Customer Support Specialist salary in Duluth, MN-WI

Pay in Duluth against Minnesota and the US

Customer support specialists at the 90th percentile earn $62,910, 2.1 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of customer support specialists in Duluth earns $38,190–$53,040. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $14,850 wide, against $18,480 across Minnesota and $14,910 nationally: employers in Duluth pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a customer support specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $8,100 a year in pay and about $10,452 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $6,750 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $44,770 falls between the 25th percentile and the median in Duluth, and the Minnesota statewide median of $48,800 falls between the median and the 75th percentile.

What a hire really costs in Duluth

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $13,047 to the $44,940 median and brings it to $57,987 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

Our open customer support specialist roles pay $700–$1,000 a month under a direct contract. The one-time fee is $2,500³ with a 180-day replacement; paying through Deel adds $49 a month⁴. Change any number below to match your plan.

A local hire here costs about 4.4 times as much as a remote hire in year one at the midpoint of our range. From year two, when the fee drops out, it is 5.4 times the remote figure of $10,788. About the candidates: most apply through our assessment platform with a written and a spoken English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff interviews every shortlisted candidate live, in English, before you meet them.

Other roles in Duluth

Of the 15 roles we track in Duluth, this one ranks #14 by median pay, between administrative assistants ($47,740) and virtual receptionists ($35,350). Project Coordinator is the highest at $96,550.

Measured against the US median, customer support specialists rank #3 of the 15 roles we track in Duluth (+0.4%), between administrative assistants (+0.4%) and bookkeepers (-0.0%). The typical role here is at -5.2%, so, measured against the US, customer support specialists cost more in Duluth than the area's general pay level would suggest. Customer support specialists hold 16.0% of the jobs in these 15 roles in Duluth, 18.4% across Minnesota and 16.6% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Minnesota

Across the 9 areas of Minnesota with data for this job, the median runs from $44,430 in the Northeast Minnesota nonmetro area to $49,480 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, a gap of $5,050 a year. All 4 areas in Minnesota with more customer support specialists than Duluth also pay more, among them Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI ($49,480) and the Northwest Minnesota nonmetro area ($47,720).

Duluth against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Duluth is #237 of 520 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Minnesota, Dayton-Kettering and Fairbanks-College pay just above Duluth and Midland and Rochester just below. All four are within $200 a year of the median in Duluth. Of the three markets with about as many customer support specialists, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.