Duluth, Minnesota

Area Profile

87,093 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Duluth, in St. Louis County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 43% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
Opportunity3,505th of 4,199 cities measured39
SchoolsTop 49% of 4,162 cities measured50
Growth3,617th of 4,224 cities measured29
Housing affordabilityTop 42% of 4,218 cities measured69
Climate4,206th of 4,225 cities measured47
Physical resilienceTop 5% of 4,226 cities measured94
Access2,395th of 4,226 cities measured90
Economic stability2,185th of 4,226 cities measured57
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 4.4% and the Opportunity signal places Duluth in the bottom 17%.

In the public schools here, 51% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.4 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 153 units authorized over the past twelve months, 27% below the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
87,093
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$68,807
Top 47% nationally
Density
1,215/sq mi
71.7 sq mi of land
Median age
35.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Minnesota
Metro area
Nearest major airport
DLH
5 mi · Duluth Intl
Median home value
$242,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% — higher than in all but 47% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.3% over the past year, to 44,018 employed residents.

44% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsSt. Louis County, MN’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$59,12424th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftSt. Louis County, MN’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$59,32123rd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$1,8142024 ACS 5-Year$68,807Top 47%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3312024 ACS 5-Year$41,503Top 30%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year12.2%Bottom 44%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.5 min2024 ACS 5-Year18.7 minTop 13%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year44.0%Top 15%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year69.1%26th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202644,018Bottom 44%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−4.0%Bottom 7%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−3.3%Bottom 5%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202646,04444th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year82.8%Top 32%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageDuluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$61,560Bottom 21%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageDuluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$50,000Bottom 43%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year3.3%93rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.7%Bottom 9%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.4%Bottom 47%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.2%71st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.41.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.4% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202469k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $68,807 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Duluth, MN-WI

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides5,660$36,390
Registered Nurses4,410$96,940
Retail Salespersons3,490$34,650
Cashiers3,290$33,020
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,910$29,260
General and Operations Managers2,690$85,930

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 63% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher across 16 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
18
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across 16 of them
Math proficiency
50.8%
Bottom 36% in Minnesota
Reading proficiency
63.5%
Top 41% in Minnesota
The 12 largest of 18 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
East High SchoolDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,49520.546%75%
Ordean East Middle SchoolDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT1,03718.564%70%
Denfeld High SchoolDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT95116.127%48%
Lincoln Park Middle SchoolDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT60612.434%43%
Lester Park ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT51013.479%83%
Congdon ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT47416.978%81%
North Shore Community School · charterNORTH SHORE COMMUNITY SCHOOL35514.267%62%
Myers-Wilkins ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT3297.847%52%
Laura Macarthur ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT2778.747%42%
Lakewood ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT25416.967%72%
Stowe ElementaryDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT24510.242%47%
ALC Independent StudyDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT23547.0——

38.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 13% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 87.2, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area is up 49% over five years, and up 4.0% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,885 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.19% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,232, some 13% above the $1,087 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,232 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $49,300 a year, about 72% of the median household income here of $68,807.

The typical renter household here spends 32% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,087 a month.

A median home at $242,700 costs 2.6 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $92,119, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
87.2

Prices here run about 13% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
31.8%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.6×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,232
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,087
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$242,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Duluth’s median household income of $68,807, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure202387.2Top 2%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.0%66th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+48.7%76th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+95.1%52nd percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.6Bottom 45%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year59.4%20th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5972024 ACS 5-Year39,97899th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$978Top 21%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,689Top 28%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,232Top 23%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$452024 ACS 5-Year$1,087Bottom 40%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,9362024 ACS 5-Year$242,70063rd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$712024 ACS 5-Year$2,88571st percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,0202024 ACS 5-Year$92,119Top 34%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year1.19%63rd percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year31.8%Bottom 32%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2262024 ACS 5-Year60997th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%66th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.8%38th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3862024 ACS 5-Year2,53198th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

29/ 100
Ranks 3,617 of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 87,986 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 219 units authorized in 2025, 46% below the prior year.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across St. Louis County, which contains Duluth, in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $59,124, close to the $59,321 of households that moved out.

At 1.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
153
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.8
Bottom 38% nationally
Year over year
−27%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
58.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202488k87k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
0.0%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
48%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$59,124
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$59,321
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Hennepin County, MN 482 people · 7.3% of arrivals
  2. Douglas County, WI 474 people · 7.2% of arrivals
  3. Carlton County, MN 461 people · 7.0% of arrivals
  4. Itasca County, MN 276 people · 4.2% of arrivals
  5. Lake County, MN 212 people · 3.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Carlton County, MN 640 people · 9.7% of departures
  2. Hennepin County, MN 596 people · 9.1% of departures
  3. Douglas County, WI 580 people · 8.8% of departures
  4. Ramsey County, MN 288 people · 4.4% of departures
  5. Itasca County, MN 284 people · 4.3% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for St. Louis County, MN. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025402219
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−14%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 78°F and January a low of 2°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 31.2 inches, including 90.2 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

-10°10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DULUTH, 5.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year572024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals31.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals90.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals2°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals78°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year32024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year392024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals56°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
57
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

94 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are cold wave, inland flooding and lightning, with cold wave alone responsible for 45% of it. Cold wave and lightning are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 95% of measured US cities.

Winter weatherModerate
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, lightning, heat wave, hail, wildfire, strong wind, tornado, ice storm, landslide, drought, coastal flooding, earthquake, avalanche, tsunami, volcanic activity, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
231
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
3,060
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Duluth's police department reported 231 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 3,060.

St. Louis County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 17.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 15.5 per 100,000 residents in St. Louis County.

Homicide
3.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
15.5
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
18.0
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Duluth’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Duluth (St. Louis County) rather than Duluth itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest Duluth Intl at 5 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year90.3%Top 48%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle5 miTop 10%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 1%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year5.7%Top 41%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Duluth IntlDLH5 mi10,591 ft
Chippewa Valley RgnlEAU136 mi8,101 ft
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl/Wold-ChamberlainMSP141 mi11,006 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
57
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—

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Other cities in Duluth, MN-WI

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
SuperiorDouglas County26,67757Superior vs Duluth
HibbingSt. Louis County16,05754Hibbing vs Duluth
CloquetCarlton County12,53757Cloquet vs Duluth
HermantownSt. Louis County10,21862

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Duluth side by side with a similar place.

Duluth vs Cedar RapidsDuluth vs Fitchburg

Moving to Duluth from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Duluth

7 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Duluth with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Duluth closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
5580415,922$111,228$315,30062
5581210,859$65,505$322,70060
5580510,602$43,100$189,40054
558079,763$62,067$177,500—
558069,356$42,833$161,400—
558085,691$62,031$174,200—
558022,399$51,544$494,400—