Austin
What’s happening
Weather
Forecast →Upcoming events
Put the next local happening — a market, a meeting, a concert — on the map.
Local news
Headlines via Google News · Articles belong to their publishers.
The Austin album
Outdoors in Austin
Parks & trails →Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
c. 1907
SMNC1907, c. 1907
Photo · Wikimedia Commons
About Austin
City in Minnesota, United StatesAustin 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)
How Austin ranks
All →Town numbers
Housing in Austin
The median sale price was $258,000 in May 2026.
A strong seller's market
Safety in Austin
Safety Grade C+
Austin reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 62% report less.
Schools in Austin
All Austin schools →School Grade C
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 data from the U.S. Department of Education (NCES, EDFacts). The School Grade is our own summary of state test results and graduation rates, graded within MN. Ratings are from neighbors.
Where Austin is
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