Moving to Peoria: Pros, Cons & What to Know
Moving to Peoria means moving to a genuinely affordable Central Illinois city built on a real, evolving manufacturing-and-healthcare economy -- with a real, meaningfully elevated local property-tax rate and a severely elevated citywide crime rate to budget and plan around honestly.
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Learn moreA real, evolving job base beyond Caterpillar's HQ departure
Caterpillar's global headquarters left Peoria in 2017, but the company still employs roughly 12,000 people regionally -- the largest concentration of Caterpillar employees anywhere in the world. OSF HealthCare's own downtown headquarters and UnityPoint Health have made healthcare the region's largest, fastest-growing employment sector.
Genuinely affordable housing, offset by local property tax
Peoria's typical home value runs around $136,960 (Zillow) -- genuinely low relative to the national figure -- but Peoria's own median effective property tax rate (2.69%) runs meaningfully above Illinois's already-high 1.88% statewide average.
Research crime and schools at the neighborhood/school level
Peoria's citywide crime rate (55 per 1,000 residents) and its public school district's below-state-average ranking are both real and disclosed here -- but real internal variation exists (Reservoir Gifted School, Kellar Primary rank among Illinois's best), so research specific addresses and schools directly.
Key takeaways
- Caterpillar's HQ left Peoria in 2017, but ~12,000 regional jobs remain -- the largest Caterpillar employee concentration in the world.
- Peoria's housing is genuinely affordable (~$136,960 typical value), offset by a meaningfully elevated 2.69% property tax rate.
- Research crime and school-district data at the specific address/school level given real, disclosed citywide challenges and internal variation.
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