Duluth, MN MSA
INDUSTRIES
POPULATION
293,700
FAST FACT
The first Aerial Ferry was put into Operation on April 9, 1905, over the ship canal between Duluth to Minnesota Point. It had room enough to accommodate 6 automobiles. Round trip took 10 min.
Duluth, MN MSA
The Duluth Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is comprised of St. Louis, Carlton, and Lake Counties in Minnesota and Douglas County in Wisconsin. Located on the western edge of Lake Superior, the region’s major industries include aviation, back office, wood and paper products, mining, higher education, shipping/transportation, health care, metal fabrication, and tourism.
The international “Twin Ports” of Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis., form the hub of regional economic and cultural activity, but there are numerous outlying communities in the MSA, each with unique strengths, resources, and opportunities for development. As a whole, the region’s population is growing steadily, and has enjoyed significant economic diversification in recent decades.
The official population of the MSA is 291,638. As of 2020, Northland Connection’s ESRI projections show there are 201,060 residents within a 30-mile radius of downtown Duluth, an area that comprises all of the cities of Duluth, Superior, Cloquet, Hermantown, Rice Lake, Proctor, and Two Harbors, plus a number of suburban or exurban townships. For assistance in obtaining accurate data on the greater Duluth-Superior area that reflects specific needs, contact Karl Schuettler at 218-481-7737 or kschuettler@northspan.org.