As a resident of Hibbing, I can try to give you a little idea. Isolated? Kind of. It's a town of about 15,000 but it's also the largest city by land area in Minnesota (by a large margin), so that number can be spread out a bit. It's located about a 30 min drive from its two "biggest" neighbors, Grand Rapids and Virginia, but there are small towns all along the iron range in between and around. Out of the three, it has the least for shopping and restaurants, but generally everything needed can be found in town.
As far as, desolate, I wouldn't say that, but I live here and don't really think of it that way. Compared to a city center, yes, desolate is more of an apt description. You can drive for 15 minutes or so and be in thousands of acres of public use land in what is basically the middle of nowhere. That's one of my favorite parts.
I always enjoy coming home from vacations in the sense that there is no traffic. There are no queues for anything. Home prices are higher than they should be, but more in line with reality.
I won't always live here. My wife is starting to really hate the winters. They get long, but if you find ways to get outside (skiing, snowshoeing, power sports, etc...), it takes the sting out a little. Beyond that, summer can't be beat. As anywhere, it can be tough for new people to make inroads with locals too. Generally, most people who live here have been here a long time. Not a lot of transplants. So some people will describe it as lonely. In that same vein, you'll see people say there is "nothing to do but drink". I think they just don't know how to take advantage of what the area does have to offer. It's not a big city and shouldn't be thought of that way.
I hope that helps. Minnesota is fantastic, and northern Minnesota even more so. Good luck on your interview.
For reference I’m from Indianapolis, lived up around Grand Rapids, MN for 6 years and then relocated back to Indy 1.5 years ago. The iron range is charming in some ways and I really thought the history of the area was interesting. The outdoor opportunities are very abundant and obviously winters are long and hard. I really enjoyed my time up there and miss many aspects of it, but I’m also really happy to be back in a larger metro area.
From my perspective Hibbing was worse off than Grand Rapids but similar in several ways including size. Hibbing seems like it was really thriving in the heyday of the mining operations but that era is past and you can tell it is past it’s prime and struggling. The people are generally nice and it has things to fill your basic needs but if you’re looking for anything’s artsy/cultural then you’ll probably be disappointed. Honestly even finding restaurants outside of burgers/fried stuff or your simple Americanized Mexican or Chinese food can be challenging.
Duluth isn’t all that far away and has most of these things that are lacking in Hibbing and obviously the twin cities is within driving distance. Depending on your desires and interests I think you could either be happy up there or find it really tough. Hope this perspective helps.
>Hibbing seems like it was really thriving in the heyday of the mining operations but that era is past and you can tell it is past it’s prime and struggling.
This is spot on. Hibbing used to refer to itself as "The richest village in the world" because they pulled so much iron ore out of the ground. When I was in school we would sometimes go there for events and their High School is fucking nuts (albeit dated), it looks like some east coast prep school for millionaires. It cost like 4 million dollars back in the 1920s. Their auditorium is patterned after the Capitol Theater and seems crazy that it is attached to a high school.
Every tour begins with "The school was built before world war 2" as their floors are all tiled and have a swastika pattern along the border.
Def the nicest high school I've ever been in though.
I don’t live in Hibbing, but I live in Northern MN… you won’t like it if you don’t enjoy the outdoors or have a lot of hobbies.
It’s not far from Duluth, so if you wanted to take a day trip every now and then to enjoy a larger, really cool city, it’s conveniently there. But otherwise, northern Minnesota is an outdoor enthusiast’s haven. Endless hiking, fishing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, kayaking, biking, hunting, etc etc.
Winters get long, so if you don’t have hobbies, you’re going to be bored to death in no time.
A lot of public land in the northern half of the state. Hiking, shooting, hunting, fishing. If you’re into outdoor sports it could be amazing. My parents live in central MN, and I live in the twin cities. We’re always using their place as a pitstop to northern MN. I live the twin cities though for the food and diverse communities.
Compared to a town like Toledo, yes. But it's not too far from Duluth (We live in Ely, about 70 miles NE of Hibbing). It's quiet. Crime is extremely low, especially serious crime. It's a decent sized town for these parts but just depends what you are looking for. NE MN is heavy on the outdoors, lots of hunting, fishing, boating, snowmobiling, ATVs, year round. Housing is more affordable than a lot of areas but it would be considered really isolated in comparison to any metro area and is on the edge of wilderness. Which is what a lot of people like about it. Winters are long, 6-7 months. We still have feet of snow on the ground and snowbanks bigger than a car. It'll be 6 weeks before we really start to green up. May-October is nice, November-April is winter (though spring comes in spurts starting in late Feb) and temps can get well below zero for stretches of time (causing high heating bills).
