Arcola, Illinois.
Typical home $167,946 (+9.7% in a year). Charleston-Mattoon, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$508 (+136%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,788 +10%
- $153,158$167,946 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $49,836 +42%
- $118,110$167,946 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Arcola$882
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 10 years.
Typical home values in Arcola, IL rose 9.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Arcola, Douglas County, Illinois
Arcola is a city of 2,927 people in Douglas County. Half its households earn more than $89,827 a year and half less, against $77,320 across Douglas County; 10% of its people live below the poverty line. 75% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 25% are rented. Unemployment in Douglas County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Arcola is a small city in Douglas County, Illinois, where most homes are lived in by their owners and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run higher than across the county, and residents are younger than in many small Midwestern towns. Winters are cold, with snow on the ground at times, and summers are warm, with a fair amount of rain through the year.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in transport and warehousing, and in shops. Some of the largest workplaces in Arcola are The Libman Company, which makes brooms, Herff Jones, which sews outerwear, and Arcola CUSD, the school district. Commutes are short, and unemployment in the county has eased over the past year.
Things to do. For time outdoors, Fox Ridge State Park and Walnut Point State Park are both protected areas, and each is a longer drive away. Robert Allerton Park, a botanical garden, is also a longer drive from town. Gies Memorial Stadium, a stadium, makes a day out of a longer drive as well.
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- 969households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Douglas County had 7,574 jobs in 2025, 0.9% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 34° and lows near 18°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 65°. About 17 inches of snow and 41 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Tuscola weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Arcola
- The Libman CompanyBrooms, hand and machine, manufacturing680
- Herff Jones - ArcolaPants, waterproof outerwear, cut and sewn from purchased fabric262
- Arcola CUSD 306School district142FTE
- Carriage Crossing ArcolaAssisted-living facilities with on-site nursing facilities50
- Dayton Freight LinesTransportation45
- Nordco30
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,067 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HailVery high
- Strong windVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Arcola’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Douglas County and the Charleston-Mattoon, IL metro.
Arcola home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Arcola$167,946
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Arcola5
Zip codes with a Arcola address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Arcola — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.