Putnam, Illinois.
Typical home $229,126 (+1.5% in a year). Ottawa, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$712 (+145%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $3,483 +2%
- $225,643$229,126 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $54,796 +31%
- $174,330$229,126 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.
- Putnam$1,203
- 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 Putnam, IL rose 1.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Putnam, Putnam County, Illinois
The Census does not count Putnam on its own, so the figures here are Putnam County's. Half the county's households earn more than $75,590 a year and half less; 8% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 82% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 18% are rented. Unemployment in Putnam County was 3.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.5% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Putnam County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Putnam is a small town in Putnam County, Illinois, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Across the county, residents are older on average than people in the country as a whole. Winters are cold, summers are warm, and rain and melted snow fall heavily over the course of a year.
Work. Across Putnam County, many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, in shops, or in transport, warehousing and utilities. Unemployment is lower than it was a year earlier, though the number of jobs dipped slightly over the last year. Few people work from home, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than in many parts of the country.
Things to do. Big Bureau Creek, a river a short drive away, is among the best known places nearby. Dixon Waterfowl Refuge, a protected area also a short drive away, is another option for time outdoors. Senachwine Lake, a lake in or beside town, is the closest of these to home.
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- 2,465households
- 47.4median age
- 23%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What people in Putnam County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Putnam County had 2,002 jobs in 2025, 0.5% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 17°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 64°. About 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Hennepin weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Putnam County
- Altman Specialty PlantsFlorist's supplies merchant wholesalers376
- Mennie MachinePrecision turned product manufacturing175
- Marquis EnergyEthanol, nonpotable, manufacturing163
- Putnam County CUSD 535School district131FTE
- MarquisTrucking, general freight, local111
- Washington Mills HennepinGrinding wheels manufacturing81
- Marquis Management ServicesCorporate offices67
- Marquis Extraction TechnologyDisinfectants, household-type and industrial, manufacturing56
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,060 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
FEMA rates every natural hazard here relatively low or very low.
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Putnam County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very 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 Putnam County and the Ottawa, IL metro.
Putnam home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Putnam$229,126
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Putnam 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.
- Putnam27.93%
- United States25.56%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Putnam20
Zip codes with a Putnam address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Putnam — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.