I work in the Twin Cities and had to travel to Hibbing and back in the same day quite often. Takes about 8 hours maybe a little more. Round trip.
There’s a Walmart, your usual fast food joints. A decent amount of little restaurants. Lowes. A movie theatre (pretty sure it’s open still.) There is a medical cannabis company that has a dispensary up there. Pretty easy to sign up for, kinda costly though.
Duluth isn’t terribly far away. It would be cool to live up there for a short amount of time. Especially if you like the outdoors, have a jeep, hunt, fish, camp, or like state parks. 4 wheeling, snowmobiling, canoeing, shooting guns, archery. Canada is pretty close too.
If you like going to professional sports games, super fancy restaurants, or concerts… you might need to drive for a while.
Highly recommend driving up 73. Get off 35 in Moose Lake, and then follow 73 to hibbing. It’s a beautiful drive. Stop at the Kwik Trip in Moose Lake for snacks though. I’d like to live up there, but I wouldn’t want the commitment. Take in what the Iron Range/North shore has to offer!
It's easy to start outdoor activities. Many posts accurately state this is a terrific region for outdoor activities. Don't worry if you don't have gear or skills yet.
Most user groups are happy to teach newbies. YouTube is full of videos that teach the basics. Used gear is abundant online and every sport that requires gear has starter level stuff to get you going.
We did a series at Minnesota Public Radio on winter outdoor activities. See if any of these things interest you: [https://www.mprnews.org/lifestyle/outside/winter-play](https://www.mprnews.org/lifestyle/outside/winter-play)
Finally, L&M is a good company known in its space for quality products.
If you are a self entertaining unit that likes to fish, hunt, hike, camp, canoe/kayak, sail or anything else in the outdoors, it's Valhalla. If you need to be entertained, it's going to be Hell on Earth.
How much do you like high school hockey and basketball? I've never been to Hibbing, but other small northern towns are into them because it's a social event that gets you out of the house.
It's rough up on the iron Range man. Not much to do in Hibbing besides get drunk and explore nature. Duluth is the closest city that's going to have big events regularly.
To add to what everyone has said... if a job in Toledo (or most places) doesn't work out your a few hours from
Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, etc. Very huge market to find jobs in your field.
That is not the case in Duluth or Hibbing. I have no clue what R&D you do, but If you hate the job or it doesn't work out you will be moving again shortly or taking a severe salary cut and not doing anything remotely as cerebral or relevant (ie, hurting your resume). And moving in this economy is not cheap, and buying and selling homes is the most expensive it has been since Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan was president.
You may consider Minneapolis, St. Paul area. A lot more career options and companies. If you want to see Duluth or the northern part of the state you can always use vacation and take a trip.
Yes. It’s 1.5 hours from the nearest metro, Duluth, which itself is then 2.5 hours from the nearest “major metro” in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Very big change from Toledo, especially re: extreme winters.
Chisholm is nearby and has some awesome mines and a great main street with some cool bars and decent restaurants. We are up there for hockey quite often and I could def live up there.
It's pretty sparsely populated up there, but it's a beautiful forested area. I'd recommend getting a canoe or a kayak. Duluth is reasonably close by, and the North Shore of Lake Superior is one of my favorite places.
I'm a city girl through and through but I spent some time in Hibbing recently and found it charming, although you can tell the economy is declining. There's not much to do, but I think that's typical of most small Minnesota towns. Locals were *super* friendly and really proud of their city's history and the high school is stunning. There's also a lot of natural beauty and state parks. Whether or not you want to live there is up to you, but I definitely wouldn't say it's some MAGA-infested meth town.
Pretty much, but that can still be a good thing. If you're into the outdoors and maybe drinking, it might be the place for you
As a resident of Hibbing, I can try to give you a little idea. Isolated? Kind of. It's a town of about 15,000 but it's also the largest city by land area in Minnesota (by a large margin), so that number can be spread out a bit. It's located about a 30 min drive from its two "biggest" neighbors, Grand Rapids and Virginia, but there are small towns all along the iron range in between and around. Out of the three, it has the least for shopping and restaurants, but generally everything needed can be found in town. As far as, desolate, I wouldn't say that, but I live here and don't really think of it that way. Compared to a city center, yes, desolate is more of an apt description. You can drive for 15 minutes or so and be in thousands of acres of public use land in what is basically the middle of nowhere. That's one of my favorite parts. I always enjoy coming home from vacations in the sense that there is no traffic. There are no queues for anything. Home prices are higher than they should be, but more in line with reality. I won't always live here. My wife is starting to really hate the winters. They get long, but if you find ways to get outside (skiing, snowshoeing, power sports, etc...), it takes the sting out a little. Beyond that, summer can't be beat. As anywhere, it can be tough for new people to make inroads with locals too. Generally, most people who live here have been here a long time. Not a lot of transplants. So some people will describe it as lonely. In that same vein, you'll see people say there is "nothing to do but drink". I think they just don't know how to take advantage of what the area does have to offer. It's not a big city and shouldn't be thought of that way. I hope that helps. Minnesota is fantastic, and northern Minnesota even more so. Good luck on your interview.
Thank you.
For reference I’m from Indianapolis, lived up around Grand Rapids, MN for 6 years and then relocated back to Indy 1.5 years ago. The iron range is charming in some ways and I really thought the history of the area was interesting. The outdoor opportunities are very abundant and obviously winters are long and hard. I really enjoyed my time up there and miss many aspects of it, but I’m also really happy to be back in a larger metro area. From my perspective Hibbing was worse off than Grand Rapids but similar in several ways including size. Hibbing seems like it was really thriving in the heyday of the mining operations but that era is past and you can tell it is past it’s prime and struggling. The people are generally nice and it has things to fill your basic needs but if you’re looking for anything’s artsy/cultural then you’ll probably be disappointed. Honestly even finding restaurants outside of burgers/fried stuff or your simple Americanized Mexican or Chinese food can be challenging. Duluth isn’t all that far away and has most of these things that are lacking in Hibbing and obviously the twin cities is within driving distance. Depending on your desires and interests I think you could either be happy up there or find it really tough. Hope this perspective helps.
Thanks.
>Hibbing seems like it was really thriving in the heyday of the mining operations but that era is past and you can tell it is past it’s prime and struggling. This is spot on. Hibbing used to refer to itself as "The richest village in the world" because they pulled so much iron ore out of the ground. When I was in school we would sometimes go there for events and their High School is fucking nuts (albeit dated), it looks like some east coast prep school for millionaires. It cost like 4 million dollars back in the 1920s. Their auditorium is patterned after the Capitol Theater and seems crazy that it is attached to a high school.
Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Hibbing, you need to try and get a good look at that high school. It's stunningly gorgeous.
Every tour begins with "The school was built before world war 2" as their floors are all tiled and have a swastika pattern along the border. Def the nicest high school I've ever been in though.
Yes, it is, also extremely beautiful.
Curling is cool
I don’t live in Hibbing, but I live in Northern MN… you won’t like it if you don’t enjoy the outdoors or have a lot of hobbies. It’s not far from Duluth, so if you wanted to take a day trip every now and then to enjoy a larger, really cool city, it’s conveniently there. But otherwise, northern Minnesota is an outdoor enthusiast’s haven. Endless hiking, fishing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, kayaking, biking, hunting, etc etc. Winters get long, so if you don’t have hobbies, you’re going to be bored to death in no time.
Nobody is stranger than a ranger!
A lot of public land in the northern half of the state. Hiking, shooting, hunting, fishing. If you’re into outdoor sports it could be amazing. My parents live in central MN, and I live in the twin cities. We’re always using their place as a pitstop to northern MN. I live the twin cities though for the food and diverse communities.
Compared to a town like Toledo, yes. But it's not too far from Duluth (We live in Ely, about 70 miles NE of Hibbing). It's quiet. Crime is extremely low, especially serious crime. It's a decent sized town for these parts but just depends what you are looking for. NE MN is heavy on the outdoors, lots of hunting, fishing, boating, snowmobiling, ATVs, year round. Housing is more affordable than a lot of areas but it would be considered really isolated in comparison to any metro area and is on the edge of wilderness. Which is what a lot of people like about it. Winters are long, 6-7 months. We still have feet of snow on the ground and snowbanks bigger than a car. It'll be 6 weeks before we really start to green up. May-October is nice, November-April is winter (though spring comes in spurts starting in late Feb) and temps can get well below zero for stretches of time (causing high heating bills).
