Duluth, MN
Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Duluth ranks 174th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 206th for income. A household earns $69,309 a year while median rent runs $993/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is commute (31st of 300), while household income is the soft spot (206th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 40th and home prices 86th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Duluth, your take-home is worth about $65,004 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 206th of 300↑14.9%$69,309
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 38th of 30089 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $78,079
- Per-capita income
- $41,581
- Full-time pay
- $41,941
Housing
- Median rent
- 40th of 300↑29.3%$993/mo
- Home value
- 86th of 300↑48.7%$248,600
- Property tax
- $2,545/yr · 1%
- Sales tax
- 8.13%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 164th of 3004.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 169th of 30032%
- Avg commute
- 31st of 30020.7 min
People
- Population
- 281,815
- Population change
- -2.6%
- Median age
- 41.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2.1%
- Broadband
- 90.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 73rd of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 82nd of 30016.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Household income
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — hibbing chisholm hibbing ap.
What jobs pay in Duluth
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $256,200
- Pharmacists
- $154,860
- IT managers
- $149,710
- Lawyers
- $129,120
- Financial managers
- $126,800
- Software developers
- $103,500
- Civil engineers
- $98,830
- Registered nurses
- $96,940
- General & operations managers
- $85,930
- Plumbers
- $85,060
- Electricians
- $82,700
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,400
- Police officers
- $76,220
- Secondary school teachers
- $74,030
- Elementary school teachers
- $65,840
- Construction laborers
- $61,340
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,970
- Carpenters
- $60,520
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,900
- Customer service reps
- $44,940
- Janitors
- $37,230
- Retail salespersons
- $34,650
- Cashiers
- $33,020
- Waiters & waitresses
- $23,150
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Duluth metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Minnesota are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Illinois372
- Michigan297
- California289
- Colorado287
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Duluth
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Duluth metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Duluth metro?
- Median gross rent across the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area is $993 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Duluth.
- What is the median household income in the Duluth metro?
- A typical household in the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area earns $69,309 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Duluth expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area runs about 11% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Duluth metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $78,079 (versus its face value of $69,309). CityLedger rates the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Duluth metro?
- The median home value across the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area is $248,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Duluth metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Duluth, MN-WI Metro Area is 4.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).