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Place dossier plate
SheetMN-AUSTIN-MN · Austin, MN 26,167 pop · income 45th pct · 11 tracts
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 Austin
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Austin on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
East Chicago · lowest
41,071
East Chicago · lowest
41,071 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #1
Elkhart · near
66,477
Elkhart · near
66,477 median HH income
48.2% of the leader · rank #2
El Cajon · near
66,478
El Cajon · near
66,478 median HH income
48.2% of the leader · rank #3
Kanawha · near
66,481
Kanawha · near
66,481 median HH income
48.2% of the leader · rank #4
Austin · this city
66,488
Austin · this city
66,488 median HH income
48.2% of the leader · rank #5
Maywood · near
66,498
Maywood · near
66,498 median HH income
48.2% of the leader · rank #6
Chanhassen · highest
138,034
Chanhassen · highest
138,034 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Austin on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 26,167.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Austin - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Austin lands in the 45th percentile for household income and the 37th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
45th
percentile, household income
28th
percentile, home value
36th
percentile, median rent
37th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Austin, MN
26,167 people live in Austin, Minnesota - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Austin report a median income of $66,488 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.7%. Home values in Austin run a median of $155,100, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. About 23.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 17 residential building permits were authorized in Austin (Construction Slowdown), down 82% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Austin reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1792.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Minnesota tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Minnesota scores 98.6 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,125 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Minnesota's average monthly utility costs around $225 (state average). The average commute for Austin workers runs 17.0 minutes, with 77.8% driving alone and 4.3% working from home. 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 Austin'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 work and mobility to housing and income to within-city variation to schools and households to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Austin, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Austin?
Within Minnesota, the closest population matches are Chanhassen (26,001 residents, $138,034 income); Winona (25,998 residents, $56,163 income); Elk River (26,367 residents, $99,457 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Chicago, IN (26,158 residents); Windsor, CA (26,179 residents); Ives Estates, FL (26,154 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +475 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 17 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 journey to work look like in Austin?
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 77.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.0 minutes.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
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 Austin?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.7%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$66,488
Home value
$155,100
Value / income
2.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 15 public schools within the city match. 23.2% 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.
Matched public schools
15
Bachelor's degree+
23.2%
Poverty estimate
9.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Austin?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1792.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 21% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1601.7
Violent rate
191.1
Total reported rate
1792.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Below median income · poverty 9.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
98.6 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Minnesota average
D
City profile score · Austin, MN
45/100
5 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.
Violent crime D
191 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Household income D
$66,488
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Austin profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 49/100 (D) · 191 /100k
Cost of living: 46/100 (D) · 98.6 index
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,488
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.2%
Poverty rate: 41/100 (D) · 9.7%
Where Austin sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Austin's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Austin highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Austin, MN (this city): home $155,100, crime 1,793/100k
East Chicago, IN : home $92,400, crime 2,416/100k
Windsor, CA : home $763,200, crime 967/100k
Trussville, AL : home $351,500, crime 2,110/100k
Winona, MN : home $193,500, crime 2,484/100k
Elk River, MN : home $338,300, crime 1,096/100k
Owatonna, MN : home $234,600, crime 971/100k
Rosemount, MN : home $406,100, crime 556/100k
How does Austin compare to other US cities?
Austin measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value28% pricier than other cities
Median rent36% pricier than other cities
Safety37% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Minnesota and the picture shifts: Austin ranks #179 of 229 Minnesota cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Austin 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 Austin near the bottom of Minnesota's cities
Among the 785 Minnesota cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Austin ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Austin only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#410 of 775
47th percentile in Minnesota
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 785
0th percentile in Minnesota
Median Home Value
#441 of 774
43rd percentile in Minnesota
Poverty Rate
#212 of 785
73rd percentile in Minnesota
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#326 of 784
58th 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
45th percentile nationally for median household income · 37th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Austin's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Austin's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Austin's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$155,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Austin's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,136 of 15,516
More affordable than 80% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#231 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.3×, Austin sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,136 of 15,516 and #231 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$66,488Austin, MN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Austin, 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 Austin, MN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
26,167
Median Income
$66,488
Median Home Value
$155,100
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
9.7%
Labor force participation
61.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1792.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
191.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1601.7
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
15
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Austin's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
26,214 residents
2021
26,301 residents
2022
26,179 residents
2023
26,272 residents
2024
26,550 residents
2025
26,689 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
17
housing units authorized
Single-Family
17
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
96
14
82
$18.9M
2020
7
7
0
$3.7M
2021
14
14
0
$3.0M
2022
100
8
92
$14.3M
2023
10
10
0
$2.5M
2024
17
17
0
$4.6M
Permit volume decreased 82% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.0 minutes
Drive Alone
77.8%
Carpool
13.0%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
4.3%
Other
1.3%
Based on 12,156 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 Austin. 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 Austin 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 Austin sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Austin 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, FBI UCR, 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.