Lake of the Woods County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
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	#87 of 87	0%

Coverage Map

Rank: 59 (out of 87) for access to 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Lake of the Woods County ranks 59 for broadband access and 73 for digital equity out of 87 counties. They have 74 percent coverage to broadband of 100 Mbps down and 20 up. They have 873 households without access to broadband at that speed. Estimates indicate that it will cost $8.1 million to get to ubiquitous broadband in the county.

Lake of the Woods will benefit from a border to border grant announced in December 2022:

• Wikstrom Telephone Co. Inc, $665,699.00 (to serve Beltrami, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Marshall)

Lake of the Woods has been working on broadband for several years. They were a Blandin Broadband Community. In 2019, Wikstrom Telephone received a Border to Border award and they saw a big increase in access; hopefully that will happen again with the latest grant, although it is not a large grant given the ground they plan to cover.

They are maintaining their yellow status based on the engagement and success of local providers.

Digital Equity:

Lake of the Woods County ranks 82 out of 87 for digital equity. (See full Digital Equity Profile)

Lake of the Woods County ranks 73 out of 87 for computer ownership. 88 percent of homes have a computer of device as compared to statewide ownership of 95.5 percent.