"Texas is slated to receive the most money, $3.3 billion, followed by California at $1.9 billion and Missouri at $1.7 billion from funding that targets rural or remote areas," reports Valerie Yurk of Roll Call. "Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington are also among the states that will receive over $1 billion each. The state-by-state allocations also show the benefits for heavily Republican states even as GOP members of Congress criticize Biden and Democrats for spending in the first two years of the administration. Congress provided the internet funding in a 2021 law when both chambers were controlled by Democrats. States that voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 will get 56 percent" of the total.
States are to get their formal notices of allocation tomorrow, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration said in a press release. They will have have 180 days to submit proposals for use of the money. The allocations were driven by the Federal Communications Commission's recently revised map of broadband service. "The FCC map shows about 8.5 million unserved broadband serviceable locations across the U.S.," Yurk reports. "That leaves about 7 percent of the U.S. unserved, according to senior White House officials."
Alaska ranked first in funding per person, and per rural person, with just over $1 billion. West Virginia was second per person and seventh per rural person, with $1.2 billion. Wyoming, the state with the least population, was third in both measures with nearly $348 million. A full list appears below, ranked by funds per rural person in the 2020 census. (Click image to enlarge)
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| Table by The Rural Blog from census and NTIA data; for a larger, clearer image, click on it. |
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