What salary do you need to live in Duluth, MN?

Duluth housing costs at a glance

Renters in Duluth pay a median $1,066 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $780, three bedrooms $1,313, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $6,396 a year.

On the ownership side, the typical owner-occupied home is valued at $222,400. That is only 3.1× the area's median household income of $71,769, a low ratio by national standards.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Duluth's overall prices at 88.8 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $112,653 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Duluth

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $26,000, Okay at $53,000 and Comfortable at $106,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 12% of income and the median home is 2.1× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $287,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 0.8× income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Duluth

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Okay, with scores from 52 to 60.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

Duluth compared with every US metro

Ranked against all 387 metros, Duluth sits 318th on overall price level and 243rd on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 255th.

Next to Duluth on the national rent ranking: Amarillo, TX ($1,066) and Eau Claire, WI ($1,065).

Comparing Duluth with Minnesota

Compared with Minnesota as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Duluth is 21% lower ($1,066 vs. $1,356) and the median home is 32% lower ($222,400 vs. $329,300). The metro also reaches into Wisconsin; it is compared with Minnesota, home of its first-named principal city.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $181,000, so Duluth needs $75,000 less than Minnesota overall.

Within Minnesota, the metros closest to Duluth on rent and overall prices are Sioux Falls, SD-MN, St. Cloud, MN, and La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $124,000, $116,000, and $121,000.

Does the typical Duluth income clear the bar?

A household at the Duluth median income of $71,769 would see a two-bedroom score of 54 — Okay — with rent at 18% of income. The Comfortable line is 48% above what the median household makes. For Minnesota as a whole, the median household income of $89,062 scores 45 against statewide rents. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.