A typical Ruma home is worth roughly $126,000
Home prices around Ruma have risen about 45% over the past 5 years. No new homes were permitted in 2025.
What kind of housing town is Ruma?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
What it takes to buy in Ruma
Try your own numbers below.
That covers a typical Ruma home, with $154K to spare.
A two-bedroom rents for about $1,000 a month here, $130 more than owning.
An estimate, not a loan offer: payments of up to 28% of income, a 30-year fixed loan, the Illinois typical property tax (2.01% of value a year, from the Census) and insurance of about 0.35%. Mortgage insurance, HOA fees and other debts aren’t included.
Home prices up 45% in 5 years
The federal house price index for the ZIP code around Ruma rose 45% over the past 5 years, about the same as across Illinois. Last year prices rose 12%.
Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (annual) for the ZIP codes around Ruma, weighted by land area. It tracks repeat sales of the same homes, so it shows how prices changed, not what homes cost.
A two-bedroom rents for about $1,000
Renters already here pay a median of $975.
Fair Market Rent a month, utilities included
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents by ZIP code (St. Louis, MO-IL HUD Metro FMR Area): the 40th-percentile rent plus utilities for a standard unit. Median rent and renters: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
No new homes permitted in 2025
No permits for new homes were issued in Ruma in 2025. The last year with any was 2013 (1 new home).
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, Ruma's population fell by 4 even though 5 new homes were permitted. Homes are holding fewer people: households are getting smaller, or more homes are used part of the year.
Every year as a table
| Year | New homes | Single-family | 2+ per building | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Jan–Aug) | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2013 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $300,000 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2011 | 3 | 3 | 0 | $550,000 |
| 2010 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $188,000 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2008 | 8 | 2 | 6 | $600,000 |
| 2007 | 4 | 4 | 0 | $491,000 |
| 2006 | 6 | 6 | 0 | $736,000 |
| 2005 | 2 | 2 | 0 | $276,000 |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2001 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $108,000 |
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $108,000 |
Homes authorized by building permits, counted in the year the permit was issued. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
80% of Ruma households own their home
Half of Ruma’s homes were built before 1978.
Illinois: 67% own.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 · figures for a place this size carry wide margins of error.
Neighbors talk housing
What Ruma buyers, sellers and renters are saying.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), Zillow Research. Sales, days on market and supply: Redfin Data Center. Income, ownership, taxes and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. New homes: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey. Price trend: Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index. Fair Market Rents: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Listings link to their publishers. The calculator is an estimate, not a loan offer.