Flagg Township Public Library · Photo: Andy McMurray · CC BY 2.5Rochelle has higher unemployment (8.2%) than 89% of U.S. towns
At home: 6% of workers have no commute at all (Illinois 16%). Jobs and income earn Rochelle C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in three stay in Rochelle for work; outside it, Rockford is the main destination (7%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Rochelle, in a few figures
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Rochelle
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rochelle is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #581 of 768 in Illinois. The poverty rate holds Rochelle’s grade up (7.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rochelle could be anywhere from C to B.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Illinois
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rochelle workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,487 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily commute in and out of Rochelle
On a workday 2,356 residents head out to work, 1,256 work right here, and 3,927 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Rochelle on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Rochelle’s working residents head each day
Where Rochelle clocks in
7% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Making and building: 33% of jobs based in Rochelle
5,183 jobs are based in Rochelle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rochelle, 2013 → 2023: 5,874 → 5,183. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rochelle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Rochelle commutes
About 26% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Rochelle: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rochelle is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #536 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Rochelle near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,752 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.0% of Rochelle households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rochelle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rochelle is 1,993rd among 2,831 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Winnetka IL | 12,518 | $250K | 1.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,991 | Mill Township IN | 10,416 | $56K | 15.5% | 3.1% | 16% | C+ |
| 1,992 | Oneonta AL | 7,022 | $54K | 18.2% | 1.8% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,993 | Rochelle IL | 9,498 | $66K | 7.9% | 8.2% | 35% | C+ |
| 1,994 | Baltimore Highlands MD | 8,206 | $62K | 18.3% | 6.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,995 | Arab AL | 9,061 | $64K | 13.3% | 3.2% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,831 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Rochelle, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Rochelle
The biggest share goes to Hillcrest (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rochelle workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochelle | – | C+ | B− | 22 min | $66,307 |
| Flagg Township | under 1% | B− | C+ | 22 min | $74,423 |
| Hillcrest | 1% | B | C | 21 min | $80,568 |
| Dement Township | under 1% | — | — | 31 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dement Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rochelle’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Rochelle: questions
What is the median household income in Rochelle?
$66,307 (±$4,281) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rochelle?
7.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rochelle?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rochelle work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockford (7%, 24 mi), Chicago (5%, 71 mi), DeKalb (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rochelle walkable?
Rochelle is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rochelle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rochelle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rochelle
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.