Rockford, IL
Rockford, IL Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Rockford, IL Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Rockford ranks 192nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 199th for income. A household earns $70,111 a year while median rent runs $1,014/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is home prices (22nd of 300), while job market is the soft spot (258th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 49th and home prices 22nd among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Rockford, your take-home is worth about $62,505 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 199th of 300↑14.8%$70,111
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 92nd of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $76,080
- Per-capita income
- $36,541
- Full-time pay
- $41,836
Housing
- Median rent
- 49th of 300↑21.3%$1,014/mo
- Home value
- 22nd of 300↑41.8%$188,400
- Property tax
- $4,068/yr · 2.2%
- Sales tax
- 8.89%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 258th of 3006%
- Bachelor's+
- 234th of 30026.7%
- Avg commute
- 155th of 30024.2 min
People
- Population
- 337,103
- Population change
- +0.3%
- Median age
- 39.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 9.8%
- Broadband
- 92.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 106th of 30043
- Natural-hazard loss
- 145th of 300$12/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 225th of 30021%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
Watch-outs
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — rockford gtr rockford ap.
What jobs pay in Rockford
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $168,210
- IT managers
- $146,600
- Financial managers
- $135,650
- Pharmacists
- $134,190
- Software developers
- $107,640
- Lawyers
- $103,190
- General & operations managers
- $98,390
- Civil engineers
- $94,850
- Plumbers
- $94,230
- Electricians
- $93,280
- Registered nurses
- $80,930
- Police officers
- $78,510
- Secondary school teachers
- $78,500
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,260
- Carpenters
- $72,770
- Elementary school teachers
- $64,200
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,900
- Construction laborers
- $58,390
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,610
- Customer service reps
- $43,260
- Janitors
- $35,970
- Retail salespersons
- $33,540
- Cashiers
- $31,680
- Waiters & waitresses
- $31,200
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Rockford metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Illinois are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Wisconsin1,299
- Texas533
- California355
- Colorado294
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Rockford
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Rockford metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Rockford metro?
- Median gross rent across the Rockford, IL Metro Area is $1,014 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Rockford.
- What is the median household income in the Rockford metro?
- A typical household in the Rockford, IL Metro Area earns $70,111 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Rockford expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Rockford, IL Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Rockford metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $76,080 (versus its face value of $70,111). CityLedger rates the Rockford, IL Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Rockford metro?
- The median home value across the Rockford, IL Metro Area is $188,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Rockford metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Rockford, IL Metro Area is 6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).