Belvidere, Illinois

Area Profile

24,752 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Belvidere, in Boone County.

51out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 19% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3805th of 3,904 published cities23
Schools2238th of 2,668 published cities25
Growth2352nd of 2,973 published cities33
Housing affordabilityTop 10% of 4,223 published cities99
Climate3709th of 4,223 published cities59
Physical resilienceTop 32% of 4,182 published cities74
Access3753rd of 4,226 published cities69
Economic stability2166th of 4,226 published cities60
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.3% and the Opportunity signal places Belvidere in the bottom 3%.

In the public schools here, 9% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.5 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 18% of median household income and the median home is 2.5 times it.

At a glance

Population
24,752
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$64,528
Bottom 46% nationally
Density
1,955/sq mi
12.7 sq mi of land
Median age
38.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Boone County
Illinois
Metro area
Rockford, IL
Nearest major airport
ORD
54 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$158,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.3% is lower than 16% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.9% over the past year, to 11,997 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$8,521$64,528Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,619$32,460Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.6%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.5 minBottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher12.8%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,997Bottom 6%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.5%Bottom 5%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.9%Bottom 20%June 2026
Labor force12,671Bottom 7%June 2026
Labor force participation67.5%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,020Bottom 18%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,120Bottom 17%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 40%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.3%Top 16%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/06114.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202465k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $64,528 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Rockford, IL
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,940$44,200
Registered Nurses4,620$80,930
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,630$31,640
Cashiers3,620$31,680
General and Operations Managers3,340$98,390
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators3,130$45,670

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

9% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 15% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
10
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
8.9%
Bottom 10% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
15.3%
Bottom 14% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Belvidere North High SchBelvidere CUSD 1001,35414.3
Belvidere High SchoolBelvidere CUSD 1001,16713.4
Belvidere Central Middle SchoolBelvidere CUSD 10091112.38%12%
Belvidere South Middle SchoolBelvidere CUSD 10075410.63%17%
Washington AcademyBelvidere CUSD 10072112.43%8%
Meehan Elementary SchoolBelvidere CUSD 10068816.08%14%
Seth Whitman Elem SchBelvidere CUSD 10062214.825%32%
Lincoln Elem SchoolBelvidere CUSD 10057314.08%11%
Perry Elem SchoolBelvidere CUSD 10028420.312%12%
Everest High SchoolBelvidere CUSD 1000

55.8% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Illinois’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $991 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.5 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
18.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$991
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$158,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.46Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate70.9%Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3539,994Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$68$991Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,360$158,900Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.4%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.1%Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
33/ 100
Ranks 2352 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 25,325 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
30
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.2
Bottom 35% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202425k25k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420251038.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−64%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 15°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 37.2 inches, including 37.1 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ROCKFORD GTR ROCKFORD AP, 11.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation37.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall37.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low15°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing52°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

74 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and hail.

HailElevated
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, drought, heat wave, earthquake, winter weather, ice storm, landslide, hurricane, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Boone County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 8.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.1 per 100,000 residents in Boone County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Boone County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Belvidere rather than Belvidere itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 54 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD54 mi11,245 ft
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN65 mi9,006 ft
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY88 mi8,859 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
51
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Other cities in Rockford, IL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
RockfordWinnebago County147,52147vs Belvidere
Loves ParkWinnebago County23,50253vs Belvidere
Machesney ParkWinnebago County22,63057vs Belvidere
RoscoeWinnebago County10,706vs Belvidere

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Belvidere

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
6100833,582$76,60453