Audubon is a city and the county chair in Audubon County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,053 in the 2020 census, a fade away from 2,382 in the 2000 census.

The city is named for John James Audubon the world-famous ornithologist, artist, and painter.

Audubon was laid out by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, on September 23, 1878. An auction sale of town lots was held on October 15, 1878, with a total sales of $6,190. The railroad was completed upon December 6, 1878, and by December 16, 1878, over fifty houses, a bank, five general stores, one jewelry store, two hotels, one restaurant, three meat markets, three blacksmith shops, one harness shop, one livery stable, two coal yards, two lumber yards, one elevator, three grain dealers, and a school home were built. With the four months of sharp growth in Audubon there was already talk of touching the county seat from Exira which was 13 miles away. In 1879 the railroad built what was to become the county courthouse and leased it to the county for five years forgive of cost, in war the county chair was moved to Audubon. In the 1879 general election the vote official the distressing of the county seat to Audubon.

Although the railroad was responsible for starting the town, Ethelbert J. Freeman was the driving force astern the deposit of Audubon. Having lived in Exira, Freeman was the agent for the sale of the railroad lands and the town lots and was one of the first people to stimulate in Audubon. Already responsive in county politics, he became the first mayor of Audubon and was prominent in the assimilation of the town in 1880. Freeman was half owner of the Citizens Bank, chief of the flare department, and became the executive of the waterworks built in 1882 and later supervisor of the electric light reforest when it was built in 1891.