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 rate of college-level education in Perry is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 12.19% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an 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.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Perry's cultural character, accounting for 18.84% of the city’s population.

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