Galena, Illinois.
Typical home $304,498 (+1.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$967 (+153%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $4,633 +2%
- $299,865$304,498 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $93,946 +45%
- $210,552$304,498 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.
- Galena$1,598
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 9 years.
Typical home values in Galena, IL rose 1.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Galena, Jo Daviess County, Illinois
Galena is a city of 3,308 people in Jo Daviess County. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Jo Daviess County was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Jo Daviess County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Galena is a small city in Jo Daviess County, in the far northwest corner of Illinois. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though not by as large a share of households as in many small towns, and poverty is low. Winters are cold, with a good deal of snow, and summers are warm.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants, hotels and entertainment also employing a good number. Among the largest workplaces in Galena are Walmart, Galena USD 120 and Medical Associates Galena. Commutes are short, and a fair number of people work from home.
Things to do. In or beside town, the Chicago Athenaeum and the Old Market House are both museums. A short drive away, Lake Galena and the Galena River offer water to walk beside or look out over. Farther afield, a longer drive brings you to the Dubuque Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
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- 1,717households
- 36%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What people in Jo Daviess County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Jo Daviess County had 7,551 jobs in 2025, 0.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 27° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 62°. About 38 inches of snow and 40 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Galena weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Galena
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters235
- Galena USD 120School district145FTE
- River Trails Transit LinesBus charter services27
- Galena SquareMail and parcel delivery25
- Medical Associates GalenaPhysicians' offices21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 308 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
- Cold wavesVery high
- HailRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Galena’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 Jo Daviess County.
Galena home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Galena$304,498
- 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.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Galena listings, and the typical home goes pending in 37 days — the market is heating up.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Galena20.93%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Galena116
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Galena19
Zip codes with a Galena address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Galena — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.