Lake of the Woods County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2024	#34 of 87	90.22%
2023	#53 of 87	78.82%
2022	#59 of 87	74.26%
2021	#55 of 87	74.31%
2020	#73 of 87	54.66%
2019	#65 of 87	53.93%
2018	#52 of 87	50.47%
2017	#85 of 87	0%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

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

Lake of the Woods County: Progress in the Last Year

Lake of the Woods County ranks 34 (up 19 places) for broadband access out of 87 counties. After hovering about 78 percent for many years, Lake of the Woods saw nice progress in the last year and that is why their ranking went from red to yellow.

I don’t hear much about their broadband efforts and they have had no Line Extension or MN Broadband grants in 2024 but I’m hoping the latest success build a momentum leading up to BEAD opportunities.

• Over the years, Lake of the Woods County (or cities within) has not invested in matches for any successful MN Broadband grants.
• Lake of the Woods County will not benefit from a 2024 MN Broadband grant.
• of the Woods County will not benefit from any line extension awards.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $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, Lake of the Woods ranked 82 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.
• Lake of the Woods was a Blandin Broadband Community.