Lena, Illinois.
Typical home $209,395 (+9.1% in a year). Freeport, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$670 (+156%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $17,510 +9%
- $191,885$209,395 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $70,357 +51%
- $139,038$209,395 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.
- Lena$1,099
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 8 years.
Typical home values in Lena, IL rose 9.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Lena, Stephenson County, Illinois
Lena is a village of 2,772 people in Stephenson County. Half its households earn more than $72,663 a year and half less, against $64,043 across Stephenson County; 3% of its people live below the poverty line. 76% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 24% are rented. Unemployment in Stephenson County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Lena is a village in Stephenson County, a small place where most homes are lived in by their owners, and more so than is typical across the country. Household incomes run higher than across the county, and relatively few residents live below the poverty line. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm summer days and the year is fairly wet overall.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, manufacturing, and banks, insurance and property. Unemployment across Stephenson County is lower than it was a year ago, and the number of jobs there has barely changed. Among the biggest workplaces across the county are FHN Memorial Hospital, Freeport Schools and Berner Foods - Dakota, a processed cheese maker.
Things to do. Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area is a protected area a short drive away, and Kellogg's Grove, an archaeological site, is also a short drive from town. A longer drive brings you to Apple River Canyon State Park, a protected area built around the Apple River. Between them, these places suit anyone who likes time outdoors, on the water or among old landmarks.
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- 1,197households
- 25%of adults have a degree
- 3%below the poverty line
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Stephenson County had 17,408 jobs in 2025, 0.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 28° and lows near 12°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 61°. About 36 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Stockton Nne weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Stephenson County
- Helm MechanicalPlumbing and heating contractors1,273
- Freeport SD 145School district839FTE
- Berner Foods - DakotaProcessed cheeses manufacturing644
- FHN Memorial HospitalGeneral hospital557FTE
- HoneywellRheostats, current carrying wiring device, manufacturing500
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters364
- Snak-KingPotato chips manufacturing312
- Titan Tire Corporation of FreeportTires manufacturing310
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 45 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 7,283 people in all across the county; Lena has two of its own. School districts come 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
- TornadoesVery high
- HailRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lena’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 Stephenson County and the Freeport, IL metro.
Lena home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lena$209,395
- 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.
- Lena9
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Lena address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lena — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.