30,314 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.9% since 2020)
707 square miles of land · 43 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
16 active community water systems list Freeborn County in the area they serve, reporting 23,320 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Albert Lea groundwater · local government · MN1240001 | 18,492 served |
| Clarks Grove groundwater · local government · MN1240005 | 695 served |
| Alden groundwater · local government · MN1240004 | 661 served |
| Glenville groundwater · local government · MN1240010 | 566 served |
| Geneva groundwater · local government · MN1240009 | 538 served |
| Emmons groundwater · local government · MN1240007 | 384 served |
| Hartland groundwater · local government · MN1240011 | 321 served |
| Hollandale groundwater · local government · MN1240013 | 294 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 23 people were held in Freeborn County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 126 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 99.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
3 school districts have their office in Freeborn County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $62.4 million — $55.7 million to run schools, about $16,107 per student, plus $2.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.3 million local (mostly property tax), $44.3 million state, $7.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $39.1 million.
Spent $8 million — $6.7 million to run schools, about $15,020 per student, plus $364,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $5.1 million state, $472,000 federal. Long-term debt: $10.1 million.
Spent $4.9 million — $4.4 million to run schools, about $20,430 per student, plus $200,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.5 million local (mostly property tax), $2.8 million state, $408,000 federal. Long-term debt: $54,000.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Freeborn County about $17.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
144 bridges in Freeborn County: 70 in good condition, 70 fair, and 4 poor (2.8%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| I 90 over IM RAIL; CSAH 46 · built 1967 | 6,350 vehicles a day |
| MN 109 over I 90 · built 1970 | 3,126 vehicles a day |
| T 343 over STEWARD CREEK (CD #23) · built 1963 | 72 vehicles a day |
| CR 70 over JD #8 · built 1940 | 35 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $19.8 million of work in Freeborn County in fiscal 2025, about $640 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Minnesota are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Freeborn County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Freeborn County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Worth County, IA (21 mi) · Steele County (24 mi) · Waseca County (27 mi) · Winnebago County, IA (28 mi) · Mower County (29 mi) · Faribault County (30 mi).