Homes for sale across Beardstown, Virginia, Ashland, Chandlerville, and Arenzville — a working-class Illinois River county where the JBS plant payroll, levee-district housing, and farmstead acreage define a market unlike anywhere else in our footprint.
Listings represented directly by Apex Realty. For the full Cass County MLS inventory, scroll down to the browse map.
Click any photo — opens that active Cass County listing.
Cass County is small, specific, and unlike its neighbors. Just 384 square miles and roughly 13,000 residents, it stretches along the Illinois River with Beardstown — the largest city at about 5,950 people — as its real center of gravity even though Virginia holds the county-seat title. The economy runs on the JBS USA pork-processing plant, the river itself, and the surrounding row-crop and hog farms. Lincoln tried his famous 'Almanac Trial' here in 1858, and the historic courthouse still stands in Beardstown's old square.
Apex Realty is headquartered in Jacksonville, roughly 20 minutes south of Beardstown via US-67 — Cass is, functionally, our back yard. That proximity matters here more than almost anywhere, because Beardstown's housing market is layered: the historic core, the levee district, the post-2000s neighborhoods built around the JBS workforce expansion (including a significant Latino community that rebuilt entire blocks), and then the rural Virginia/Ashland/Chandlerville pockets where prices and dynamics are completely different.
Whether you're a JBS employee buying your first Beardstown home, an Ashland family looking inside the A-C Central district, or a hunter or farmer chasing acreage near Jim Edgar Panther Creek — we work the full county.
Meet the Apex teamLive data from the RMLS Alliance MLS — every active residential listing in Cass County from every brokerage. Map and list view, filter by price, beds, or features.
Each Cass County community has its own market dynamics, school district, and neighborhood character. Click through for local listings, market notes, and area-specific guides.
Largest city. Illinois River port, JBS pork plant economy, levee district, historic Lincoln Courthouse.
View Beardstown →County seat. Historic 19th-century downtown square and modest residential streets.
View Virginia →Eastern Cass County. A-C Central school district anchor.
View Ashland →Small village. Affordable acreage and farmstead properties.
View Chandlerville →Southwest Cass County village. Quiet, affordable, established.
View Arenzville →Beardstown's housing stock is older — much of it built before 1960 — and priced accordingly, with single-family medians running roughly $75K–$100K. What keeps that floor stable is the JBS plant: about 1,900 employees punching in for shift work that doesn't pause when commodity prices wobble. The broader county median lands closer to $178K once you fold in Virginia's downtown homes, Ashland's A-C Central school catchment, and the farmstead-and-acreage tracts that dominate the rural townships. Memorial Hospital Beardstown anchors a small healthcare workforce on top of that.
It's one of the few places in our service area where a buyer with $90K can still own a real single-family home with a yard near a major employer. Older homes (pre-1940) in the levee district and around the Beardstown square turn relatively quickly when priced realistically; deferred-maintenance properties sit longer and trade to investors and JBS workforce buyers comfortable with cosmetic work.
For buyers, the call is honest condition assessment — many Beardstown homes need roofs, mechanicals, or basement work, and lender requirements (especially USDA and FHA) can stall a deal that looked clean on Zillow. For sellers, presentation matters far more than people think at this price point: photographed, decluttered Beardstown listings outperform identical untouched ones by weeks. Outside of Beardstown, Virginia, Ashland, and Chandlerville move on word-of-mouth and estate timelines as much as on the MLS.
Jim Edgar Panther Creek covers 16,000+ acres and Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge isn't far — Cass is genuine waterfowl and whitetail country. Acreage parcels with timber, food plots, or river-bottom access trade noticeably above ag-only ground, and out-of-state hunters drive a portion of that demand, especially around bow season.
If you want a real read on Cass County — Beardstown street-by-street pricing, A-C Central versus Virginia school comparisons, JEPC-adjacent acreage comps, or anything else — reach out and we'll pull the data and walk you through it without pressure.
Beardstown is the largest city (~5,950) and economic center. Virginia (~1,510) holds the county-seat title. Ashland (~1,220) anchors the eastern A-C Central catchment, with Chandlerville (~530) and Arenzville (~370) rounding out the incorporated villages. Several small unincorporated communities are scattered through the surrounding farmland.
It depends on where in the county. Beardstown single-family medians run roughly $75K–$100K, reflecting older stock and the JBS workforce price point. The broader county median is closer to $178K once acreage parcels, Virginia downtown homes, and the rural townships fold in. The MLS browse above shows live pricing for every active listing.
Three districts serve the county: Beardstown CUSD 15 (largest, with a notable bilingual-services capacity reflecting the city's demographics), A-C Central CUSD 262 covering Ashland and Chandlerville, and Virginia CUSD 64. Each has its own character — we can walk through specifics based on grade levels and what matters to your family.
Illinois effective rates apply — typically 2.0–2.3% of assessed value, varying by township and district. On an $85K Beardstown home that's roughly $1,700–$2,000 annually; on a $200K rural property closer to $4,000–$4,600. Tax-cap rules apply to most non-home-rule districts here, which limits annual levy growth. Every MLS detail page lists the actual bill.
Beardstown is a real workforce-rental market — the JBS plant produces a steady tenant pool, and sub-$100K acquisition prices can cash-flow at modest rents that local workers can actually afford. Condition due-diligence is critical (mechanicals, foundation, sewer), and successful operators here tend to hold long-term rather than chase flips. Virginia and Ashland have thinner rental demand but estate-driven acquisition opportunities.
Absolutely — and Cass is one of our strongest counties for it. The Illinois River runs through the county, Jim Edgar Panther Creek covers 16,000+ acres of public hunting ground, and Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge is just across the line. We represent farmstead, row-crop, timber, and recreational buyers and sellers throughout the county. See our Farm & Recreational page.
We're about 20 minutes south of Beardstown via US-67 and run this county constantly. Same-day showings are common for properties accepting them, and 24-hour scheduling is standard. Text the agent of your choice or use the contact form — no callback queues, no out-of-area third parties.
Whether you're three years out or three weeks from moving, an Apex agent will walk you through the Cass County market — what's available, what's coming, and what you should actually pay attention to. No pressure, no obligation, just a real conversation.
Every active home for sale inside each of Cass County’s school districts — with school-by-school context and live MLS data.
Illinois-River-town district with one of central Illinois’s strongest bilingual programs.
Explore the district →Consolidated three-village district covering Ashland, Virginia, and Chandlerville.
Explore the district →Small consolidated district covering Arenzville and Concord.
Explore the district →