New Funding Will Kickstart Internet Infrastructure in Rural Oregon. Here’s Where It’s Needed Most.

In February, when Oregon lawmakers were reworking the state’s budget in the face of massive looming federal cutbacks, a little-known state agency announced it had received a colossal federal grant—$689 million—to finally bring high-speed internet access to rural parts of the state.

In an age of remote work, online shopping, and 24/7 connectivity, nearly 84,000 Oregon households still have no way to access email or social media, let alone do a Google search or chat with an AI assistant.

The most recently available five-year estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey shows that about 5% of households in Oregon have no internet access—no satellite internet, no cellular data, no broadband. These households include Oregonians in mountainous and rural regions where providers haven’t installed physical cables, as well as residents who can’t afford service or don’t know how to use it. Still, this a vast improvement from 10.5% without access in 2019.

And although 84,000 households is a lot—grouped together, they would make up the state’s second-largest city—Oregon outperforms the United States as a whole in connectivity. Across the country, 6.5% of households lack access.

The biggest internet desert in the state is Lake County in Southern Oregon, where 23% of households do not have access. In contrast, only 2% of households in Hood River County fall into that category.

Improvement may be on the way. In February, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, under the U.S. Department of Commerce, approved an Oregon plan to boost broadband access. The agency released $689 million for the state to expand internet infrastructure into many rural areas. The funding comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Our goal is to ensure that our entire state achieves 100% access to reliable, high-speed broadband internet, especially our rural and underserved communities," says Nick Batz, director of the Oregon Broadband Office.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, health care, education, and banking have relied more heavily on the internet to deliver services, Batz says.

Even so, internet access, in both rural and metro areas, is unaffordable for many, says Oregon State University’s Victor Villegas, who chairs the Oregon Broadband Equity Coalition.

“You have to have the infrastructure, the tools and the knowledge, skills—and access—in order for everything to work optimally,” Villegas says.