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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-CIRCLE-PINES-MN · Circle Pines, MN 4,980 pop · income 75th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Circle Pines
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Circle Pines on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Colville · lowest
49,375
Colville · lowest
49,375 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Darmstadt · near
96,458
Darmstadt · near
96,458 median HH income
43.1% of the leader · rank #2
Taylor · near
96,458
Taylor · near
96,458 median HH income
43.1% of the leader · rank #3
Circle Pines · this city
96,477
Circle Pines · this city
96,477 median HH income
43.1% of the leader · rank #4
Broad Brook · near
96,484
Broad Brook · near
96,484 median HH income
43.1% of the leader · rank #5
Montgomery · near
96,487
Montgomery · near
96,487 median HH income
43.1% of the leader · rank #6
Mendham · highest
223,750
Mendham · highest
223,750 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Circle Pines on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 4,980.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Circle Pines lands in the 75th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
75th
percentile, household income
61st
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Circle Pines, MN
Circle Pines is a small town in Minnesota, home to 4,980 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Circle Pines households earn a median of $96,477 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 1.1%. Typical homes in Circle Pines are valued around $277,300, and the median resident age is 38.4 years. Educational attainment runs 42.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 73.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits).
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 98.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,125 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Minnesota run around $225, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Circle Pines's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Circle Pines, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Circle Pines?
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Princeton (4,988 residents, $52,450 income); Becker (4,958 residents, $90,188 income); Lake City (5,021 residents, $76,125 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Colville, WA (4,979 residents); Winfield, AL (4,982 residents); Mendham, NJ (4,977 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Is Circle Pines growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -59 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the education layer cover for Circle Pines?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 42.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
What does the journey to work look like in Circle Pines?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Circle Pines?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 1.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$96,477
Home value
$277,300
Value / income
2.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
B
City profile score · Circle Pines, MN
72/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A+
1.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
42.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$96,477
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living D
98.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Circle Pines profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 92/100 (A+) · 1.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 42.1%
Household income: 75/100 (B+) · $96,477
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
How does Circle Pines compare to other US cities?
Here's how Circle Pines stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income75% higher than other cities
Home value61% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Circle Pines against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Minnesota only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Minnesota-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Circle Pines near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Circle Pines ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Circle Pines only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#145 of 775
81st percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#182 of 774
76th percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#660 of 785
15th percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#95 of 784
88th percentile in Minnesota
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Minnesota only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
75th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Circle Pines's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$277,30039th percentilemore affordable than 39% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Circle Pines's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#5,982 of 15,516
More affordable than 61% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,148 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.9×, Circle Pines sits in the affordable band:
national rank #5,982 of 15,516 and #5,148 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$96,477Circle Pines, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Circle Pines, MN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Circle Pines, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)42.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)1.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)73.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,980
Median Income
$96,477
Median Home Value
$277,300
Median Age
38.4
Poverty Rate
1.1%
Labor force participation
73.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
42.1%
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Circle Pines's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,026 residents
2021
5,011 residents
2022
4,950 residents
2023
4,932 residents
2024
4,957 residents
2025
4,967 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.5M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.4%
Carpool
4.9%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
14.7%
Other
0.7%
Based on 2,992 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Minnesota statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $225
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Minnesota at $225 (electricity about $95 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Minnesota statewide averages, not a meter reading for Circle Pines. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Minnesota's BEA cost-of-living index is 98.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Circle Pines is $1,125/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Minnesota statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 42.4 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Minnesota statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Circle Pines sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Circle Pines compares to similar-size Minnesota cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.