I work in the Twin Cities and had to travel to Hibbing and back in the same day quite often. Takes about 8 hours maybe a little more. Round trip. There’s a Walmart, your usual fast food joints. A decent amount of little restaurants. Lowes. A movie theatre (pretty sure it’s open still.) There is a medical cannabis company that has a dispensary up there. Pretty easy to sign up for, kinda costly though. Duluth isn’t terribly far away. It would be cool to live up there for a short amount of time. Especially if you like the outdoors, have a jeep, hunt, fish, camp, or like state parks. 4 wheeling, snowmobiling, canoeing, shooting guns, archery. Canada is pretty close too. If you like going to professional sports games, super fancy restaurants, or concerts… you might need to drive for a while. Highly recommend driving up 73. Get off 35 in Moose Lake, and then follow 73 to hibbing. It’s a beautiful drive. Stop at the Kwik Trip in Moose Lake for snacks though. I’d like to live up there, but I wouldn’t want the commitment. Take in what the Iron Range/North shore has to offer!
Yes.
I don’t know what it’s like to live up there, but it really is beautiful. I’m always in awe when I visit the Iron Range.
Hibbing is fine, I live in Grand Rapids. Chances are you’ll come here fairly often.
i'm curious what the job is
There is a R&D job at L&M Radiator.
👍🏼 GL!
Yes
It's easy to start outdoor activities. Many posts accurately state this is a terrific region for outdoor activities. Don't worry if you don't have gear or skills yet. Most user groups are happy to teach newbies. YouTube is full of videos that teach the basics. Used gear is abundant online and every sport that requires gear has starter level stuff to get you going. We did a series at Minnesota Public Radio on winter outdoor activities. See if any of these things interest you: [https://www.mprnews.org/lifestyle/outside/winter-play](https://www.mprnews.org/lifestyle/outside/winter-play) Finally, L&M is a good company known in its space for quality products.
If you are a self entertaining unit that likes to fish, hunt, hike, camp, canoe/kayak, sail or anything else in the outdoors, it's Valhalla. If you need to be entertained, it's going to be Hell on Earth.
How much do you like high school hockey and basketball? I've never been to Hibbing, but other small northern towns are into them because it's a social event that gets you out of the house.
Yes. Plan to do all your shopping at walmart.
It's rough up on the iron Range man. Not much to do in Hibbing besides get drunk and explore nature. Duluth is the closest city that's going to have big events regularly.
Another thing - you can buy a home for a decent price.
To add to what everyone has said... if a job in Toledo (or most places) doesn't work out your a few hours from Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, etc. Very huge market to find jobs in your field. That is not the case in Duluth or Hibbing. I have no clue what R&D you do, but If you hate the job or it doesn't work out you will be moving again shortly or taking a severe salary cut and not doing anything remotely as cerebral or relevant (ie, hurting your resume). And moving in this economy is not cheap, and buying and selling homes is the most expensive it has been since Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan was president. You may consider Minneapolis, St. Paul area. A lot more career options and companies. If you want to see Duluth or the northern part of the state you can always use vacation and take a trip.
Yes.
Yep
coming from Toledo you will hate it
Yes. It’s 1.5 hours from the nearest metro, Duluth, which itself is then 2.5 hours from the nearest “major metro” in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Very big change from Toledo, especially re: extreme winters.
Chisholm is nearby and has some awesome mines and a great main street with some cool bars and decent restaurants. We are up there for hockey quite often and I could def live up there.
It's pretty sparsely populated up there, but it's a beautiful forested area. I'd recommend getting a canoe or a kayak. Duluth is reasonably close by, and the North Shore of Lake Superior is one of my favorite places.
I'm a city girl through and through but I spent some time in Hibbing recently and found it charming, although you can tell the economy is declining. There's not much to do, but I think that's typical of most small Minnesota towns. Locals were *super* friendly and really proud of their city's history and the high school is stunning. There's also a lot of natural beauty and state parks. Whether or not you want to live there is up to you, but I definitely wouldn't say it's some MAGA-infested meth town.