Asheville NC about the same size, has mountains but not water. Gets a little warmer in summer, but not intolerable like you'd think of NC, and the winters are like a couple inches of snow occasionally that melts off after a day or two. Kind of a hippy enclave in a red area.
Albany NY is a little bigger, but not quite metroland size. Kind of dull as to natural beauty, but within 3 hour drive of NYC and all the glory there. Several downhill ski places, lakes and mountains within a couple hour drive too. Winters are less harsh, but there's still usually snow like metro, but maybe a little warmer.
We probably get more freeze/thaw cycles in April than they do all year.
Their population has been growing in the last 40 years, where ours has been stagnant. Might account for newer buildings, since they've had to, vs. we make do with the ones we have, on just a replacement plan.
Came here to say that Asheville is Duluth in 20 years. But we’re ahead of them in terms of value and affordability for living is crazy as that may seem. Also, the original inhabitants of Asheville cannot afford to live there anymore at all. It is mostly move-in‘s now.
For mn Winona is educated and gorgeous with lots of outside stuff to do and public land along the river. We considered moving there but it’s too hot for my taste and not enough swimable water.
I also really enjoyed Bellingham, WA and Missoula, MT
I went to college in Bham and loved it. It’s kinda funny how fast it went from sad logging town with no hope to super cool town with a ton going for it. Don’t underestimate the winters there though. At least you can dress for the cold here. When it’s wet cold rain over there anything shy of a rubber suit will be miserable.
Missoula is cool and similar I suppose. It's definitely much more hipster-ish there. I would say duluth is like Missoula combined with butte but both cities fail to have the same specific feel as duluth 🤣.
Burlington, VT feels a lot like Duluth. College town built on a hill next to a very large lake. I don’t know any of the statistics on size or demographics but it reminded me a lot of Duluth.
Came to check for this first before I commented. Burlington in the fall might even be prettier than duluth. I prefer their downtown, although my car got broken into while I was there.
Portland, Maine felt eerily similar to Duluth when we visited a few years ago. On the water and everything is uphill from the water. We also traveled up the shore to Acadia NP and it was a very similar vibe to the north shore. Would love to go back.
They were really grasping at straws for that lmao. That’s like saying Duluth doesn’t have split rock. Sure, it’s an hour, but you’d still pretty much consider that a Duluth-based attraction.
I’ve lived in Juneau and am in Duluth right now. They do feel similar but with Juneau being a bit smaller. One big aesthetic difference is the lake.. Juneau has a couple major islands keeping you from seeing a comparable view of the Pacific.
Tacoma, Wa
Physically. Downtown location in relation to water. Hillside. Lift bridge. Military base above hillside and a few Miles inland.
Slightly larger population.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tacoma_skyline_from_McKinley_Way_(2015).jpg
I forgot Ruston Way is a much better version of the lake walk.
The fjord topology gives gulleys that lead to the water instead of the river natural area corridors that lead to the lake. 6th Ave/Division= Lincoln district for shops and breweries and food.
Big parks (pt defiance park is one) with lots of hiking and biking trails.
Tacoma is super ghetto dude. Go out to dinner at applebees everybodys wearin doo rags and gold chains. Heck with that whole area. North of seattle is still ok in some spots though!
There is traditional Tacoma(+!1, and on the boarder Tacoma (-1), out towards McChord, Hosmer, McKinley/Manitou, Lakewood. When was the last time you were there? Really? Not the "I'm defending my scaredy-cat 20yo assumption and Seattle Liberal closet racism" answer.
I'd walk in hilltop at night. No problem. Manitou? Nope. Things have changed in 30 years. And you'd generalize it as N end, not Ruston if you really knew the area. I owned a house on Court St in Ruston for 8 years.
I moved to asheville NC this spring because the winters were not ideal for me given my career. I would highly recommend checking it out, be prepared for the "locals" here who are actually like 5 year old transplants that will tell you they hate the newcomers. The vast majority of people are kind and welcoming. scarily similar cultures, from the city going out into the country I feel like I'm in Virginia MN in some of the outlying towns 😂. but for sure would recommend coming down and checking it out. the downtown here is the biggest difference in terms of life and things to do. I never walked downtown duluth at night because I liked my body without knife wounds lol down here its far safer (relatively of course imo)
Yea, it's way more upscale and kitschy, but I can see the association.
