Settle down in Duluth, or not. (Minneapolis, Rochester: 2014, house, job market)
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My wife and I are driving to Duluth for Thanksgiving to visit some friends. Never been to Minnesota and we want to know if this is the place we should settle down in. I'm originally from Seattle and love the outdoors.
Jobs: I am graduating with a degree in Communications and a minor in Business. What jobs are available in that field in Duluth? My wife is graduating with a degree in Math Education(school teacher)
Recreation: I enjoy climbing mountains and the outdoors. I believe Minnesota doesn't have any mountains to climb, but how about hiking the foothills. What other recreational outdoor activities could I get involved in?
Neighborhoods: Where are the good communities to settle down in. Right now we have a little girl who is only a year old and were planning to have another pretty soon. We want them to grow up in a family community with good schools.
Cost of living: In Seattle the average house runs around 300,000. What is it in Duluth? Is Duluth a rundown city? Should we look else where in minnesota?
Thanks!
Last edited by Twitch2; 11-08-2010 at 12:35 PM..
Reason: to add another question
Really the list of outdoor activities for Duluth is very long - hiking, biking, sailing, swimming, fishing, skiing - water, cross-country, downhill - etc. Not sure what the job market is like in either field, but I would wait to decide really after you've been there. Some people will say Duluth is rundown, others will say it is beautiful. Of course it is beautiful with the lake, but those who say run down mean actually looking at the city - not at the hill and the lake. There are plenty of good neighborhoods in Duluth and in the smaller towns around. The schools are going through some major changes, which some like, some don't, and the smaller cities' schools are overflowing. Ultimately, though, let your visit determine if you want to consider a move in more detail. People are extremely opinionated on the city of Duluth - good and bad. Don't let those opinions decide for you. I grew up there, loved it growing up, now live in SE Minnesota and wouldn't move back to Duluth unless a job offer with incredible pay was offered. Why? Doesn't matter because it's personal. I love living in Rochester, Minnesota, so I think it's a city to consider too, but again - visit Duluth and then decide what you think. Minnesota itself is worth it though.
There are plenty of rock climbing possibilities in Duluth area, with several popular spots in the city limits. Elys Peak area out on Becks Road, and up on first street on the Point of rocks area are a few.
Ice climbing is also many places to go and do that as well.
The area has many miles of cross country ski trails and remote as well. Opportunities for off road backwoods adventures are too nourmorous to mention here as well.
The outdoors is where most of the action is at, and the area has some of the best of that.
Duluth is definitely unique for it's outdoor opportunities. Everything you've listed is easily available in the Duluth area and although you won't find any true mountains, it's certainly one of the hilliest in the state. You'll find plenty of climbable cliffs and rock faces along the northern shore and Spirit Mountain (just south of town) has good snowboarding/skiing during the winter.
In regards to hiking, there are many city parks with miles and miles of mountain biking, hiking and cross country ski trails. If you have time while you're here, you should check out Lester Park on the east end of Lakeside, or perhaps Hartley Nature Center in upper Woodland. They are prime examples (and not the only ones) of how easy it is to get away to nature without ever going more than a few miles from your home. Many also enjoy hiking the entire way through the city (and continuing up the north shore) on the Superior Hiking Trail.
As `fromupthere` mentioned, Duluth is a city of strong opinions. This community dynamic can sometimes produce a very polarized and hostile environment. My general strategy is to stay out of the core group discussions and just enjoy living here. A lot of the most recent animosity has been related to the public school restructuring. Along with various closures and remodels of elementary and middle schools, we're also moving from three high schools to two. Central High School is closing and the displaced students are being distributed to the western high school and eastern high school (Denfeld and East respectively). In addition, the East High School and Ordean Middle School facilities are being swapped. Understandably, there's a lot of concern about these changes. Many believe they are long overdue, but others feel the money should be spent on improving course selection and after school options.
Duluth is quite varied when it comes to neighborhoods. The city is over 15 miles long (from Gary-New Duluth to Lakeside) and thus provides for very different demographical areas. Traditionally the western neighborhoods are the lower income, run down, potentially more dangerous areas. This isn't always the case, and in fact parts of West Duluth have recently seen a lot of new development and clean up.
