Rural Dataverse

Federal Communications Commission Broadband Service Data

Broadband infrastructure availability data from the FCC National Broadband Map (2022–present) and its predecessor Form 477 (2014–2021). The primary federal source for tracking fixed broadband infrastructure availability at the location, census block, and county level.

DatasetBroadband

Mapping & Data Analytics Team 2026-09-02

Overview

The FCC’s Broadband Data Collection (BDC) is the federal government’s primary program for mapping broadband infrastructure availability across the United States. It comprises two distinct eras: Form 477 (December 2014 – December 2021), which reported coverage at the census block level as filed by ISPs, and the National Broadband Map (NBM) (November 2022 – present), which replaced block-level reporting with location-level data tied to individual addresses in the FCC’s Fabric dataset. Together they provide a continuous picture of where broadband infrastructure exists and at what speeds — from the pre-BEAD baseline through the current expansion.

NOTE

The NBM represents a significant improvement in precision. Under Form 477, a provider needed only to report coverage in a census block if it served a single location there, leading to known overstatement of coverage. The NBM requires ISPs to report which specific addresses they serve, which technologies they use, and their maximum advertised speeds. ISPs file twice yearly — as of June 30 and December 31 — with interim updates to reflect challenge outcomes.

What this data tells us about rural America

The FCC National Broadband Map represents the most granular and current public dataset on broadband infrastructure availability in the United States. For rural communities, it documents both how far the rural broadband gap has closed in recent years and where meaningful gaps remain. Coverage at 100/20 Mbps or better and fiber availability are particularly useful metrics for economic development analysis — they capture whether infrastructure meets a commonly used high-speed broadband benchmark and whether communities have access to fiber.

The data reflects infrastructure availability — what is built and where. The data does not decribe whether households are connected or what speeds they actually experience.

NOTE

NBM tells us where broadband infrastructure is available; ACS helps us understand whether households are actually using it. Communities with strong coverage on paper can still face adoption challenges driven by affordability, device access, or awareness.

The NBM’s greatest value for rural analysis is its geographic precision: it is possible to identify coverage gaps within a county, not just countywide averages. In rural places, a county can appear relatively well served overall while still containing substantial pockets of unserved locations — a pattern that older county-level broadband measures could not reveal. Broadband coverage has improved substantially in many rural communities in recent years, and the NBM provides a way to track that progress and identify where gaps persist.

Coverage

  • Geography: Individual broadband serviceable locations (BSLs), aggregated to census block, county, and state

  • Time range: December 2014–December 2021 (Form 477, census-block level); November 2022–present (NBM, location level)

  • Update frequency: Biannual — June 30 and December 31 reference dates, with ongoing updates for challenge outcomes

  • Universe: Fixed broadband infrastructure availability as reported by ISPs. Mobile broadband coverage available separately.

NOTE

Form 477 vs. NBM: The two series use different units of measurement and geographic boundaries, which creates definitional and geographic coverage misalignment when constructing a longitudinal trend. Form 477 reported at the census block level using 2010 Census boundaries; a single served location was sufficient to mark an entire block as covered. NBM reports at the individual location level using 2020 Census boundaries. Coverage rates under NBM are generally lower than under Form 477 for the same geography — this reflects the improved precision of location-level reporting, not a real decline in service. A combined series can be constructed but should be interpreted with care around the 2021–2022 methodological break.

Key variables

NBM — location-level availability (CORI block-level summary via get_nbm_bl())

  • cnt_total_locations — total broadband serviceable locations in the block
  • cnt_bead_locations — locations classified as BEAD-eligible based on FCC-reported service levels; verify current BEAD eligibility rules before using for program purposes
  • cnt_fiber_locations — locations with fiber service available
  • cnt_cable_locations — locations with cable service available
  • cnt_unlicensed_fixed_wireless_locations, cnt_licensed_fixed_wireless_locations — fixed wireless coverage
  • cnt_25_3 — locations with service at 25/3 Mbps or better (FCC minimum broadband threshold)
  • cnt_100_20 — locations with service at 100/20 Mbps or better (BEAD served threshold)
  • cnt_100_100 — locations with service at 100/100 Mbps or better

Form 477 (via get_f477())

  • Provider ID, FRN, technology code
  • Maximum advertised download and upload speeds
  • Census block coverage indicator (residential and business)

Accessing the data

Via CORI R package

The cori.data.fcc package provides access to both NBM and Form 477 data. CORI’s processed block-level summaries aggregate the location-level NBM data to census blocks, making it easier to use for community analysis by providing consistent geographic units with technology type and speed threshold counts pre-computed.

library(cori.data.fcc)

# CORI block-level NBM summary for a county
get_nbm_bl(geoid_co = "33009")

# County-level NBM summary
get_nbm_county("33009")

# Form 477 — state data across all available years
get_f477("NH")

Direct from Source

NBM data files are available for bulk download from the FCC broadband data download page. Form 477 data is archived at the FCC Form 477 page. See the NBM about page for full documentation of data definitions, ISP reporting requirements, and the Fabric location methodology.

  • Package: cori.data.fcc — CORI’s access layer for NBM and Form 477, with S3-backed block-level summaries
  • Package: cori.data — meta-package including cori.data.fcc
  • Dataset: American Community Survey — household-level broadband adoption and usage data that complements NBM’s infrastructure availability picture
  • Project: Rural Economic Outlook — broadband coverage is a core input to CORI’s multi-dataset economic analysis