An X-Ray of Broadband Access in the Upper Midwest

As of 2017, about 1.7 million housing units in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin did not have access to 25/3 affecting 3.5 million residents. Michigan had the highest share (25.5 percent) of housing units in the region with no 25/3 access, followed by Illinois (17.6 percent) and Wisconsin (17.2 percent). Minnesota had the lowest share, with less than 10 percent of the total.

However, broadband access changes significantly when analyzing two additional speed thresholds: 25/25 Mbps and 1/1 Gbps. A higher share of completely urban neighborhoods had access to symmetrical 25/25 Mbps across the region compared to completely rural. In Illinois, for example, 92.9 percent of housing units in completely urban neighborhoods had access to 25/25 Mbps compared to only 39.9 percent in completely rural neighborhoods, a 53 percentage points difference. As of 2017, the six-state region had 23.1 million housing units, or about 52.4 million residents. Of these, approximately 10.8 million housing units (46.9 percent), or about 23.7 million residents, lacked access to symmetrical 25/25 Mbps broadband. Less than one-third (30 percent) were located in Ohio followed by Michigan with 28.3 percent. On the other hand, Minnesota had the lowest share of the region’s total with 5.3 percent without access to 25/25 Mbps. When examining data by neighborhood types, it is clear that the percent of housing units with access to 1/1 Gbps decreased significantly. While the gap between completely urban and completely rural exists, it is not as wide as with the other much slower speed thresholds. Minnesota, again, outperforms all other states in the region with one-fifth of housing units in completely urban and also completely rural with access to this speed threshold.