Rockford, Illinois

Area Profile

147,521 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Rockford, in Winnebago County.

47out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 9% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3842nd of 3,904 published cities21
Schools2425th of 2,668 published cities18
Growth1932nd of 2,973 published cities42
Housing affordabilityTop 28% of 4,223 published cities92
Climate3709th of 4,223 published cities59
Physical resilienceTop 46% of 4,182 published cities62
Access3847th of 4,226 published cities65
Economic stability3614th of 4,226 published cities38
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.8% and the Opportunity signal places Rockford in the bottom 2%.

In the public schools here, 11% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.6 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.4 times that income.

At a glance

Population
147,521
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,752
Bottom 31% nationally
Density
2,259/sq mi
65.3 sq mi of land
Median age
37.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Winnebago County
Illinois
Metro area
Rockford, IL
Nearest major airport
ORD
62 mi · Chicago O'Hare Intl
Median home value
$129,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.8% is lower than 9% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.3% over the past year, to 59,742 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,248$54,752Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$951$31,263Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate21.3%Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.3 minBottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher23.5%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment59,742Top 46%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.4%Bottom 5%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.3%Bottom 15%June 2026
Labor force63,425Top 46%June 2026
Labor force participation59.3%Bottom 46%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)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.8%Top 9%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/06115.3
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.8% 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
202120222023202455k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,752 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.

11% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 14% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
45
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
11.5%
Bottom 19% in Illinois
Reading proficiency
13.8%
Bottom 12% in Illinois
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Guilford High SchoolRockford SD 2052,21619.6
Jefferson High SchoolRockford SD 2052,17319.8
Auburn High SchoolRockford SD 2051,95719.4
Rockford East High SchoolRockford SD 2051,71916.4
Rockford Envrnmntl Science AcadRockford SD 2051,10819.43%6%
Eisenhower Middle SchoolRockford SD 20596317.212%17%
Bernard W Flinn Middle SchoolRockford SD 20580716.58%12%
West Middle SchoolRockford SD 20579316.93%12%
Abraham Lincoln Middle SchoolRockford SD 20573617.58%8%
Whitehead Elem SchoolRockford SD 20567818.33%9%
Cherry Valley Elementary SchoolRockford SD 20567617.313%20%
Montessori Elementary SchoolRockford SD 20566016.914%14%

70.4% 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 $985 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.4 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$985
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$129,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.36Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate54.9%Bottom 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±79067,423Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$19$985Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,930$129,000Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.6%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate9.0%Bottom 47%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
42/ 100
Ranks 1932 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 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 fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 147,486 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

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

At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
143
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.0
Bottom 30% nationally
Year over year
+28%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024149k147k
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
20202021202220232024202513523
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+153%).

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.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

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, 4.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index59.02024 calendar year
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
Days above AQI 10032024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing52°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
59
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

62 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailElevated
TornadoModerate
Strong windModerate
Inland floodingModerate

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

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.

Winnebago County records 4.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.3 per 100,000 residents in Winnebago County.

Homicide
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.9
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 Winnebago 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 Rockford rather than Rockford 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 62 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD62 mi11,245 ft
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN62 mi9,006 ft
Quad Cities IntlMLI93 mi10,002 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
47
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Other cities in Rockford, IL

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BelvidereBoone County24,75251vs Rockford
Loves ParkWinnebago County23,50253vs Rockford
Machesney ParkWinnebago County22,63057vs Rockford
RoscoeWinnebago County10,706vs Rockford

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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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 Rockford

8 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
6110730,765$78,57452
6110830,355$64,41548
6110926,768$62,97348
6110322,869$51,16152
6110119,318$46,16342
6110417,222$33,77240
6110215,937$46,59942
6111415,325$85,56853