Kell, Illinois.
Typical home $166,971 (+5.6% in a year). Centralia, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$418 (+91%) since Feb 2021.
- 1 year
- Up $8,806 +6%
- $158,165$166,971 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $23,475 +16%
- $143,496$166,971 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.
- Kell$876
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 23 years.
Typical home values in Kell, IL rose 5.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Kell, Marion County, Illinois
Kell is a village of 173 people in Marion County. 97% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 3% are rented. Unemployment in Marion County was 4.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Marion County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Kell is a small village in Marion County, Illinois, home to very few people, and the median age is somewhat older than in many places. Almost everyone who lives here owns their home, and very few residents fall below the poverty line. Homes are valued at roughly what the typical American home costs these days, and few adults hold a four-year degree.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants, hotels and entertainment also employing many. Across Marion County, North American Lighting, SSM Health ST. Marys Hospital and Walmart are among the largest workplaces. Unemployment in the county has eased over the past year, though the county has fewer jobs than it had the year before, and few people work from home.
Things to do. The Big Muddy River is a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Carlyle Lake and Rend Lake, both large reservoirs. Winters are cold, with some snow, and summers are warm, with a fair amount of rain across the year.
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- 5%of adults have a degree
- 3%below the poverty line
- 5%work from home
What people in Marion County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Marion County had 12,335 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 39° and lows near 21°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 66°. About 12 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Iuka Southwest weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Marion County
- North American LightingMotor vehicle electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing1,078
- SSM Health St. Marys HospitalGeneral hospital385FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters280
- Centralia HSD 200School district261FTE
- American Bath GroupPlumbing fixtures, plastics or fiberglass, manufacturing243
- Radiac AbrasivesAbrasive products manufacturing220
- Salem Township HospitalCritical access hospital184FTE
- Conagra BrandsCommercial bakeries181
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 42 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,146 people in all across the county; Kell has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts 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
- Strong windVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Kell’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. 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 Marion County and the Centralia, IL metro.
Kell home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Kell$166,971
- 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.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Kell address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Kell — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.