Interesting post to me since I grew up an hour north of Duluth, in an area known as the Iron Range, an iron mining area which thrived with the help of Duluth's shipping industry. I now live in Cleveland. I completely agree with the above posts noting that there is very little sprawl in Duluth, as most of it's population lives in the city limits. It is most definitely a destination city for all of northern MN in addition to Ontario. Go to the mall there and see how many Canadian license plates there are. The only drawback is that the area is so secluded as noted above, and there are few major entertainment options (concerts, shows, pro sports etc.). You have to travel to Minneapolis for this type of thing. You get used to dealing with the weather. It does get bitterly cold, weeks of a time at -20 F over night with temps touching -40 F occasionally. My brother still lives in Duluth so I could post some pics from my next visit.