A town of 26,358, settled in 1853. Nearly 9.4% of it is conserved land.
The 3 things Austin does most differently from other towns.
Be the first to start the conversation.
Nothing on the calendar.
Ordered by what stands out in Austin. Another town gets a different order.
The median sale price was $258,000 in May 2026.
57% of Austin’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Rochester (8%), Albert Lea (5%) and Owatonna (2%). Half commute less than 2 miles.
13 miles of trails across 24 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Jay C Hormel Nature Center | 10.1 mi | 339 |
| 2. Mower County Fairgrounds | 0.7 mi | 44 |
| 3. Dresner Disc golf park | 0.4 mi | 13 |
Austin beats the Minnesota average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16.
| What stands out | Austin | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.9% | 7.5% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 18.6% | 11.4% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 8.4% | 5.7% |
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 80% of U.S. communities.
The public schools Austin’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, trail 73% of Minnesota’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.
| School | Grades | Students | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banfield Elementary | PK–4 | 574 | C+ |
| Southgate Elementary | PK–4 | 539 | B− |
| Sumner Elementary | PK–4 | 387 | D |
| Neveln Elementary | PK–4 | 381 | C− |
| Ellis Middle | 7–8 | 726 | C− |
| I.J. Holton Intermediate School | 5–6 | 712 | C |
Austin has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. A typical July afternoon reaches 81°, a January night drops to 6°, and about 43 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Austin reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 62% report less.
6 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives, and 3 places on the National Register.
3 places in Austin on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Minnesota, United States
Austin is a city in and the county seat of Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River and has two artificial lakes, East Side Lake and Mill Pond. It was named for Austin R. Nichols, the area's first European settler. It is part of the Rochester–Austin combined statistical area. Hormel Foods Corporation is Austin's largest employer, and the city is sometimes called "SPAM Town USA". Austin is home to Hormel's corporate headquarters, a factory that makes most of North America's SPAM tinned meat, and the Spam Museum. Austin is also home to the Hormel Institute, a leading cancer research institution …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Austin.