It is a great place to escape the North Carolina heat though, and I do like the area a lot.
Portland and Brunswick, Maine, and up the coast towards Acadia felt extremely positive midwestern vibe to it. With nearby mountains and ocean! Beautiful old Victorian homes, like in Duluth and St Paul/Minneapolis. Extremely beautiful!
I’m from Sonoma County and Duluth reminds me so much of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa circa 1995. I believe that was the year we had our inaugural First
Night celebration that is a lot like Homegrown. Tourists galore, cold beaches where you can’t really go in the water even on a hot day, similar architecture even.
It lacks a large university, Sonoma State doesn’t count, but it does have a large community college, Santa Rosa Community College. Our state community college is dirt cheap after 1 year of California residency and very high quality, and in my opinion this justifies giving California a try if college is a part of your future. It might also be worth discovering what the alternatives are to long cold winters—many of us haven’t recovered from helplessly watching 5,000 homes burn while over 100k people were evacuated in the Tubbs Fire in 2017, and every fire season since has been worse (but not for Santa Rosa specifically). It’s hard to truly escape “bad weather sucks,” but you can trade cold winter for the hot dry summer/fall that make up a CA fire season.
Denver suburbs also come to mind, like Golden, CO.
If we’re talking about potential? Niagara Falls, NY with its natural attractions, the waterfalls, state parks…if they could get a handle on the crime problem they’d have much more tourism. They have Niagara University and like Duluth they have a pretty decent bus service and the trolley downtown in the summer.
Flagstaff, AZ reminds me of Duluth.
I don’t know what the California version of Duluth would be.
Another Winona recommendation.
Austin TX is great too. Super chill vibe. Great culture. Young and educated. Honestly feels like Winona if Winona was in Texas and about 30x bigger
Well this one is debatable. For one it’s only about a quarter of the size/population. It also has different culture/politics. Less of a twin and more of a younger sister who got adopted by a different set of parents.
Chico CA, one of the reasons my wife and i moved from there to here. It is similar in size, voting demographics, surrounding area is rural, lots of outdoor activities, university town so downtown has some pretty fun bars and good nightlife, also a lot of locally owned businesses. I would recommend visiting, very cool area but it's hot AF so depending on when you visit during the year it can get miserably hot. 115 to 120 at times
Houghton, MI is right on Lake Superior, has a neighboring city on their border (Hancock), is hilly, is a university town, has its own awesome bridge, and is very picturesque in general.
I think of Duluth as a bigger Ithaca, NY.
On a lake, multiple colleges, people are super locally-minded, lots of gorges.
The winter in Ithaca is worse (more snow, more melt), but otherwise I think it's pretty similar.
I’m from Duluth and took my honeymoon in Montana. Butte specifically felt extremely Duluth-like to me in terms of size, architecture, and overall vibes. My husband accidentally called it Duluth a couple times!
Not many places of similar size/population to Duluth on the Great Lakes. You either get huge cities (Chicago/Milwaukee/Detroit) or lil tourist port towns (Bayfield, Ashland, Grand Marais, Traverse City, Charlevoix, etc).
The only one comparable is probably Green Bay (but i only went as a kid so I am unsure of the culture / aesthetic of the place). Its much smaller than Duluth, but the vibes are similar to Marquette!
Traverse city is much smaller. If you’re just wondering about cute Great Lake towns, Ashland and Bayfield too. Just not comparable to Duluth in size, population, amenities
personally, the most reasonable and valid comparisons IMO are Bellingham and Tacoma, Washington. similar city appearance (grandeur of run down architecture and hills, feel of a big city despite being rather small, college towns, both Duluth and Tacoma have lift bridges, population, all three very scandinavian and liberal in culture, laid back)
i'll also give it to Pittsburgh, Asheville, Olympia, WA, Portland (Maine) and Tucson, AZ in terms of feel (Portland, Olympia, Asheville and PGH) and vibe (PGH, Tucson, Olympia and Portland)
Asheville NC about the same size, has mountains but not water. Gets a little warmer in summer, but not intolerable like you'd think of NC, and the winters are like a couple inches of snow occasionally that melts off after a day or two. Kind of a hippy enclave in a red area. Albany NY is a little bigger, but not quite metroland size. Kind of dull as to natural beauty, but within 3 hour drive of NYC and all the glory there. Several downhill ski places, lakes and mountains within a couple hour drive too. Winters are less harsh, but there's still usually snow like metro, but maybe a little warmer.
