She's the one who's the college graduate with two bachelors degree's.   I'm a gunsmith.       We like the water and I think we would want to live close to Lake Superior.     I've been trying to use areavibes.com to find a reasonable place to live that has good schools for our kids and good job opportunity's.   Do any of you have any good suggestions ?

Duluth area is nice if she can find a good job. Stay away from the cities and st cloud as the school systems in both are fucked up. Bemidji is pretty good too.

All of the towns along the north shore as well as into MN from the lake are very nice towns. The Duluth area is also great. From what you said you are looking for, the north eastern part of the state sounds ideal for you.

Best of luck with your search!

Jobs may be hard to find in Northern MN.  Unless you like cold year round,  don't move too close to Lake Superior.  I'd look in the Hibbing or Brainard areas instead if you want a smaller town feel with still most of the amenities of a larger town.  Duluth has bad weather and higher taxes, with bad schools.  

You can find a job in the Twin Cities and commute from the suburbs.  Most twin cities suburbs have outstanding schools,  especially the further you move from minneapolis or st. Paul.  Then look for a lake cabin or land somewhere up north near a lake, there is no shortage of water in Northern MN.  If you like the big lake feel of the great lakes, try Winnebigoshis, Leech, Lake of the Woods, Vermillion. 12,000 other lakes to choose from too.

Anyone who says Duluth has shitty weather is an import from out of state.  Duluth weather is skewed a little due to the lake but not all that different than the rest of northern mn.

News flash, weather in the rest of northern MN sucks. It's true that the big lake helps to moderate the swings low and high, but it also brings lake effect snow to the area.

OP, life in northern MN is typically a pretty hard life.

While lake Superior is beautiful and also the surrounding areas, unless you pop the lotto and get one of the few well paying jobs it's going to be a pretty tough existence.

Duluth proper is quite a shithole, it's a college town, a port city, and quasi Indian reservation..... it is rank with crime and not so great stuff... but it is the gateway to the north shore, which is definitely God's country......but it's chocked full of trust funded Minneapolis liberals however. Seriously, two areas of the state always vote solid blue, the metro, and the north shore.

Forest lake might be a good compromise, as it is close enough to the metro to find those better paying jobs, but also 2 hours from Superior.

FWIW

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Skewed a little? I guess you must have missed the phrase "Colder by the lake"...


Weather:
If you get away from the Pond by about good 40 miles or so you can expect close to another "Month" of summer.. I live about 20 miles from DLH and when the wind is off the lake its long sleeves and pants, head another 20 miles inland and its shorts and T's... On the flip side, come winter it can make a lot of snow (provided its not frozen over) and help keep things a bit warmer (provided its not frozen over.)

Jan is our coldest month
Feb brings a sight warming
March is sort of know as our big snow month
April is snow melt and everything is shitty muddy
May&June our are rainy months,
July & Aug  summer shows up
Sept gives you cool nights and some days in the 80's, it all depends upon if the wind is off the lake.
Oct and the leaves are dropped with snow mixed in
Nov stuff is starting to freeze up, and the orange army hits the woods
Dec winter is kicking in and we are hard water fishing.
As an FYI, I think July is the only month recorded that MN hasn't had snow.
We love using salt on our roads come winter, and our vehicles show it..
However due to the cold, it keeps the lesser liked creeper crawly things in the warmer climates..







You didn't say what the Mrs will be looking to do for employment.

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling you will have to depend upon being a gunsmith as a secondary job.. Lots of thrifty Scandinavians that like their Fud gun "turty turties". They start looking to get gun work done a few weeks before deer opener. Hell we just were allowed to own Suppressors.

Duluth:
Like mentioned DLH is a college town. Its also a tourist trap for the summer dollar, a big leaky fish tank that doesn't make enough $$ to cover costs, that matches the Ski slope that I don't think has ever operated in the Red.  It has 3 big hospitals that the rest of N MN feeds. Its Very Very liberal, as in a mini San Fran, complete with a rainbow parade. Anti ATV, Anti Snowmobile, Ant-Gun. However are very pro outdoor sports, provided its something like a Mnt bike. Heck there is a big hoopla going on now because some want to put a bike path right down the middle of down town on Superior street. The City made a deal with the local Indian reservation and gave a block of Down Town to them to become tribal land for as long as the rain falls and the wind blows,,, in exchange for a % cut from the casino that was put in.. Well federal law was re-interpreted, and the band said screw you, no $$$$ for you. Now the city is hurting for $$$ big time. Gang issues pop up now and then, and it seams that there is always someone from Detroit or Chicago getting busted, this is due to them being able to pedal drugs up here with a huge increase in profits. The city also has its issues with the public schools.

