Ottawa vs Peru

A side-by-side comparison of Ottawa and Peru: population, income, housing, and more.

Ottawa and Peru are places in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ottawa has the higher population (18,714 vs 9,863 in Peru). Ottawa has the higher median household income ($73,011 vs $68,147 in Peru). Peru has the higher median home value ($155,600 vs $144,500 in Ottawa).

Population, income & housing

	Ottawa	Peru
Population	18,714	9,863
Median age	40.3 yrs	45.4 yrs
Median household income	$73,011	$68,147
Median home value	$144,500	$155,600
Median gross rent	$922	$879
Housing units	8,394	4,912
Homeownership rate	69.4%	74.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ottawa	Peru
Population	18,792 → 18,714 (-0.4%)	9,798 → 9,863 (+0.7%)
Median household income	$51,288 → $73,011 (+42.4%)	$51,321 → $68,147 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$128,000 → $144,500 (+12.9%)	$127,400 → $155,600 (+22.1%)
Median gross rent	$819 → $922 (+12.6%)	$744 → $879 (+18.1%)

Ottawa

Population

18,79218,714

Median household income

$51,288$73,011

Median home value

$128,000$144,500

Median gross rent

$819$922

Peru

Population

9,7989,863

Median household income

$51,321$68,147

Median home value

$127,400$155,600

Median gross rent

$744$879

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ottawa	Peru
Under 5	6.1%	5.6%
5 to 17	18.8%	15.8%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.0%
25 to 34	12.5%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.0%	10.6%
45 to 54	11.4%	12.6%
55 to 64	16.8%	13.7%
65 to 74	9.1%	12.2%
75 and over	6.8%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ottawa	Peru
White (non-Hispanic)	83.3%	84.9%
Black or African American	2.9%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.0%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	9.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ottawa	Peru
No high school diploma	8.1%	4.8%
High school graduate	34.3%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	40.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	14.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.2%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ottawa	Peru
Drove alone	84.9%	80.3%
Carpooled	9.2%	13.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.4%
Walked	0.4%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	3.7%	3.6%
Other means	1.4%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ottawa	Peru
1-unit, detached	71.8%	83.6%
1-unit, attached	8.1%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	7.6%	3.6%
20 or more units	4.2%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Ottawa	Peru
Poverty rate	14.4%	9.2%
Average household size	2.42	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1958	1957