Mitchell County, Iowa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mitchell County
U.S. county
Mitchell County Courthouse in Osage
Location within the U.S. state of Iowa
Iowa's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Founded	1851
Named for	John Mitchel
Seat	Osage
Largest city	Osage
Area
• Total	470 sq mi (1,200 km2)
• Land	469 sq mi (1,210 km2)
• Water	0.4 sq mi (1 km2)  0.09%
Population  (2020)
• Total	10,565
• Density	22.48/sq mi (8.68/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	1st

Mitchell County is a place in the state of Iowa, USA. It's called a county, which is like a smaller region within a state. In 2020, about 10,565 people lived here. The main town, or county seat, where the county government is located, is Osage.

History of Mitchell County

Mitchell County was created in 1851. It's not completely clear who the county was named after. Some say it was named for John Mitchel, an early land surveyor. Others believe it was named after an Irish patriot.

The county used to have a special building called the Mitchell County Courthouse. It was finished in 1858. This building was important enough to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sadly, the original courthouse building is no longer standing.

Geography of Mitchell County

Mitchell County covers a total area of about 470 square miles. Most of this area, about 469 square miles, is land. A very small part, about 0.4 square miles, is water. This means the county is mostly land.

Main Roads in Mitchell County

These are the most important roads that go through Mitchell County:

• U.S. Highway 218
• Iowa Highway 9

Neighboring Counties

Mitchell County shares borders with these other counties:

• Mower County, Minnesota to the north
• Howard County to the east
• Floyd County to the south
• Cerro Gordo County to the southwest
• Worth County to the west

Population of Mitchell County

The number of people living in Mitchell County has changed over the years. Here's a look at the population from different U.S. Census counts:

Population of Mitchell County from US census data

2020 Census Information

In 2020, the census counted 10,565 people living in Mitchell County. This means there were about 22 people living in each square mile. Most people (97.47%) said they belonged to one race. About 93.84% were non-Hispanic White. Other groups included Black people (0.40%), Hispanic people (1.83%), Native Americans (0.11%), and Asian people (0.44%). Some people (3.35%) were of another race or more than one race.

There were 4,847 places where people could live, like houses or apartments. Out of these, 4,382 were being lived in.

This chart shows the ages of people living in Mitchell County in 2022.

2010 Census Information

The 2010 census recorded 10,776 people in the county. This was a bit more than in 2020. There were 4,850 housing units, and 4,395 of them were occupied.

Economy in Mitchell County

In January 2017, there was a plan to build a large farm for 5,000 hogs in Lincoln Township. However, the leaders of Mitchell County decided not to approve the plan.

Towns and Communities

Mitchell County has several towns and smaller communities.

Cities in Mitchell County

Census-Designated Places (CDPs)

These are areas that are like towns but are not officially organized as cities:

• Little Cedar
• Meyer
• Mona
• New Haven
• Otranto
• Toeterville

Townships in Mitchell County

A township is a small area of land, usually with a local government. Mitchell County has these townships:

Community Population Ranking (2020 Census)

This table shows how many people live in each city or community in Mitchell County, based on the 2020 census. The county seat is marked with a dagger (†).

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Mitchell (Iowa) para niños