Wabasha County

Table of goal data by year

Year	Rank	100/20 Mbps
2024	#71 of 87	73.63%
2023	#71 of 87	71.92%
2022	#64 of 87	71.24%
2021	#69 of 87	66.67%
2020	#64 of 87	66.31%
2019	#60 of 87	66.31%
2018	#39 of 87	66.17%
2017	#33 of 87	61.7%

Red dots represent unserved locations.

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

Wabasha County: Still Stalled at 71 Percent Access

Wabasha County was stagnant at 66 percent coverage for several years; now they seem to be hovering around 72 percent. Wabasha County residents were awarded 97 line extension funding requests, which means state funding will subsidize last mile broadband extension to their homes and it shows a strong community engagement.

With limited progress, Wabasha retains their red ranking.

• Over the years, Wabasha County (or cities within) has not invested in matches for any successful MN Broadband grants.
• Wabasha County will not benefit from a 2024 MN Broadband grant.
• Wabasha County will benefit from 97 line extension awards (Rounds 1 and 2), which extend broadband to individual locations. That is a lot of awards.
• Last years’ estimates indicated that it would cost $16.1 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, Wabasha ranked 24 using Microsoft’s Digital Equity Tool, which looks at various factors of a community.