The economy on the range towns follows the mines. Right now the local mines are slowing down, and contracts are up for negotiation, and according to the news things are getting close to an inpass.





Hunting, fishing, outdoors sports, yes we have lots of that..

Big shooter hit the nail on the head.  The weather isn't the best, but being from Northern Mn, not Duluth originally, you seem to get used to it, or at least learn to try to tolerate it.  I lived in the UP with the true lake effect snow so it doesn't seem too bad here.  Generally they seem to get more snow just south of here, but that's just a feeling, I haven't checked the facts.

As firemedic said, the band doesn't give the city money towards the streets anymore and the roads are terrible.  If family comes to visit, the reliance on tourism in this city will quickly show you the high cost of hotels.  Duluth is a lot more hippie-ish than I like.  The hillside is shitty, the schools aren't world renowned and they love them some taxes.  I moved here from Detroit in 2009 so my frame of reference for what's bad vs. good may be a bit skewed.

If I wanted to build a good and financially stable life, Northern Minnesota is not where I would choose to live. I am from Duluth and usually the jobs are just not there unless you have a niche. Like many have said, you would be better off looking at the Cities and buying a cabin on a late or cheap land up north to go to on the weekends.

Sorry MN, I gotta jump in here for a gratuitous WI plug....

I lived in MN for a number of years while I & the wife were in school. Now I live 1hr south of Superior. Nice area up there. Duluths weather can change drastically four times in one day. Poster above spilled the beans on the liberal scene already so no need to rehash that.

If you want cheap taxes & very affordable housing along with close proximaty to shopping & most things "City-life" I, ofcourse, would recommend you look just south or south-east of Superior. Huge acreages are very reasonable & you can find it not 10-15minutes from Superior/Duluth.

WI is very pro-2A & Superior has a nice gun-shop that is the best place for reloading supply's for hundreds of miles. That is what you seek if you are a gunsmith: Customers. We got em.

Proctor is a nice little town. housing gets a lot cheaper when you get away form the shore line.

What he said. Job situation up north is pretty anemic overall compared to the Twin Cities. Minneapolis and St. Paul are urban compared to the rest of Minnesota, but they aren't bad cities at all compared to Chicago, Detroit, etc (especially St. Paul). Mere half hour-ish distance suburbs from either in certain areas will be very nice and pretty conservative areas. Minnesota gets a partially unfair rap for being a "liberal" state....we are overall, but it's weird here politically. For example, our gun laws just got BETTER (suppressors are now legal) with a DFL senate and governor.....no question a huge step up from Illinois at the very least (no offense).

Education, unemployment, health, etc........we rank among the best in the whole nation across the board. You could do a lot worse.

It's actually not bad here, except for the ever increasing taxes.

Yep, the decent areas of Saint Paul (Highland and Mac Groveland) are very nice places to live because the members of the democratic machine (politicians and bureaucrats) live there and keep the public housing out of their backyards.  Public elementary schools are good but public high schools don't have the best reputation.  When your kids become teenagers you might want to do private or home school, or drive them to a suburban high school-you can do that under the open enrollment rules in the state.  Yards will be a little smaller than in the suburbs but will still be a decent size as long as the house hasn't had an addition that takes up lawn space.  Your local politicians will be democrats, but welcome to metro MN.

Check out North Dakota. Close to MN but you don't have to live there.

I can see the lake from my house.  The lake keeps it warmer in the winter.  It's been hot all summer.  

I hate Duluth and the Cities.

I like being one of the few armed people in my hood

I recently moved to Duluth and I LOVE it. There is so much to do around here within an hour. There is an awesome gun shop over the border in superior WI with TONS of reloading supplies, almost every powder you can think of is in stock and not too expensive. I love winter though, so if you hate snow that could be a deal breaker. The only problem for me is the huge uphill drive to work! My car hates it.

Welcome to the twin ports... The hill can get a bit fun once it freezes... Gravity, the only law you have to obey..