Murray County

Table of goal data by year

Year	100/20 Mbps	1 Gbps
2025	#87 – 57.44%	#71 – 28.02%
2024	#86 – 57.12%
2023	#81 – 55.9%
2022	#81 – 51.38%
2021	#76 – 54.37%
2020	#78 – 51.59%
2019	#69 – 51.59%
2018	#51 – 50.78%
2017	#53 – 41.65%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

Murray County: still at bottom of the ranking

Murray County’s broadband coverage has remained stagnant over the last few years. That has kept them at the bottom of the ranking and keeps them with a Red status.

Murray has been in a precarious position because looking maps there is a big discrepancy between wireline access and wireline with fixed wireless. 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 made a difference to who is eligible for BEAD funding.

At the time of writing, the MN BEAD final proposal has not been approved, but the current proposal would mean coverage for 13 locations in Murray County. There is a mix of fiber and satellite connections, which does not qualify as served in the MN statute. But with such low coverage it’s the number of locations awarded funding that is notable.

There is still Line Extension funding yet to be distributed, which helps connect handfuls of  houses just beyond existing infrastructure. (Anoka has benefitted from earlier Line Extension awards. So that seems hopeful for them as well.) There have been changes with local and national broadband providers, which also leads to uncertainty.