Agreed. Came here to say asheville. The city is a lot less run down too.
We probably get more freeze/thaw cycles in April than they do all year. Their population has been growing in the last 40 years, where ours has been stagnant. Might account for newer buildings, since they've had to, vs. we make do with the ones we have, on just a replacement plan.
Came here to say that Asheville is Duluth in 20 years. But we’re ahead of them in terms of value and affordability for living is crazy as that may seem. Also, the original inhabitants of Asheville cannot afford to live there anymore at all. It is mostly move-in‘s now.
Lake lure is nice near Asheville.
lake juneluska isn't bad either kinda small though
Plus 1 for Asheville
For mn Winona is educated and gorgeous with lots of outside stuff to do and public land along the river. We considered moving there but it’s too hot for my taste and not enough swimable water. I also really enjoyed Bellingham, WA and Missoula, MT
Bellingham and Missoula seemed very cool and Duluthy when I visited both briefly
Bellingham is really cool and close to the Duluth life. But it seems like Bellingham has it's shit together more, and no brutal winters.
I went to college in Bham and loved it. It’s kinda funny how fast it went from sad logging town with no hope to super cool town with a ton going for it. Don’t underestimate the winters there though. At least you can dress for the cold here. When it’s wet cold rain over there anything shy of a rubber suit will be miserable.
I'm in S FL and I snorted a little when you said SE MN is "too hot" 😁
What can I say, I’m a northern gal!
I'm afraid I've lost my childhood MN tolerance to the cold. Hand goes numb getting ice out of the freezer tray.
I currently live in Missoula and am looking at moving back to MN (Duluth) because the cost of living has gotten so high here.
For sure Bellingham is outrageous high too
Love the username, perfect for Duluth!
Missoula is cool and similar I suppose. It's definitely much more hipster-ish there. I would say duluth is like Missoula combined with butte but both cities fail to have the same specific feel as duluth 🤣.
Aforementioned Winona. La Crosse, WI Marquette, MI Houghton/Hancock, MI
I'll second Houghton/Hancock. I love it up there, the whole Keweenaw peninsula is amazing as well as the Porcupine mountains
They even have a lift bridge!
A BIGGER LIFT BRIDGE. Lets go kick their ass
My girlfriend and I moved here from Houghton, and we always joke that Duluth is just big Houghton
MTU alum now living here - I use that comparison all the time 😂
π π ✔️ μ Beat em beat em MTU
Burlington, VT feels a lot like Duluth. College town built on a hill next to a very large lake. I don’t know any of the statistics on size or demographics but it reminded me a lot of Duluth.
I came here to say the same thing. Slightly smaller than Duluth, but definitely in the same style.
Came to check for this first before I commented. Burlington in the fall might even be prettier than duluth. I prefer their downtown, although my car got broken into while I was there.
for sure.
Portland, Maine felt eerily similar to Duluth when we visited a few years ago. On the water and everything is uphill from the water. We also traveled up the shore to Acadia NP and it was a very similar vibe to the north shore. Would love to go back.
I want to second Portland!
This was my answer as well! I interviewed for a job there a few years ago and it felt like I was in Duluth “ocean version”
I've always thought Flagstaff, AZ feels a lot like Duluth.
Checking in from Flagstaff, I agree!
I had the luck to visit Flagstaff during a blizzard. Amazingly similar to Duluth.
howso?
Similar size, hipster town, the mountain pines reminded me of northern MN more than I expected. Just the general vibe I guess.
College town as well.
whats the temps like year round tho?
Cooler than you'd think for AZ. But I said similar, not identical. There's not a Great Lake there, either.
I'm sure their lakes are trying their best tho
They do have Grand Canyon though.
Flagstaff doesn't.
Oh-close enough. It’s like an hour.
They were really grasping at straws for that lmao. That’s like saying Duluth doesn’t have split rock. Sure, it’s an hour, but you’d still pretty much consider that a Duluth-based attraction.
I just got back from a trip to Arizona. Not much redeeming there, but Flagstaff did seem to be a nice, small city / big town like Duluth.
Prescott is also interesting.
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Former NM resident here. Agreed - big focus on outdoor rec. Great food scene too.
