Colfax, Illinois.
Typical home $177,450 (+6.6% in a year). Bloomington, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$488 (+110%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,044 +7%
- $166,406$177,450 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $49,984 +39%
- $127,466$177,450 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.
- Colfax$931
- 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 Colfax, IL rose 6.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Colfax, McLean County, Illinois
Colfax is a village of 996 people in McLean County. Half its households earn more than $70,625 a year and half less, against $79,905 across McLean County; 14% of its people live below the poverty line. 72% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 28% are rented. Unemployment in McLean County was 3.4% in August 2026, and the county had 2.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in shops, 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Colfax is a small village in McLean County, Illinois, home to fewer people than most towns on the map. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run below the county's, and a good number of residents live below the poverty line. The population is younger than in many small towns, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than you might expect.
Work. Residents find work in shops, in schools, hospitals and social care, in banks, insurance and property, and in the building trades. The commute to work is a long one, and some people work from home. Across McLean County, the largest workplaces include Illinois State University, Rivian Motorway in Normal, and McLean County USD 5, and the county has lost some jobs over the past year.
Things to do. The Grand Village of the Kickapoo, an archaeological site, is a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Lake Bloomington, a reservoir, and to Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington. Winters here are cold with a fair amount of snow, and summers are warm, with a good deal of rain and melted snow across the year.
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- 395households
- 23%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. McLean County had 87,006 jobs in 2025, 2.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 15°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 63°. About 20 inches of snow and 36 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chenoa weather station, 13 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in McLean County
- Rivian Motorway (Normal, Illinois)Assembly plants, light trucks on chassis of own manufacture5,309
- Illinois State UniversityUniversity or college3,570
- McLean County USD 5School district1,988FTE
- City of BloomingtonParks, nature1,113
- Carle Bromenn Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,030FTE
- St. Joseph Medical CenterGeneral hospital843FTE
- FerreroChocolate bars made from cocoa beans678
- Bloomington SD 87School district565FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 144 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 28,686 people in all across the county; Colfax has one of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Colfax’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 McLean County and the Bloomington, IL metro.
Colfax home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Colfax$177,450
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
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.
- Colfax5
Zip codes with a Colfax address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Colfax — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.