is a nice change from stagnation and even going backwards.

Looking last year we saw that Jackson County was in a precarious position when it comes to federal (BEAD) funding because looking at access in Chippewa County using the FCC National Map there is a big discrepancy between wireline access (60.86) percent coverage) and wireline with fixed wireless (97.86 percent). Minnesota doesn’t currently take fixed wireless into consideration when defining areas eligible for grants; the federal government does include access to fixed wireless. That could make a big difference to who is eligible for BEAD funding, which may explain why Jackson only had bids on 197 locations. (At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved.) Most of the locations will get fiber; the rest will fixed wireless connection, 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. (Jackson has benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.)

Statewide, there have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.

I wish I could color Jackson Orange, rather than keep them in red but with limited prospects proposed in BEAD, they retain their Red status.