Rockford is a relatively large city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 146,120 people and 57 associated neighborhoods, Rockford is the fifth largest community in Illinois.Unlike some cities, Rockford isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Rockford are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Rockford is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Rockford who work in office and administrative support (10.89%), sales jobs (9.52%), and management occupations (6.57%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.91% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. The citizens of Rockford are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 23.24% of adults in Rockford having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Rockford in 2022 was $30,409, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $121,636 for a family of four. However, Rockford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Rockford is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Rockford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Rockford residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Rockford also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 20.58% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Rockford include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Swedish. The most common language spoken in Rockford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