Quite awhile ago, I wrote a city-data that describes Duluth's neighborhoods in detail. A lot of the information may be out of date now, but the stuff that matters hasn't changed. Here is a direct link to the post: //www.city-data.com/forum/2014103-post76.html
Your cost of living is going to vary greatly depending on where you would choose to build/buy, but in general, housing costs are going to be significantly lower than most major metros (such as Minneapolis/St.Paul). You'll get a lot of house for $300,000 in Duluth in all but the ritziest neighborhoods. I don't have any official number, but I would have to guest that the average home sells for between $150,000 and $200,000. That can get you a solid home built in the 60s -70s on a decent sized lot.
In conclusion, you'll have to wait until you get here to ultimately decide if it's right for you. It's not a suburban style town. You'll find few culdesacs here, and depending on the area, you may be shocked by run down down homes and poor road quality. But in other areas, you'll find charming, well-kept homes on streets lined with old growth trees. It's a city with history, a history full of up and downs that has left Duluth scarred and with a personality. Not everybody appreciates that, and I completely respect that opinion.
The jobs decision is going to be the ultimate driving force and a close second is if you actually like the city. I lived in Seattle for seven years and feel I get the best of both worlds. Duluth can feel like a small neighborhood in Seattle (e.g., a bit of Freemont, mixed with Queen Anne, and Captitol Hill) with easy access to the outdoors sports that I like.
As far as communications/business, Duluth may have a niche market for those jobs. There are a lot of small business outfits here that may hire a marketing director if that is the avenue you are going for. Not sure about communications it sounds ambiguous. Duluth is also a lot of who you know in order to get a job that you can make a living at. It can be frusterating to say the least at finding work. A lot of places hire from within and the jobs are never advertised.
Math teachers could be tough too as the area has seen declining enrollments for years. However, the Edison Schools (charter) and outlying districts have been hiring as the others have mentioned amid the controversy within the Duluth Schools.
Many people would say, run for your life as Duluth is a nice place to visit but not to live. You'll just have to see for yourself. You might find that Duluth resembles Tacoma a bit. That can be a good thing or bad as Tacoma has its nice points too.
My wife and I are driving to Duluth for Thanksgiving to visit some friends. Never been to Minnesota and we want to know if this is the place we should settle down in. I'm originally from Seattle and love the outdoors.
Jobs: I am graduating with a degree in Communications and a minor in Business. What jobs are available in that field in Duluth? My wife is graduating with a degree in Math Education(school teacher)
Recreation: I enjoy climbing mountains and the outdoors. I believe Minnesota doesn't have any mountains to climb, but how about hiking the foothills. What other recreational outdoor activities could I get involved in?
Duluth is an outdoor recreation enthusiast's paradise. Although it is true that there are no large mountains here, there are hills and cliffs along the North Shore connected by an excellent hiking trail (Superior Hiking Trail), voted one of the best in the nation. Duluth, in fact, is built on the face of a hill that rises 800 feet.
In the summer, there is rock climbing the cliffs along the North Shore or the ledges that are right in Duluth, kayaking along the Lake Superior shoreline, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, ATV / dirt bike riding, etc., etc., etc. - pretty much any outdoor activity you can think of. In the winter, Duluth is recognized as one of the best places in the nation for cross-country skiing.
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Neighborhoods: Where are the good communities to settle down in. Right now we have a little girl who is only a year old and were planning to have another pretty soon. We want them to grow up in a family community with good schools.
Cost of living: In Seattle the average house runs around 300,000. What is it in Duluth? Is Duluth a rundown city? Should we look else where in minnesota?
In Duluth, you can find homes for well under $100,000 in many neighborhoods, particularly out west (the western part of town is reputed to be where the "real" people live while the east side is known as the "cake eater" part of town) although they are likely to be built before 1940 (or even 1900) and it'll show in your utility bills. You can find a decent post-war house in a nice neighborhood or a nice house on a 5-acre plot of land 20-30 minutes outside the city for under $200,000. $300,000 would buy a very nice house indeed pretty much anywhere in town.
Some say Duluth is run-down, and by the standards of a Stepford Wives-like suburb, parts do appear a bit dilapidated. Points they may criticize Duluth on include overhead powerlines, the untidiness of some yards, non-lawn furniture on some porches in certain parts of town, etc, but I think it adds character to an already beautiful town. Another point they criticize Duluth on - which I can sympathize with - is the roads. Because of our climate, which is much, much more severe than Seattle's, our streets, roads, and alleys take a beating, and maintaining them to the standards of cities with more favorable climates would cost too much, so as a result there are a lot of bumps and potholes. Driving on many of the less-traveled streets, and even some of the ones that do get a lot of traffic, is like driving in some third-world countries. Although I've never felt a need for one, this is a definitely a city (yes, even in the city) where you can drive an SUV exclusively on city streets and have an excuse for it!
Personally, I think those who criticize the city on merely aesthetic grounds are making mountains out of molehills, but maybe that's just because I have lived here all of my life. There certainly are no real "ghettos", anyway.
The amount of recreational activities here are endless...and if your thing is outdoors, like snowshoes, rock climbing, hiking, running; there are groups you can check out (northlandrunner.com) and others which list city events (fitcityduluth.com). We also have a YMCA downtown which recently went through a major renovation and is the best I've seen here. I love it.
The problem that I and many others are falling into are the 'whens the other shoe gonna drop' syndrome: remember that Duluth is the end of the line. There is nothing beyond Duluth that has a matching population or job market. The closest is 160 miles away in Minneapolis. So if you accept one of the few good job offers here, in the back of your mind you think...so if this job ends up being a dud, the likelihood of finding another job like this in the Duluth job market is very unlikely, or its going to be a very long wait. Many people won't buy homes here for this reason. Our biggest problem is geography. This fall, for example, I took a bus from Toronto to Niagara Falls, where I ran a marathon. Almost all the cities along that 100 mile stretch has a city the size of Duluth within a 30 minute radius. I thought, if Duluth had 4-5 cities of equal or greater population (and job potential) I just think we'd have a much more stable population. For a while, so many people thought they could work online from home but it appears that's not really happening (I think its the new 'work from home stuffing envelopes' scam). You have to be where things are happening NOW, not 'maybe in 10 years.
The most difficult thing socially in Duluth is that (it appears) everyone is married and has kids. This is a terrible place for single adults without kids, because there is nothing for us to do. I love contributing and making sure kids have programs, but single adults want to start families and meet someone too. Most everyone has to either turn to the Internet or go out in Minneapolis to meet anyone. This is a decent place to come back to once you've found someone, but if you are single and between 20-45, forget it. Its the same people over and over, and that gets old quick.
My wife and I are driving to Duluth for Thanksgiving to visit some friends. Never been to Minnesota and we want to know if this is the place we should settle down in. I'm originally from Seattle and love the outdoors.
Jobs: I am graduating with a degree in Communications and a minor in Business. What jobs are available in that field in Duluth? My wife is graduating with a degree in Math Education(school teacher)
Recreation: I enjoy climbing mountains and the outdoors. I believe Minnesota doesn't have any mountains to climb, but how about hiking the foothills. What other recreational outdoor activities could I get involved in?
Neighborhoods: Where are the good communities to settle down in. Right now we have a little girl who is only a year old and were planning to have another pretty soon. We want them to grow up in a family community with good schools.
Cost of living: In Seattle the average house runs around 300,000. What is it in Duluth? Is Duluth a rundown city? Should we look else where in minnesota?
Thanks!
r u out of ur mind? Seattle to Duluth? At least consider Mpls. Trust me stay in Seattle.
r u out of ur mind? Seattle to Duluth? At least consider Mpls. Trust me stay in Seattle.
Why shouldn't they move here? I lived in Seattle for 7 years and love Duluth. Duluth is like a funky Seattle neighborhood. I think it is a mix between Queen Anne and Freemont in some parts with a bit of Tacoma thrown in for West Duluth.
Duluth is a dark town where the sun don't shine. Seattle is great city, internationally known with world class attributes. You dont compare seattle to duluth, no more than u do Seattle to green bay.
I actually flew into seattle once, but it was quite brief. But I am in mpls now, and thinking of escaping to beautiful seattle. Forget the neighborhoods.
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I love living in Rochester, Minnesota, so I think it's a city to consider too, but again - visit Duluth and then decide what you think. Minnesota itself is worth it though. 
