Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cloquet is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, ranked 228th of 271 in Minnesota, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 63% of U.S. towns. It also does better than most on schools: its schools rank ahead of 62% of Minnesota towns. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $61K, and 16% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $266K, 3.7 years of the Duluth metro’s $72K median household income. 34% of working residents work locally in Cloquet, above both the Minnesota town median (9.7%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Cloquet is home to Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Cloquet is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns.
Where Cloquet beats most towns.
Northeastern Hotel| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College | 1,604 |
Census counts: 93 in 1880, 12,568 in 2020. The archive holds 35 old photos and papers going back to 1910 and 4 maps from 1954 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Cloquet is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cloquet, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Cloquet.
Cloquet has a shorter frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has seen reported crime fall by about half.
25 miles of trail in 11 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Pine Valley Recreation Area, at 171 acres.
| Cloquet | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.6% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Veteran's Park | 0.5 mi | 10 |
| 2. Dunlap Island Park | 0.5 mi | 6 |
| 3. Pinehurst Park | 0.3 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Cloquet Public School District. Three of its 11 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Cloquet Senior, with 761 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloquet MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 752 | B− |
| Cloquet SeniorLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 761 | B |
| Churchill ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 351 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
The typical Cloquet home is worth about $266,000, up 3.5% in a year, 24% below the Minnesota typical home. 66% of Cloquet households own their home.
| Cloquet | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 66% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,024 a month | $1,199 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The Cloquet weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 118 days, shorter than in 98% of U.S. towns. January nights average -0.3°, colder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 77.9°.
Cloquet has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Cloquet is 78°F. About 71 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 143 to 62 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Cloquet’s property crime rate is 3.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Cloquet | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.5 per 1,000 residents | 8.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The average commute for its 5,598 working residents takes 16.7 minutes, against 22.7 across Minnesota.
About one in 3 of Cloquet’s working residents works in town. 8.6% of workers work from home in Cloquet. The top destinations are Duluth (25%), Superior (3%) and Carlton (3%).
| Cloquet | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $61,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 8.6% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Cloquet since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 9,277 U.S. towns with household incomes like Cloquet’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Among 271 Minnesota towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Cloquet. Cloquet beats the Minnesota average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 17. Among 271 Minnesota towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Cloquet.
| Cloquet | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 25% | 23% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 75% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 14% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Cloquet | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.1% | 8.9% |
| More smokers | 17.2% | 13.1% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 9% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cloquet. Close and well known come first.
19 mi MuseumLake Superior Railroad Museum
19 mi Zoo & aquariumGreat Lakes Aquarium
19 mi MuseumDuluth Depot15 mi Zoo & aquariumLake Superior Zoo
19 mi MuseumFairlawn Mansion
in town MuseumCarlton County History and Heritage CenterLake Superior Railroad Museum: User resedabear on Flickr, CC BY 2.0 · Great Lakes Aquarium: Tmajewski, Public domain · Duluth Depot: Hikki Nagasaki, Public domain · Fairlawn Mansion: Nfarmakes, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carlton County History and Heritage Center: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Cloquet
About 4 of every 100 Cloquet residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
7 places in Cloquet on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Cloquet.
City in Minnesota, United States
Cloquet ( kloh-KAY, Ojibwe: Mookomaan-Onigamiing) is a city in Carlton County, Minnesota, United States, at the junction of Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highway 33. Part of the city lies within the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation and serves as one of the reservation's three administrative centers. The population was 12,568 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Cloquet.
| Town | MN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloquet | #228 | B− | C+ | B | B | C+ |
| Thomson Township | #81 | A | C | — | A+ | A |
| Twin Lakes Township | — | — | B− | — | C+ | B |
| Perch Lake Township | — | — | A− | — | B | C+ |
| Brevator Township | — | — | B+ | — | B | B− |
| Scanlon | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Twin Lakes Township, Perch Lake Township and Brevator Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Thomson Township, Twin Lakes Township, Perch Lake Township and Brevator Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Scanlon isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Cloquet with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cloquet grades B− overall, better than 47% of U.S. towns and #228 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades C+ for health, B for safety and B for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
14 notable people were born here, including Jessica Lange and Barbara Payton.
