Serena, Illinois.
Typical home $332,871 (+6.0% in a year). Ottawa, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$925 (+113%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $18,730 +6%
- $314,141$332,871 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $82,150 +33%
- $250,721$332,871 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.
- Serena$1,747
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Serena, IL rose 6.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Serena, LaSalle County, Illinois
Serena, in LaSalle County, had 129 people in the 2020 census. 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 people in LaSalle 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Serena is a very small rural community in LaSalle County, with far fewer residents than most towns people think of when they picture Illinois. Homes here are valued well above what households in the county typically earn in a year, which is worth knowing for anyone weighing a purchase. Winters are cold and snowy, summers turn warm, and precipitation falls steadily through the year.
Work. People who live in Serena work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in manufacturing, shops, and transport, warehouses and utilities. Across LaSalle County, some of the largest workplaces are Constellation, which generates nuclear power, along with OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center and Ottawa Regional Hospital & Healthcare. Unemployment across the county is lower than it was a year earlier, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before.
Things to do. Indian Creek and Somonauk Creek are both streams a short drive away, good for a quiet walk along the water. A longer drive brings you to Starved Rock State Park, one of the best known protected areas in the state, and to the Fox River, a larger river for time outdoors. Shabbona Lake State Park is another protected area a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
What people in LaSalle County 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 31° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 62°. About 25 inches of snow and 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Marseilles Lock weather station, 11 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in LaSalle County
- ConstellationElectric power generation, nuclear684
- OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center SEMC614
- Ottawa Regional Hospital & HealthcarGeneral hospital561FTE
- James Hardie Building Products, PeruConcrete products, precast, manufacturing450
- PetSmart, Inc. 0036General warehousing and storage426
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters390
- Illinois Valley Community CollegeTwo-year college351
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters326
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 117 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 13,309 people in all across the county; Serena has one of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (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
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Serena’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 LaSalle County and the Ottawa, IL metro.
Serena home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Serena$332,871
- 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.
Zip codes with a Serena address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Serena — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.