About Broadband Trail

How we use FCC and Census data

FCC National Broadband Map

Provider and technology shares come from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection, in which providers report the locations where they offer fixed home internet service. We use the FCC's published summaries by state, county and Census place (filing as of December 30, 2025).

• Locations are the FCC's count of broadband-serviceable homes and businesses in an area.
• Technology shares are the portion of residential locations where at least one provider reports that technology at the stated speed: 100/20 Mbps (download/upload) or 1 Gbps (1,000/100 Mbps).
• Provider shares are the portion of residential locations where the provider reports offering any fixed service. They overlap, so they do not add up to 100%.

Census American Community Survey

Household counts, median household income and internet subscription rates come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2020–2024). These are survey estimates with margins of error, especially for small places, and they describe subscriptions, not availability.

Connecticut is a special case: the FCC still reports its eight historical counties, while the Census Bureau has reported nine planning regions instead since 2022. For those eight county pages we add up the Census estimates for the towns that make up each county. Median household income cannot be added up, so those pages leave it out.

Counties and nearby towns

Which county a town belongs to comes from 2020 Census blocks: a town is linked to every county that holds at least 5% of its land area. "Nearby towns" are the closest town pages in the same state, measured in a straight line between the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer center points, not by road.

When we publish a page

• A town page needs at least 300 FCC locations, at least 200 Census households and at least one non-satellite provider covering at least 5% of homes. Smaller places are covered by their state page.
• Before publishing, software compares every town page in a state with every other one. If two pages are too similar (85% or more of their five-word phrases match, or every provider and technology share is within 3 percentage points), the smaller place is held back rather than published as a near-copy.
• Headline provider counts include providers reporting service to at least 5% of homes.

Limits of the data

• Summaries are not address-level availability. A provider covering 60% of a town may not serve your street. Check your address on the FCC National Broadband Map or call us.
• Provider filings can overstate coverage, and the FCC map is updated twice a year, so recent build-outs or closures may not appear.
• Places do not always match how people describe where they live; a mailing address may use a nearby town's name.
• We do not publish prices on these pages because prices change often and differ by address.

Last updated October 9, 2026.