Canton is not a Peoria suburb, and this page won't pretend otherwise. It's the seat of Fulton County, about 32 miles and a 48-minute drive from Peoria — too far for most daily commutes. It's also the most affordable market The Ashley Home Team covers, anchored by its own hospital, college, and a real economic recovery story worth knowing before you write it off.
Canton's home values run from roughly $78,700 [1] (Zillow's index) to about $114,000 (a separate 2024 estimate) depending on methodology — either figure a fraction of Chillicothe, the next most affordable town in this series at roughly $177,500. That gap is not a data error. It reflects two genuinely different markets: one inside realistic Peoria commuting range, one that isn't.
Canton's largest employer is Graham Hospital — the biggest employer in Fulton County. Alongside it: the Illinois River Correctional Center [4], a state prison; Spoon River College; and Cook Medical [4], which opened a manufacturing plant in 2010 on the former International Harvester site.
That last fact carries real history. International Harvester [5]'s plow works anchored Canton's economy for decades — in the 1950s and '60s Canton led Illinois towns in per-capita wages, car ownership, and home ownership. The plant closed in 1983, and the housing market took a real hit that shows up in the pricing above. The 30-acre site burned in a 1997 arson fire and sat leveled for years before Cook Medical's arrival in 2010 gave it a second life. A downtown facade-improvement grant restored much of the historic town square in the years since.
Worth knowing this history if you're advising a buyer: Canton's current pricing reflects a real economic transition, not a town in ongoing decline. The anchors that exist today — healthcare, corrections, higher ed, manufacturing — are stable, not speculative.
Canton Union School District 66 ranks 493rd of 813 Illinois districts with a 2-star SchoolDigger [3] rating — below state averages overall, with relatively high chronic absenteeism cited as a contributing factor. Two schools stand out within the district: Lincoln Elementary and Ingersoll Middle School each hold 3-star ratings and outperform both the district and state averages in their strongest subjects.
Same standard as the East Peoria page: if school ranking is the deciding factor, Canton is not the strongest entry in this series. If price and a genuine small-city, non-commuter lifestyle rank higher, it's worth a serious look.
Canton sits about 32 miles from Peoria via US-24 and IL-9, roughly a 48-minute drive [6]. That rules it out as a Peoria commute town for most buyers, and this page treats that as a fact to state rather than a problem to talk around. Canton works for people whose work, family, or life is centered in Fulton County itself — not for someone hoping to work in Peoria and live somewhere quieter nearby.
| Destination | Approx. drive |
|---|---|
| Downtown Peoria | ~48 min |
| Graham Hospital (in town) | local |
| Spoon River College (in town) | local |
Estimates range from about $78,700 (Zillow) to roughly $114,000 (a 2024 estimate), depending on methodology. Either way, the most affordable market The Ashley Home Team covers by a wide margin.
No. It's about 32 miles and a 48-minute drive from Peoria — the seat of Fulton County and its own local market, not a Peoria bedroom community.
Graham Hospital (the county's largest employer), the Illinois River Correctional Center [4], Spoon River College, and Cook Medical [4], which opened in 2010 on the site of the former International Harvester plow works that closed in 1983.
Canton Union School District 66 ranks 493rd of 813 Illinois districts with a 2-star rating — below state averages. Lincoln Elementary and Ingersoll Middle School are the district's stronger schools, each 3-star rated.
That depends on your priorities, and Canton's tradeoffs are clear rather than hidden. It is the most affordable market in this series, with Zillow putting typical values near $78,700, and it is a self-contained county seat — Graham Hospital, Spoon River College and Cook Medical anchor local employment [4] — not a Peoria bedroom community. Against that: Canton Union School District 66 ranks 493rd of 813 Illinois districts at 2 stars, median household income is $53,254 versus $67,195 for the Peoria metro, and the population is down roughly 5% since the 2020 census [2]. At 32 miles and about a 48-minute drive [6], daily Peoria commuting is impractical. Good fit if price and small-city independence come first; weaker if school ranking is your opening filter.
The Ashley Home Team — Bryce Ashley, Illinois license 475.182580, at eXp Realty — serves Canton and the wider Fulton County market, and can be reached at 309-397-6982. Canton trades differently from the Peoria suburbs: it is its own county-seat market about 32 miles out [6], not a commuter town, so pricing comparables come from within Fulton County rather than from Peoria.
No active MLS listings in Canton right now. Inventory in a town this size can turn over in days, so it is worth checking the live feed — or looking just outside it.
Check the Canton feedNearby with listings today: East Peoria, Washington, Chillicothe.
Opens the searchable MLS feed on eXp Realty.