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 where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Rockford is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce 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%). Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.91% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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 population of Rockford overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Rockford, 23.24% have at least a bachelor's 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.
