Best PlacesPine City, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pine City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pine City ranks 25,977th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pine City
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Pine City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pine City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Pine City ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pine City
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pine City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,710, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Pine City's effective rate of 0.91%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pine City
Pine City runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pine City.
Who works in Pine City, and how
Work in Pine City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pine City
Pine City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Pine City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pine City, month by month
Pine City sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Pine City
The nearest airport, St. Cloud Regional, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pine City
Schools across Pine City average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- C.e. Jacobson ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Pine City ElementaryB · 44% proficient
- Hinckley ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Pine City SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Rush City SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Hinckley-finlayson SecondaryD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pine City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pine City measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Pine City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pine City
Is Pine City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pine City ranks 25,977th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, walkability, and transit, and lowest on a weak job market and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pine City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,817. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $70,710 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Pine City safe?
Yes, Pine City is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
Compare Pine City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pine City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pine City represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Pine City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pine City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pine City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pine City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pine City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pine City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.