Lakeshire Business Funding, a small-business funding broker in Duluth, Minnesota, works from 424 W Superior St in St. Louis County. This page sets out Census figures for the county and ZIP 55802, self-employment in Duluth, residential permit activity, and starting points for registration and free advising. Lakeshire is a broker, not a lender; lending partners decide.
| County | St. Louis County, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Employer establishments | 5,360 in the county (Census CBP 2023) |
| Fewer than five employees | 46.5% of county employers (same source) |
| Businesses with no employees | 13,128 in the county (Census NES 2024) |
| ZIP 55802 employers | 670 employers in 2023 (Census ZIP Code Business Patterns) |
| Who decides on funding | Partners decide; Lakeshire only brokers |
The St. Louis County, MN employer base
St. Louis County had 5,360 employer establishments in 2023. Together they employed 84,223 people in the pay period that includes March 12 and paid about $4.71 billion in annual payroll (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Most were small: 2,494 had fewer than five employees, 46.5 percent of the total.
| Employees | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 2,494 |
| 5 to 9 | 1,152 |
| 10 to 19 | 848 |
| 20 to 49 | 592 |
| 50 to 99 | 159 |
| 100 or more | 115 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Counts cover establishments with paid employees only. For a funding broker the useful takeaway is the left side of the table: more than two thirds of the county's employers have fewer than ten people, which is the scale at which a single slow-paying customer or a broken machine changes the month.
Sectors with the most employers in St. Louis County, MN
| Sector | Establishments | Under-5-employee share | Annual payroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 830 | 27.7% | $1.39 billion |
| Retail trade | 773 | 37.3% | $391.9 million |
| Other services | 597 | 55.4% | $124.3 million |
| Construction | 572 | 66.1% | $386.3 million |
| Accommodation and food services | 550 | 28.5% | $233.9 million |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 390 | 58.7% | $290.2 million |
| Finance and insurance | 306 | 58.2% | $194.1 million |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Health care carries the largest payroll in the county by a wide margin. Construction stands out for how small its firms are: two in three construction employers had fewer than five employees. Our partners' confirmed sectors map onto this list as construction, restaurants within accommodation and food services, retail, and medical and dental practices within health care.
Inside ZIP 55802, around West Superior Street
ZIP Code Business Patterns gives a closer look at the ZIP of our address. ZIP 55802 had 670 employer establishments in 2023, with 13,276 paid employees and about $780.4 million in annual payroll; 38.5 percent of those establishments had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023). A ZIP code follows postal routes, not city limits, so these are ZIP figures, not figures for the whole city.
Health care and social assistance led ZIP 55802 with 111 establishments, followed by professional, scientific and technical services with 103, accommodation and food services with 80, retail trade with 70 and finance and insurance with 64 (same source). Only 22.5 percent of the ZIP's food and accommodation employers had fewer than five employees, compared with half of its retailers.
Businesses run without employees
St. Louis County had 13,128 nonemployer businesses in 2024: firms with no paid staff, often a single owner (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024). The largest groups were professional, scientific and technical services (1,719), real estate and rental and leasing (1,466), arts, entertainment and recreation (1,396), construction (1,298), other services (1,156) and retail trade (1,141). These come from a different Census program and year than the employer counts above, so the two should not be added together.
How many Duluth, MN residents work for themselves
An estimated 6.7 percent of Duluth's employed residents were self-employed, with a margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 points: 2.7 percent in their own incorporated business and 4.0 percent in an unincorporated one (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates). For St. Louis County as a whole the estimate was 7.7 percent, plus or minus 0.5, below Minnesota's 9.3 percent, plus or minus 0.1 (same source). The Duluth and county ranges overlap, so the data does not show the city to be different from the county.
Residential building in St. Louis County, MN
Building permits authorized 412 new privately owned housing units in St. Louis County in 2025, down from 637 in 2024 and 570 in 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, county annual files). Of the 2025 units, 237 were single-unit homes and 164 were in buildings with five or more units. These counts cover new residential units only, not commercial work or remodeling. The contractor financing page discusses what that means for trades that live on project cash flow.
City and state paperwork for a Duluth, MN business
Two layers usually apply. The business entity and state tax accounts are Minnesota matters; the Minnesota filing checklist covers them. Licenses tied to specific activities are handled locally, and the City of Duluth's official website is duluthmn.gov; St. Louis County's is stlouiscountymn.gov. The Duluth license and city sales tax guide explains how to work out what applies to your business.
A practical warning: searches for a Duluth business license often return pages for Duluth, GA, a different city in another state. Check that any form you download comes from a Minnesota government site.
Free advice and local organizations
Small business advising, economic development programs, chambers of commerce and nonprofit lenders all operate in Northeast Minnesota. The Northeast Minnesota resource directory sorts them by type of help. Lakeshire Business Funding has no tie to any of these organizations.
Reaching Lakeshire from anywhere in the county
Lakeshire's address is 424 W Superior St, Duluth, MN 55802; the number to call is (218) 353-6774. Owners in the rest of St. Louis County and neighboring counties work with us by phone and online; towns we work with lists them. Who we are explains the broker role, and the contact page has every way to reach us. For a first look at the options, start with the comparison of all six, or go straight to working capital or equipment financing.
Duluth, MN businesses we help
For Duluth, MN owners, Lakeshire Business Funding focuses on the sectors our lending partners have confirmed they fund: contractors and construction trades, restaurants and food service, medical and dental practices and retailers and wholesalers that carry stock. Approval is never automatic for any sector.
What to gather before you call
- The last three to six months of business bank statements
- Your most recent business tax return
- Current financial statements: profit and loss plus a balance sheet
- A driver's license or passport for each owner
- Proof of ownership and business registration
- A written quote or invoice if the money is for equipment
No two partners ask for exactly the same file, so use this as a checklist rather than a rule.
The steps after your first call
- You call (218) 353-6774 or send the short form (name, contact details and business name). When we speak, we ask what the money is for, how long you have been in business and roughly what the business brings in.
- You hear which options match the need and what a partner will likely want to review. We submit nothing without your approval.
- Once you agree, the request goes to partners that provide that type of funding. The credit decision belongs to each partner.
- When an offer arrives, weigh its full cost, how payments are scheduled and the conditions. Accepting is entirely your choice.
Our address: 424 W Superior St, Duluth, MN 55802.
By Lakeshire Business Funding · Updated
