AreaProfile

55806Duluth, Minnesota

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 55806.

55
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5905th of 6,210 published ZIP areas25
Growth4532nd of 5,428 published ZIP areas30
Housing affordability3941st of 6,685 published ZIP areas74
Climate6757th of 6,789 published ZIP areas47
Physical resilienceTop 4% of 6,709 published ZIP areas94
Access3884th of 6,791 published ZIP areas90
Economic stability4392nd of 6,742 published ZIP areas51
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places 55806 in the bottom 5%.

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

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 55806 in the top 4% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
9,356
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$42,833
Bottom 8% nationally
Density
2,734/sq mi
3.4 sq mi of land
Median age
33.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Duluth
Minnesota
Metro area
Duluth, MN-WI
Nearest major airport
DLH
6 mi · Duluth Intl
Median home value
$161,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 40% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 3.3% over the past year, to 44,183 employed residents.

Median household income of $42,833 is below 92% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,825$42,833Bottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,240$28,412Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate22.5%Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute17.6 minBottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.0%Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment44,183Bottom 44%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.6%Bottom 8%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.3%Bottom 5%June 2026
Labor force46,359Bottom 44%June 2026
Labor force participation69.8%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,560Bottom 26%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,000Bottom 47%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.9%Top 7%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 40%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202445k38k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $42,833 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

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Duluth, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 12.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
1
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
2019-20 school year
Reading proficiency
2019-20 school year
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
LINCOLN PARK MIDDLE SCHOOLDULUTH PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT60612.432%42%

54.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Minnesota’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $908 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$908
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$161,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.77Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate42.1%Bottom 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2524,874Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$49$908Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,915$161,400Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.4%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.8%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
30/ 100
Ranks 4532 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

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

Units permitted
153
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.8
Bottom 37% nationally
Year over year
−27%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
58.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Duluth, MN, the city containing this ZIP code.

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.

-10°10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DULUTH, 6.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation31.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall90.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low2°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high78°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing56°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

94 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and winter weather.

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.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 6 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Duluth IntlDLH6 mi10,591 ft
Chippewa Valley RgnlEAU135 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
55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.

55806 vs Duluth

How this ZIP area compares with Duluth as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

55806
Duluth
Median household income
$42,833
vs
$68,807
Per capita income
$28,412
vs
$41,503
Population density
2,734/sq mi
vs
1,215/sq mi
Median home value
$161,400
vs
$242,700
Median gross rent
$908
vs
$1,087
Homeownership rate
42.1%
vs
59.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher
28.0%
vs
44.0%
Poverty rate
22.5%
vs
16.8%
Median age
33.2
vs
35.2

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.