Best PlacesPine Springs, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pine Springs, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pine Springs ranks 895th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pine Springs
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 Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Pine Springs ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
Where Pine Springs ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,682 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 33% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pine Springs
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pine Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $137,057; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Springs' effective rate of 0.93%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pine Springs
Pine Springs runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pine Springs.
Who works in Pine Springs, and how
Work in Pine Springs centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pine Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pine Springs.
What the weather is like in Pine Springs, month by month
Pine Springs sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Pine Springs
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 17 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pine Springs
Schools across Pine Springs average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Castle ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Richardson ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mahtomedi MiddleA · 62% proficient
- John Glenn MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Mahtomedi Senior HighA · 72% proficient
- North Senior HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pine Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pine Springs 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 Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pine Springs
Is Pine Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pine Springs ranks 895th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, what local pay buys, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pine Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $523,865. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $137,057 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Pine Springs safe?
Yes, Pine Springs is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $217 per resident a year.
Compare Pine Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pine Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pine Springs 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 Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pine Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pine Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pine Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pine Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pine Springs 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.