The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Austin, MN
Austin is a city of 27,200 in Mower County, about 35 miles southwest of downtown Rochester · Updated November 2026
Is Austin, MN safe?
Yes. An overall CrimeGrade™ of A means crime in Austin is low. Most US neighborhoods have little crime too, so Austin sits near the middle: 58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. Violent crime grades A and property crime A-. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Austin run from A+ to B+, so check the map below.
A
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 872 of 1,000About as safe as the typical US neighborhoodi What this means
58% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Austin as a whole, and 42% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Austin scores 872.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Austin, MN at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Austin, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Austin
Car thefts are uncommon. Austin has car thefts at less than half the US rate: 1.2 a year per 1,000 residents, against 2.7 nationally.
Thefts from cars happen in the morning far more often than nationally. In Austin, 49% of reported thefts from cars happen in the morning (6 am to noon), against 23% nationally.
The safest and least safe parts of Austin
Every part of Austin where people live grades A or B on the national scale. Grades across Austin run from A+ to B+; 60% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
100%
A or B 100%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Within Austin, the northwest side has the least crime and the center the most.
Is crime going up in Austin?
Reported crime in Austin has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 13% and property crime down 18%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 2.2 to 1.9 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 19 to 16 (US: 18). In 2024 alone, violent crime fell 17%.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
AustinUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police department that serves Austin. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Austin
Violent, US
Property, Austin
Property, US
2016
+25%
+4%
+23%
+15%
2017
-3%
+4%
+32%
+12%
2018
+22%
+0%
+12%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
+25%
+4%
-17%
-8%
2021
+63%
+6%
+8%
-10%
2022
+18%
+5%
+7%
-6%
2023
+6%
+2%
-12%
-7%
2024
-13%
-4%
-18%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Austin
CrimeGrade™ estimates Austin has about 34 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 8% less than the US as a whole and close to Minnesota.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Theft makes up about 37% of crime reported in Austin. Assault is less common but costs more, because each one does more harm.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Austin
Austin has its own police department, and these figures come from its reports, 2022 to 2024.
In Austin, 73% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (73%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Car theft
Homes (56%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (44%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Vandalism
Homes (56%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Aggravated assault
Homes (69%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Austin compares with nearby cities
Austin has the most crime of its 2 nearest cities.
Parking lots, walkability and night lighting in Austin
One thing sets Austin apart: it has 3.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places like that tend to report more theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.3.0 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Higher than for 85% of US city residents
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 72% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.D+ (22 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 66% of US city residents
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.86% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 66% of US city residents
Show all 6
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Austin: F (0 of 100).under 1 trip an hourUS: noneLower than for 64% of US city residents
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.9.2 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 61% of US city residents
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary, vandalism and arson.6.6% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 59% of US city residents
BestNeighborhood, a sister site of CrimeGrade™, ranks the neighborhoods of Austin on shops, parks, home prices, getting around and more.
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Austin
Crime costs Austin about $788 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 35% less than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $19 million a year, or $703 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$560,000
$20
Rape
$630,000
$23
Robbery
$180,000
$6
Assault
$3.0 million
$110
Burglary
$400,000
$15
Theft
$1.7 million
$64
Vehicle theft
$490,000
$18
Arson
$82,000
$3
Vandalism
$1.3 million
$46
Total
$8.3 million
$306
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Austin means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Austin, MN average a SchoolGrade of D: 29% of students test proficient, against 39% projected for schools like them. Overall, they meet expectations. See schools in Austin on SchoolGrade
