City · Goodhue County, Minnesota

Pine Island, Minnesota

Pine Island is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, part of the Red Wing, MN metro area. It has 3,580 residents. Pine Island, Minnesota has a quality-of-life score of 94 out of 100 (very high), ranking #942 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Minnesota it ranks #68 of 364 cities and towns. It ranks best on child poverty rate (low), social associations (high) and loneliness (low). It ranks worst on preventable hospital stays (high), pharmacies (low) and new business applications (low).

94Very high

Quality-of-life score: #942 of 15,651 cities and towns
Minnesota: #68 of 364 in MN
Population: 3,580 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 577.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 2751136

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety85#2,293/15,637
Economy91#1,406/15,631
Housing62#5,650/14,977
Health80#3,166/15,609
Healthcare66#5,317/15,650
Environment95#761/15,453
Education73#4,254/15,649
Infrastructure76#3,828/15,650
Community100#32/15,651
Leisure & amenities57#6,721/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Pine Island, Minnesota ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Goodhue County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Child poverty rate · low0.8%
98/100Minnesota 9.6%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Social associations · high18.3 /10k
97/100Minnesota 12.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGoodhue County value
Loneliness · low29.2%
97/100Minnesota 32.1%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
High school diploma or higher · high97.1%
96/100Minnesota 93.9%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Voter turnout · high79.0%
94/100Minnesota 77.0%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionGoodhue County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Minnesota 2.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGoodhue County value

Weaknesses

Preventable hospital stays · high4,409 /100k
5/100Minnesota 2,419 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGoodhue County value
Pharmacies · low1.0 /10k
16/100Minnesota 1.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGoodhue County value
New business applications · low9.3 /1k
18/100Minnesota 12.7 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauGoodhue County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.6 /10k
22/100Minnesota 1.4 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGoodhue County value
Mental health providers · low142 /100k
23/100Minnesota 383 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGoodhue County value
Public transit commuters · low0.0%
27/100Minnesota 1.8%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
26.7% (2015-2019) → 45.2% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.3% (2015-2019) → 93.7% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
9.4% (2015-2019) → 0.7% (2020-2024)
−8.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$73,889 (2015-2019) → $104,432 (2020-2024)
+41%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
21.8% (2015-2019) → 29.0% (2020-2024)
+7.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
New homes permittedImproving
6.4 /1k (2021) → 8.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+32%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Pine Island, Minnesota improved on 2 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+41%$73,889 → $104,432
Broadband+11 points82.3% → 93.7%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Pine Island, Minnesota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.8 min2015-2019	25.1 min2020-2024	+1.3 min	Within the margin of error	33%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.5%2015-2019	37.0%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Broadband subscriptions	82.3%2015-2019	93.7%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	66%
Effective property tax rate	1.20%2015-2019	1.28%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
High school diploma or higher	93.4%2015-2019	97.1%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	74%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	32%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3362015-2019	0.3722020-2024	+0.037	Within the margin of error	23%
Median household income	$73,8892015-2019	$104,4322020-2024	+41%	Improved	76%
Rent as share of income	21.8%2015-2019	29.0%2020-2024	+7.2 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Rent-burdened households	26.7%2015-2019	45.2%2020-2024	+18 points	Within the margin of error	10%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	3.3%2015-2019	1.6%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	66%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Pine Island, Minnesota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Pine Island, Minnesota in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Pine Island, Minnesota itself moved −8.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,580 residents (±200)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,357 households (±127)

Pine Island, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Under $25k10%†137
$25k–50k16%†215
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,357 households (±127)

Pine Island, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Own80%1,087
Rent20%†270

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,843 workers (±214)

Pine Island, Minnesota
Minnesota share

Drive alone79%1,465
Carpool5.2%†95
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Red Wing, MN

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Goodhue County, the county holding most of Pine Island's residents.

Goodhue County has 1,294 employer establishments, 269 for every 10,000 residents (1.08× the US rate of 248; 1.00× Minnesota's), with 18,951 paid employees at an average annual pay of $54,291. The Census Bureau also counts 3,285 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,294; 3,285 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 269; US 248 · Minnesota 268
Paid employees: 18,951
Average annual pay: $54,291; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Goodhue County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	107	22.2	1.43×More than typical	624	$89,925	254
Restaurants and other eating places	70	14.5	0.79×Fewer than typical	1,296	$20,365	10
Ambulatory health care services	63	13.1	0.63×Fewer than typical	472	$51,076	99
Religious organizations	59	12.2	2.21×More than typical	273	$16,842	—
Truck transportation	48	10	1.97×More than typical	223	$67,318	110
Building equipment contractors	41	8.5	1.41×More than typical	420	$97,929	40
Automotive repair and maintenance	39	8.1	1.61×More than typical	208	$57,024	50
Lessors of real estate	39	8.1	0.66×Fewer than typical	124	$36,210	411
Insurance agencies and brokerages	35	7.3	1.65×More than typical	81	$60,333	43
Services to buildings and dwellings	35	7.3	1.08×About typical	160	$43,119	209
Construction of buildings	34	7.1	0.93×About typical	138	$53,630	95
Full-service restaurants	33	6.9	0.89×About typical	576	$21,549	3

Rank places for an industry Open Goodhue County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 48,168 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated -$119 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Pine Island, Minnesota: -$0.03 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$119; −122% vs FY2025
Per resident: -$0.03; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

CHRISTIE A PATTEN-$1190.0%

Spending by fiscal year

3.6KFY2018
195.1FY2023
527.3FY2024
537.8FY2025
-119FY2026

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Pine Island, Minnesota, so they do not add up across cities.

Pine Island, Minnesota's figures are part of those of Goodhue County, MN and Olmsted County, MN ($41.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Pine Island is mostly in Goodhue County.

See federal money in Goodhue County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Pine Island, Minnesota is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Brad FinstadR-MN-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 0.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Red Wing, MN91

Other cities and towns in Goodhue County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2751136

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends