Mahnomen County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2021	#62 of 87	71.73%
2020	#71 of 87	57.82%
2019	#86 of 87	17.31%
2018	#84 of 87	13.53%
2017	#75 of 87	13.03%

Coverage Map

Rank: 62 (out of 87) for access to 100/20 megabits per second (Mbps)

Mahnomen County saw a huge increase in access from 17 percent to 57 percent in 2020. They saw another increase to 72 percent this last year. Unfortunately, their ranking decreased but that’s because other counties did better, not because they were stagnant.

They have an engaged provider but with such a low population density, it’s difficult to make a business case to serve 3.5 households per square mile. Also, Mahnomen was found to be one of the top 10 MN counties for highest digital equity needs, based on access to broadband, digital training and accommodations to increase access during COVID. Almost 13 percent of households report that a smartphone is their only access to broadband.

Projected allocation of American Recovery Project ARP funds in Mahnomen is $1,071,928; broadband is one possible use. It would help hugely if they allocated some of the money for broadband infrastructure and some for access to address the digital inequity.

They potential is there and they are on a steady page forward; they are upgraded to a code yellow.

Find more articles on broadband in McLeod County (https://bit.ly/2kgeboX)