Pine River, Minnesota.
Typical home $259,776 (+3.3% in a year). Brainerd, MN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$812 (+147%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $8,334 +3%
- $251,442$259,776 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $64,976 +33%
- $194,800$259,776 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Pine River$1,363
- Minnesota$1,831
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Pine River, MN rose 3.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Pine River, Cass County, Minnesota
Pine River is a city of 911 people in Cass County. Half its households earn more than $43,080 a year and half less, against $68,874 across Cass County; 29% of its people live below the poverty line. 49% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 51% are rented. Unemployment in Cass County was 5.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Pine River is a small city in Cass County, Minnesota, with a population that is small even by the standards of the area. Household incomes run well below the county's, and poverty is more common than in most places. About as many homes are rented as are lived in by their owners, and few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with January highs staying well below freezing and nights dropping to around zero, while summers are warm.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, restaurants and hotels, and manufacturing. The largest workplaces in town include the Pine River-Backus School District, Hugo's supermarket and Halverson Wood Products. Unemployment across Cass County is higher than a year ago, and the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before. A typical commute is short, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Norway Lake, a reservoir, lies in or beside town, and Stewart Lake is a short drive away. The Pine River itself is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, Brainerd International Raceway, a race track, and Badoura State Forest, a protected area, are both a longer drive away.
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- 385households
- 15%of adults have a degree
- 29%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cass County had 10,595 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 19° and lows near 0°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 59°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Deep Portage weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Pine River
- Pine River-backus School DistrictSchool district145FTE
- Hugo'sSupermarkets60
- City of Pine RiverGeneral public administration32
- Halverson Wood ProductsConstruction machinery manufacturing26
- Essentia HealthPhysicians' offices22
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 321 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Pine River’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Cass County and the Brainerd, MN metro.
Pine River home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Pine River$259,776
- Minnesota$348,778
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Pine River listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Pine River29.01%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Pine River25
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Pine River7
Zip codes with a Pine River address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Pine River — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.