POLK COUNTY BROADBAND PLAN
Table 27. Relationship between Broadband Access and Race/Ethnicity
Race/Ethnicity
Number of respondents
with and without home
internet
With
Without
Percentage with and
without home internet
by race/ethnicity
Percentage at each
income level with and
without home internet
With
Without
With
Without
0%
0%
100%
0%
Asian
1
Black or African
American
17
20
3%
14%
46%
54%
Hispanic or Latino
23
16
4%
12%
59%
41%
Native American
4
1
1%
1%
80%
20%
Some other race / 2
or more races
10
5
2%
4%
67%
33%
White or Caucasian
487
91
86%
66%
84%
16%
No answer
22
5
4%
4%
81%
19%
Total
564
138
100%
100%
80%
20%
Areas of Greatest Broadband Need (Current)
To identify underserved areas in which improved broadband access may have a particularly strong impact and
may offer much-needed new opportunities to residents, a geographic model identifying areas of need was
developed. This model identifies areas where lack of service, lack of broadband adoption by households, and
low income combine to create a demand gap. The following were the specific factors used in the calculation:
• Current lack of coverage (fiber, cable, and DSL; NTIA data)
• Current low rates of broadband penetration (low estimated percentages of households that have broadband
connections; FCC data)
• Generalized existing land use (priority is given to agricultural and residential areas because these are where
isolated, underserved populations are most likely to reside; Florida Department of Revenue data)
• Low income (Census data)
The need score (N) was calculated as:
N=L+P+U+I
Where L is a score based on lack of existing coverage; P is a score based on low rates of existing household
broadband connections; U is a land use score that prioritizes agricultural and residential uses; and I is a score
indicated low median household income. The final score N is a number between 1 and 6.5. The final map shows
areas by percentile rank of their N score.
The following are the GIS procedures used to develop the geographic component of the need model:
1. Create a single polygon layer combining the NTIA broadband coverage data that is provided in two layers,
road segment (line) and census block (polygon). To do this, create a 1-foot buffer around the road segment
layer, erase the census block layer from the resulting buffer layer, then merge the buffer layer with the
census block layer. To calculate coverage deficiencies by census block, select census blocks that intersect
71