Perry is a somewhat small city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 7,984 people and two associated neighborhoods, Perry is the 49th largest community in Iowa. Perry has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

A relatively large number of people in Perry telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 9.14% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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 adults in Perry with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 14.73% of adults in Perry have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Perry in 2022 was $29,752, which is low income relative to Iowa, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $119,008 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 29.86% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Perry include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Dutch.

In addition, Perry has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (18.10%).

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