Perry is a somewhat small city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 8,008 people and two associated neighborhoods, Perry is the 49th largest community in Iowa. Perry has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.23% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

The percentage of people in Perry with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%: just 12.19% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Perry in 2022 was $31,303, which is lower middle income relative to Iowa, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $125,212 for a family of four. However, Perry contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Perry is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Perry home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Perry residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Perry also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 31.16% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Perry include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Dutch.

Perry also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 18.84%.

The most common language spoken in Perry is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.