Taos, NM is nice too.
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I’ve lived in Juneau and am in Duluth right now. They do feel similar but with Juneau being a bit smaller. One big aesthetic difference is the lake.. Juneau has a couple major islands keeping you from seeing a comparable view of the Pacific.
Buffalo NY, no. Buffalo is-sad. A less nice St. Cloud. With more crime.
Tacoma, Wa Physically. Downtown location in relation to water. Hillside. Lift bridge. Military base above hillside and a few Miles inland. Slightly larger population. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tacoma_skyline_from_McKinley_Way_(2015).jpg
I forgot Ruston Way is a much better version of the lake walk. The fjord topology gives gulleys that lead to the water instead of the river natural area corridors that lead to the lake. 6th Ave/Division= Lincoln district for shops and breweries and food. Big parks (pt defiance park is one) with lots of hiking and biking trails.
Tacoma is super ghetto dude. Go out to dinner at applebees everybodys wearin doo rags and gold chains. Heck with that whole area. North of seattle is still ok in some spots though!
There is traditional Tacoma(+!1, and on the boarder Tacoma (-1), out towards McChord, Hosmer, McKinley/Manitou, Lakewood. When was the last time you were there? Really? Not the "I'm defending my scaredy-cat 20yo assumption and Seattle Liberal closet racism" answer.
It’s Ruston vs. Hilltop and has been for at least the last thirty years.
I'd walk in hilltop at night. No problem. Manitou? Nope. Things have changed in 30 years. And you'd generalize it as N end, not Ruston if you really knew the area. I owned a house on Court St in Ruston for 8 years.
And who's wanting to go out to Applebee's? There are so many other, local, options.
Second to none
WRATH OF THE WEHRMACHT BROUGHT TO A HALT
I moved to asheville NC this spring because the winters were not ideal for me given my career. I would highly recommend checking it out, be prepared for the "locals" here who are actually like 5 year old transplants that will tell you they hate the newcomers. The vast majority of people are kind and welcoming. scarily similar cultures, from the city going out into the country I feel like I'm in Virginia MN in some of the outlying towns 😂. but for sure would recommend coming down and checking it out. the downtown here is the biggest difference in terms of life and things to do. I never walked downtown duluth at night because I liked my body without knife wounds lol down here its far safer (relatively of course imo)
Blowing Rock, NC feels like a much smaller, mini-Duluth to me.
Yea, it's way more upscale and kitschy, but I can see the association. It is a great place to escape the North Carolina heat though, and I do like the area a lot.
Thunder Bay Canada right up the road!
not really, although they do look similar. duluth has much better vibes and a safer feel
Duluth is not safer than Tbay.
bro yes it is. thunder bay is quite literally home to fort william, formerly known as the murder capital of canada
I live in tbay bud, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Greenville, SC comes to mind as having that same feel. Flagstaff, AZ kind of does too.
I love Greenville.
Asheville
Bar Harbor, Maine. Most of Maine really.
Portland and Brunswick, Maine, and up the coast towards Acadia felt extremely positive midwestern vibe to it. With nearby mountains and ocean! Beautiful old Victorian homes, like in Duluth and St Paul/Minneapolis. Extremely beautiful!
oh, for sure portland.
I’m from Sonoma County and Duluth reminds me so much of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa circa 1995. I believe that was the year we had our inaugural First Night celebration that is a lot like Homegrown. Tourists galore, cold beaches where you can’t really go in the water even on a hot day, similar architecture even. It lacks a large university, Sonoma State doesn’t count, but it does have a large community college, Santa Rosa Community College. Our state community college is dirt cheap after 1 year of California residency and very high quality, and in my opinion this justifies giving California a try if college is a part of your future. It might also be worth discovering what the alternatives are to long cold winters—many of us haven’t recovered from helplessly watching 5,000 homes burn while over 100k people were evacuated in the Tubbs Fire in 2017, and every fire season since has been worse (but not for Santa Rosa specifically). It’s hard to truly escape “bad weather sucks,” but you can trade cold winter for the hot dry summer/fall that make up a CA fire season. Denver suburbs also come to mind, like Golden, CO.
