TikToker brings transplants to Midwestern city

Mariela Munguia was idly browsing TikTok when something piqued her attention, prompting her to double back midscroll: a video about a two-bedroom house for sale in Peoria, Illinois, for less than $50,000.

“The idea of a $50,000 house was not anywhere on my radar. It was not something that I knew could even exist,” said Munguia, 30. “I showed my partner and was like, ‘Hey, would you ever consider moving somewhere else?’ ”

It was 2020, and Munguia and her partner were living in the Seattle suburb of Renton. Life felt like a slog — the rent for their 800-square-foot apartment was $2,000 a month, and the thought of ever owning a home seemed implausible. After doing more research online, Munguia applied to jobs in Peoria, and the two moved into a short-term rental there. In April 2021, they decided to make the move permanent and began to tour houses for sale. The couple bought a three-bedroom colonial for $195,000, and their monthly mortgage payments are $748, less than half of what they were paying for rent in Washington.

And although it may seem like the couple found Peoria through a moment of social media serendipity, it was no accident. The TikTok video that Munguia stumbled upon was made by Angie Ostaszewski, an unofficial Peoria ambassador, welcoming committee and city guide.

Ostaszewski, a 32-year-old energy-efficiency consultant, has accumulated a modest following of more than 36,000 TikTok followers for her posts about affordable houses and things to do in Peoria.

She first moved to Peoria from Bloomington, Illinois, about a decade ago to be with her partner. She bought her first home for $33,000 in 2017, when she was 27. “I didn’t know if I would ever achieve homeownership, let alone before I turned 30,” Ostaszewski said.

Then she started to wave other people in: her brother, her sister and an estimated 300 strangers from across the country. Her pitch is attracting people who didn’t believe they could ever own property.

“For a lot of people of color and queer people, there is this generational poverty that continues to get passed down. They don’t have family that can pass down housing or other assets,” said Ostaszewski, who is of Filipino and Polish descent. “I’m bisexual, and I’m a woman of color. I’ve been able to find a lot of community here through both of those aspects of my identity.”

Located halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, Peoria is situated along the Illinois River, giving it a picturesque backdrop. In its heyday, Peoria was the whiskey capital of the country, a title upended by Prohibition. It later became a major manufacturing hub. For nearly a century, Caterpillar Inc., a construction equipment behemoth, was based there. The announcement of its departure in 2017 was “a kick in the gut,” as the mayor at the time put it.

The loss of industry has resulted in a diminishing population. Since 1970, Peoria has lost more than 15,000 people, and in 2021, it was named one of the fastest-shrinking midsize cities. For 2021, the Census Bureau estimated the population of Peoria to be nearly 111,700. Black people represent about 27%, Asian people 6.5%, Hispanic or Latino people 7%, mixed-race people 6% and Indigenous people less than 0.5%, while white people make up the majority at 59%.

Peoria’s poverty rate, according to census data, is relatively high, about 20%, compared with nearly 12% nationwide.

For Ostaszewski, the journey was about expanding her life: She paid off her starter home and moved into a larger one. After, she persuaded her siblings to relocate to Peoria from Louisville, Kentucky, and Atlanta, allowing them all to live in the same city together as adults for the first time. “Then I was like, ‘Oh, I should get everyone here,’ ” Ostaszewski said.

In 2020, she started up her TikTok to work toward that mission. But she hasn’t stopped there. Ostaszewski throws “transplant parties” for all the new people who come to Peoria after seeing her TikTok.

Local businesses have felt the impact. “Business has just skyrocketed for me,” said Jessica Stephenson, owner of Lit. on Fire Books. Stephenson first opened the bookstore, which focuses on selling works by marginalized authors, in 2015. Now, it has become a popular spot for new Peorians to mingle and make friends.

The draw to Peoria, however, is the price. But low house prices can have a downside too.

Because Peoria’s housing stock is fairly old — nearly one-fourth of the homes were built before 1930, according to data shared by the city — many houses are in need of renovations.

Those updates don’t always increase the value of the homes as they might in other cities.