Pine City is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,127 at the 2010 census. Pine City is the county seat of, and the largest city in, Pine County. The Initiative Foundation named Pine City "Outstanding Community" of 2009 and the NAMM Foundation identified it as one of the "Best Communities for Music Education in America" for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Its name is a loose translation of "Chengwatana" (White-Pine Town), originally an Ojibwe village located just east of Pine City, along the Snake River. The Ojibwe name for the city is Ne-zhingwaakokaag (on a land-point full of white pines). A portion of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is located within Pine City.

The Dakota Indians were the first in the area. With the Ojibwa expansion, the area became a mixture of the two. By the early 19th century, the area became predominantly Ojibwa. They trapped and hunted on the land and traded furs at the nearby trading posts. With the Treaty of St. Peters of 1837, dubbed the "White Pine Treaty", lumbering began in the area. Lumbering, though, was limited by access to the available waterways.

In the late 19th century, European settlers came to the Pine City area, which was still heavily forested with thick stands of white pine, some of the largest in the state. When the railroad arrived in Pine City so began a logging expansion. Pine City prospered and grew into a city that had everything needed to serve residents, farmers, and the fast expanding lumber industry. Pine City was platted in 1869. The city was incorporated in 1881.

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