Most of Duluth commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Duluth B; getting around on foot earns it C+. Duluth has 276 jobs; 750 of its residents have a job. Only 2% work in Duluth itself; outside it, Vancouver draws the most (25%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Duluth, in brief
Duluth and Vancouver trade workers both ways
Vancouver is the top workplace for Duluth residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Duluth come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Duluth are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington 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; with 750 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Duluth’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Duluth is better than 60% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Duluth’s grade up ($92,034, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Duluth’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Duluth could be anywhere from C− to A.
The towns that employ Duluth’s residents
Where Duluth clocks in
25% of workers
6% 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.
About 21 minutes to work from Duluth
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Duluth workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 592 commuters (the 23% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily commute in and out of Duluth
On a workday 737 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 263 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Duluth on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A place that makes things: 53% of Duluth’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Duluth, 2013 → 2023: 183 → 276. 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.
How many miles Duluth commutes
About 17% 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.
Most of Duluth commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Duluth is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 768 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 1.7% of Duluth households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Duluth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Duluth places 1,515th of 5,381 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 33 | Ames Lake WA | 1,245 | $250K | 1.1% | 3.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,513 | Watson LA | 1,357 | $97K | 17.2% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,514 | Lamar TX | 1,202 | $87K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,515 | Duluth WA | 1,656 | $92K | 14.6% | 0.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,516 | Clear Lake WA | 1,271 | $96K | 6.6% | 6.6% | <1% | B |
| 1,517 | Sussex NJ | 2,079 | $76K | 10.3% | 2.8% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Washington.
The towns around Duluth
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Duluth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth | – | B | C+ | 21 min | $92,034 |
| Dollars Corner | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dollars Corner: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. 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?
$92,034 (±$75,849) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Duluth?
14.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Duluth?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Duluth work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vancouver (25%, 10 mi), Portland (12%, 17 mi), Ridgefield (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Duluth walkable?
Duluth is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Duluth without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% 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.