Moving to the Duluth area, good outlying cities? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: section 8, real estate)

[hotmamma5point0]

My husband was promoted to district manager in his company and it will have us moving up to the Duluth area. I am wondering a couple of things. First off, we would prefer not to move into the city, if possible. But if we do, what are some good neighborhoods? We have five kids ages 14 down to 2 and want nice schools, cultural diversity, friendly neighborhoods. What are some other nice towns that meet the criteria? Also, for now we are going to be renting until we familiarize ourselves with the area and find a home we want, what are some resources we can use to find rentals in this area? I've gotten the area paper and googled, but I am finding almost nothing.

Thank you!

[aswat12389]

My friend from Duluth tells me that anything East of 19th ave E is good, but that's about all I can tell you other than to enjoy Duluth and you'll love it!

[JameeLynn25]

Hi. I am not sure your reasons for not wanting to live in Duluth. There are plenty of nice areas around. Your family should look into the Congdon/Lakeside area where there is less crime, better schools, and a better way of life. Hermantown is also a very nice area and thats just right next to Duluth over the hill. A short drive to the mall, shops, and restaurants. I also know its very expensive to live in that area. If your interested in renting, I would look at into rent.com, apartments.com and google Duluth apartments. There are some very decent rentals around the area. Again I would stay closer to the East side of Duluth as aswat12389 had mentioned. Here is Duluths local newspaper listing · Duluth News Tribune ·. Good luck to you and your family!

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by hotmamma5point0

My husband was promoted to district manager in his company and it will have us moving up to the Duluth area. I am wondering a couple of things. First off, we would prefer not to move into the city, if possible. But if we do, what are some good neighborhoods? We have five kids ages 14 down to 2 and want nice schools, cultural diversity, friendly neighborhoods. What are some other nice towns that meet the criteria? Also, for now we are going to be renting until we familiarize ourselves with the area and find a home we want, what are some resources we can use to find rentals in this area? I've gotten the area paper and googled, but I am finding almost nothing.

Thank you!

Duluth isn't like Minneapolis or most other American cities in the sense that we don't have tons of outlying suburbs. Most "suburban" and even some rural areas are incorporated into city limits. That being said, the only nearby outlying cities are Hermantown and Proctor. Superior doesn't count as it is part of the urban core. Cloquet, Carlton, Scanlon, and Two Harbors are farther-off towns and cities.

Hermantown is a very suburban city, and the fastest growing in the area. The eastern part of the city (the standard sized 6 mi x 6 mi) has a lot of new developments / subdivisions and suburban sprawl-type commercial properties (Wal-Mart, HOM furniture, strip malls, etc.) while the western part is rural, with 20+ acre plots common.

Proctor is much different; it's far more densely populated, much smaller (only about two square miles), and actually losing population.

You won't find "cultural diversity" in either of these cities. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find cultural diversity anywhere north of the Minneapolis - St. Paul metro. The Duluth area is a very white-bread one, with small minorities of blacks and American Indians and very few immigrants.

[traillover]

As someone born and raised in the Twin Cities and 5 year Duluth resident, I think I can add a bit here. As others have posted, Hermantown is a suburb of Duluth, but Proctor and Cloquet are very much towns of their own. Hermantown is a more expensive area, but not by Twin City real estate standards. I think you will be happy with your real estate choices when and if you decide to buy.

In contrast to the Cities, Duluth is broken up into neighborhoods with names like Lakeside, Congdon, Hunters Park, Woodland, Chester Park etc. They are all in the city limits and are all Duluth zip codes. When searching for real estate here, you search by neighborhood. Check out Kalligher Realty, Inc. for a good search site. Hermantown is away from town, but I would argue lacks anything except mall shopping and chain stores. If that's what you like, great! Downtown Duluth, Canal Park and Fitger's gives you specialty shops and, in my opinion, much better restaurants.

Neighborhoods east of 19th Ave Eastand north are probably best for schools and Hermantown. These neighborhoods would include Congdon, Hunters Park, Lakeside, Woodland, Lakewood (NE Rural Area). In contrast to living in the Twin Cities, rural living with daily commuting is easy in Duluth. I hope this information helps.

[Delaneyland]

After living nearly my entire life in Duluth, I finally moved just south of Cloquet. Contrary to a couple of posts here, I've seen Duluth turn from a rather nice town to a pit of welfare, section 8 housing, government that does nothing to promote business or jobs (unless you're a non profit or tourist related business) and a city government that has the foresight of a toad. There are many cities around Duluth such as Cloquet, Esko, Hermantown, Pike Lake, that are far more suitable for raising a family than Duluth.

[JameeLynn25]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

After living nearly my entire life in Duluth, I finally moved just south of Cloquet. Contrary to a couple of posts here, I've seen Duluth turn from a rather nice town to a pit of welfare, section 8 housing, government that does nothing to promote business or jobs (unless you're a non profit or tourist related business) and a city government that has the foresight of a toad. There are many cities around Duluth such as Cloquet, Esko, Hermantown, Pike Lake, that are far more suitable for raising a family than Duluth.

Agree with you all the way on this! 100%

[Auntie Bob]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

After living nearly my entire life in Duluth, I finally moved just south of Cloquet. Contrary to a couple of posts here, I've seen Duluth turn from a rather nice town to a pit of welfare, section 8 housing, government that does nothing to promote business or jobs (unless you're a non profit or tourist related business) and a city government that has the foresight of a toad. There are many cities around Duluth such as Cloquet, Esko, Hermantown, Pike Lake, that are far more suitable for raising a family than Duluth.

I definitely agree. As a former Duluthian now living in the Cloquet area, I can honestly say I'm happy I made the move.
Back in the day, Duluth definitely had small pockets of poverty housing and 'slums' but, that seems to be developing an urban sprawl of it's own now.

There's still a lot of nice neighborhoods to live in there for sure but, not as many as there once were. I suppose that's true of every place though.
If you ask the old timers of Cloquet, they'd probably say the same thing of this town.
The City Council of Duluth certainly does seem to be lacking in some areas. I hope with the next election they can get that straightened out.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Delaneyland

After living nearly my entire life in Duluth, I finally moved just south of Cloquet. Contrary to a couple of posts here, I've seen Duluth turn from a rather nice town to a pit of welfare, section 8 housing, government that does nothing to promote business or jobs (unless you're a non profit or tourist related business) and a city government that has the foresight of a toad. There are many cities around Duluth such as Cloquet, Esko, Hermantown, Pike Lake, that are far more suitable for raising a family than Duluth.

My wife grew up in Esko and her parents and uncle still live there on Korby Road, and it seemed like a fairly nice place to me. :-)

[Auntie Bob]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

My wife grew up in Esko and her parents and uncle still live there on Korby Road, and it seemed like a fairly nice place to me. :-)

Very quiet, family and community oriented, great school system. Lacks a lot in terms of shopping and eating but, it's close enough to Cloquet and Duluth so it doesn't really matter. Tax base is a little high I think. I'd surely recommend it to anyone looking to live close to but not in Duluth. Not sure what the rental market is there.