Best PlacesRockford, IL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Rockford metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Alexbaumgarner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Rockford ranks 296th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and state finances. It does better on big-city access, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Rockford metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Rockford
The towns and districts of the Rockford metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Loves Park, Roscoe & Poplar Grove
Crime runs lower, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Durand
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Machesney Park, Rockton & South Beloit
More residents vote.
Belvidere & Cherry Valley
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Downtown Rockford
Health care is harder to reach and fewer adults hold degrees.
Winnebago & Pecatonica
Biking is better, though health outcomes score lower.
Rockford shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Rockford's strengths and weaknesses
Rockford ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Big-city access, state infrastructure, and few empty homes are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: property taxes, state finances, and taxes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Rockford ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 74% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 73% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 66% of metro areas
Where Rockford ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- School gradeC−, better than only 14% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Rockford
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,296, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Rockford's effective rate of 2.16%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rockford
Rockford's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rockford.
Who works in Rockford, and how
Work in Rockford centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Rockford
Rockford has more parkland per resident than 89% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 83% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Rockford and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Rockford growing, and who is moving in?
Rockford has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Chicago, IL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Rockford go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Rockford, month by month
Rockford sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 24° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Rockford
The nearest airport, Chicago/Rockford International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Chicago O'Hare International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rockford
Schools across Rockford average a C−, better than 14% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Thurgood Marshall ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Mary Morgan Elem SchB+ · 51% proficient
- Pecatonica Elem SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thurgood Marshall SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Byron Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Pecatonica Comm Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Hononegah Chd High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Pecatonica High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Byron High School 9-12C+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockford measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Rockford against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Rockford suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Rockford
Is Rockford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockford ranks 296th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on big-city access, state infrastructure, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rockford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,880. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $76,296 median income, cost of living beats 57% of metro areas.
Is Rockford safe?
Rockford is safer than 32% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Rockford?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 16. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Rockford?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Loves Park, Roscoe & Poplar Grove, Durand, and Machesney Park, Rockton & South Beloit. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Rockford good for families?
Schools beat 14% of metro areas, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,098 a month.
Is Rockford good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 57% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 60% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Rockford with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockford represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Rockford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockford detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.