Photo: Tony Webster from San Francisco, California · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Duluth trail those of 60% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 9.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 26.2 in Minneapolis. 16.8% of residents are in poverty; Minnesota has 9.3%. Jobs and income earn Duluth C+; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Duluth stands out on work
Duluth is where the jobs are
Duluth has 56,525 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Duluth are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Minnesota. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Minnesota worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Duluth gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Duluth is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #216 of 273 in Minnesota. Job access by car holds Duluth’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Duluth could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
The daily commute in and out of Duluth
On a workday 12,574 residents head out to work, 21,604 work right here, and 34,921 people come in from elsewhere.
About 111,000 people are in Duluth on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Minnesota
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Duluth workers work from home, vs 18% across Minnesota. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39,572 commuters (the 13% who work from home are left out). Across Minnesota: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The towns that send workers to Duluth
Where Duluth clocks in
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Duluth
56,525 jobs are based in Duluth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Duluth, 2013 → 2023: 58,581 → 56,525. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Duluth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Duluth
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Duluth, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Duluth is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #6 of 273 in Minnesota. Both inputs place Duluth near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 45,570 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 69% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.2% of Duluth households have no vehicle (Minnesota 6.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Duluth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Duluth next to U.S. towns of 62,000 to 119,000: 383rd of 507 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Maple Grove MN | 73,893 | $133K | 4.0% | 3.5% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 381 | Chico CA | 105,081 | $67K | 22.7% | 6.8% | 53% | C+ |
| 382 | Upper Darby Township PA | 85,458 | $71K | 14.4% | 8.9% | 7% | C+ |
| 383 | Duluth MN | 88,330 | $69K | 16.8% | 4.7% | 63% | C+ |
| 384 | Medford OR | 86,494 | $73K | 13.2% | 5.3% | 55% | C+ |
| 385 | Deerfield Beach FL | 89,339 | $60K | 15.1% | 5.4% | 12% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 507 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Duluth, the top three, the last and three more from Minnesota.
12% of Duluth works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Superior (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Duluth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth | – | C+ | A+ | 17 min | $68,807 |
| Hermantown | 5% | A− | C+ | 18 min | $90,849 |
| Rice Lake | 1% | A− | C+ | 22 min | $89,663 |
| Midway Township | under 1% | A | C | 19 min | $103,714 |
| Proctor | 1% | A− | B− | 15 min | $67,377 |
| Lakewood Township | under 1% | A− | C | 24 min | $111,111 |
| Twin Lakes Township | under 1% | B+ | D− | 24 min | $105,272 |
| Canosia Township | under 1% | B− | C+ | 22 min | $87,667 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Duluth’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Duluth: questions
What is the median household income in Duluth?
$68,807 (±$1,814) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $89,062 across Minnesota and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Duluth?
16.8%, against 9.3% across Minnesota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Duluth?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Minnesota and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Duluth work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Superior (5%, 6 mi), Hermantown (5%, 6 mi), Cloquet (2%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Duluth walkable?
Duluth is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Duluth without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 69% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Duluth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Duluth
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.