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Peoria is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, on the Illinois River, named for the Peoria people, settled in 1691, incorporated as a town in 1835 and as a city in 1845.

Peoria had a population of 113,150 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in Illinois, with a metropolitan area of about 402,391 residents.

Peoria has about 49,037 households according to Census QuickFacts for 2020-2024, with an average of 2.20 persons per household.

Peoria was once known as the whiskey capital of the world because its distilleries thrived before Prohibition ended that industry.

Bradley University in Peoria was founded by Lydia Moss Bradley and opened on October 4, 1897 as Bradley Polytechnic Institute, becoming a four-year college in 1920 and a full university in 1946.

Lydia Moss Bradley donated 100 acres to establish Laura Bradley Park in Peoria and helped create the Peoria Pleasure Driveway and Park District, the first park district chartered in Illinois.

Caterpillar was headquartered in Peoria for over 100 years, and even after its corporate headquarters moved to the Chicago area in 2017 about 12,000 Caterpillar workers remained in the Peoria area.

Grandview Drive in Peoria and Peoria Heights is a two-and-a-half-mile scenic road and linear park along the Illinois River bluffs that President Theodore Roosevelt is said to have called the World's Most Beautiful Drive during a 1910 visit.

Grandview Drive and its adjacent parklands and historic homes were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, the first linear park to receive that honor.

Peoria's Bradley Braves men's basketball team plays in the Missouri Valley Conference at Carver Arena, and Bradley Braves baseball plays at Dozer Park.