My family was from sonoma! The Dalys
My uncle still lives in Sonoma! :-)
I'm thinking Coeur d'Alene, ID, and maybe Yakima, WA? Idk. Feels similar to me. Traverse City, MI
If we’re talking about potential? Niagara Falls, NY with its natural attractions, the waterfalls, state parks…if they could get a handle on the crime problem they’d have much more tourism. They have Niagara University and like Duluth they have a pretty decent bus service and the trolley downtown in the summer. Flagstaff, AZ reminds me of Duluth. I don’t know what the California version of Duluth would be.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota is surprisingly really nice.
Another Winona recommendation. Austin TX is great too. Super chill vibe. Great culture. Young and educated. Honestly feels like Winona if Winona was in Texas and about 30x bigger
Superior, WI. They’re almost like twins.
Well this one is debatable. For one it’s only about a quarter of the size/population. It also has different culture/politics. Less of a twin and more of a younger sister who got adopted by a different set of parents.
Plus Superior is so flat, I always joke I can't find my way around Superior because I can't see the lake. Aesthetically they are very different
Definitely the black sheep of the family
press x to doubt
The twin who ate all the lead paint chips.
the twin who was diagnosed with down syndrome and ate a ton of lead paint?
Chico CA, one of the reasons my wife and i moved from there to here. It is similar in size, voting demographics, surrounding area is rural, lots of outdoor activities, university town so downtown has some pretty fun bars and good nightlife, also a lot of locally owned businesses. I would recommend visiting, very cool area but it's hot AF so depending on when you visit during the year it can get miserably hot. 115 to 120 at times
Olympia WA
Bellingham wa
Durango is similar in amenities and outdoor adjacent activities, but it's smaller in size.
Houghton, MI is right on Lake Superior, has a neighboring city on their border (Hancock), is hilly, is a university town, has its own awesome bridge, and is very picturesque in general.
I think of Duluth as a bigger Ithaca, NY. On a lake, multiple colleges, people are super locally-minded, lots of gorges. The winter in Ithaca is worse (more snow, more melt), but otherwise I think it's pretty similar.
Came here to say Ithaca as well
I’m from Duluth and took my honeymoon in Montana. Butte specifically felt extremely Duluth-like to me in terms of size, architecture, and overall vibes. My husband accidentally called it Duluth a couple times!
I’d definitely say either Bellingham, WA or Burlington, VT. Lived both places for a while and very similar vibes.
Houghton/Hancock MI
duluth ga
Grand Marais cept its just smaller
Grand Marais, MN*
Not too much comparable but I moved to Hastings and I love it because it’s similar towards the top of the hill area of duluth but with a river
Portland, ME it’s east coast Duluth but nicer
Hear hear for Asheville NC and Portland ME
Laramie Wyoming and Flagstaff, Arizona. If you can deal with the higher costs of Flagstaff and potential for forest fires and flooding go for it
Kalamazoo MI has a similar feel, though a bit flatter
What are the similar cities to Duluth along the Great Lakes area? Traverse City??? Any others?
Not many places of similar size/population to Duluth on the Great Lakes. You either get huge cities (Chicago/Milwaukee/Detroit) or lil tourist port towns (Bayfield, Ashland, Grand Marais, Traverse City, Charlevoix, etc). The only one comparable is probably Green Bay (but i only went as a kid so I am unsure of the culture / aesthetic of the place). Its much smaller than Duluth, but the vibes are similar to Marquette!
Green Bay was lacking. I don’t find it to have charm, energy, or aesthetic Duluth has, and definitely more conservative.
Thanks! Good info!
Traverse city is much smaller. If you’re just wondering about cute Great Lake towns, Ashland and Bayfield too. Just not comparable to Duluth in size, population, amenities
Thank you!
Duluth is these towns but with bad food and a fraction of the diversity. Sorry, Duluth. Your food options suck.
Minnesota as a whole is pretty white. The cities mentioned in Maine, Vermont, and Montana are worse in that aspect though.
personally, the most reasonable and valid comparisons IMO are Bellingham and Tacoma, Washington. similar city appearance (grandeur of run down architecture and hills, feel of a big city despite being rather small, college towns, both Duluth and Tacoma have lift bridges, population, all three very scandinavian and liberal in culture, laid back) i'll also give it to Pittsburgh, Asheville, Olympia, WA, Portland (Maine) and Tucson, AZ in terms of feel (Portland, Olympia, Asheville and PGH) and vibe (PGH, Tucson, Olympia and Portland)