Peru, Illinois.
Typical home $182,905 (+6.4% in a year). Ottawa, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$504 (+111%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,933 +6%
- $171,972$182,905 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $41,651 +29%
- $141,254$182,905 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.
- Peru$960
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Peru, IL rose 6.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Peru, LaSalle County, Illinois
Peru is a city of 9,896 people in LaSalle County. Half its households earn more than $74,808 a year and half less, against $73,045 across LaSalle County; 9% of its people live below the poverty line. 75% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 25% are rented. Unemployment in LaSalle County was 4.4% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Peru is a small city in LaSalle County, Illinois, where most homes are lived in by their owners and the population is older than in much of the country. Household incomes are a little above the county's, and homes cost less than in many parts of the country. Winters are cold, with the lowest temperatures in January, summers turn warm in July, and a fair amount of snow falls over the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and other services close behind. Among the largest workplaces in Peru are James Hardie Building Products, which makes concrete products, Walmart, and St. Margarets Health, the local hospital. Most people have a short drive to work, fewer than hold a four-year degree than hold only a high school diploma, and unemployment across the county has eased over the past year even as the number of jobs there has slipped.
Things to do. Starved Rock State Park, a protected area, is a short drive away, as is Matthiessen State Park, another protected area with a river running through it. The Grand Village of the Illinois, an archaeological site, is also a short drive away, and Buffalo Rock State Park is a longer drive.
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- 4,480households
- 23%of adults have a degree
- 9%below the poverty line
- 19 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. LaSalle County had 38,720 jobs in 2025, 1.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 63°. About 28 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Peru weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Peru
- James Hardie Building Products, PeruConcrete products, precast, manufacturing450
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters390
- Hy-VeeSupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores322
- Allure of PeruGroup homes for the disabled with nursing care241
- St. Margarets Health - PeruGeneral hospital205FTE
- Peru ESD 124School district163FTE
- Menards"home centers"157
- American Nickeloid Company - Peru FacilityCoating metals and metal products for the trade137
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 24 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,950 people in all. 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
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of PeruRelatively moderate
- Tornadoesrelatively high in parts of PeruRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Peru’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 LaSalle County and the Ottawa, IL metro.
Peru home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Peru$182,905
- 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 Peru listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Peru20.40%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Peru32
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Peru13
Zip codes with a Peru address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Peru — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.