Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rochester Township grades B+ overall, ranked 330th of 767 in Illinois, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $115K and it is healthier than 88% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $245K, 3.2 years of the Springfield metro’s $76K median household income. 52% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Rochester Township, above both Illinois’ towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. Taft Farmstead is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Rochester Township beats most towns.
Where Rochester Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Rochester Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Its founding year, 1819, comes before those of 95% of the Illinois towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 307 in 1880, 3,863 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2014 and 3 maps from 1961 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rochester Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi LandmarkLincoln Tomb
7 mi National Historic SiteLincoln Home National Historic Site124K visitors a year7 mi National MonumentSpringfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument
7 mi MuseumOld State Capitol State Historic Site
23 mi MuseumLincoln's New Salem
3 mi Zoo & aquariumHenson Robinson ZooLincoln Tomb: David Jones, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Lincoln Home National Historic Site: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Old State Capitol State Historic Site: Shadow2700 at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Lincoln's New Salem: Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Henson Robinson Zoo: Robert Lawton, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rochester Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Rochester Township.
Rochester Township has less food insecurity than most of Illinois, has better schools than Capital Township or any other neighbor and has commutes shorter than most of Illinois.
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 7.6% of its 5,259 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Its A for health tops all 3 graded neighbors; Woodside Township (B+) comes closest.
17% of Rochester Township adults get no exercise outside work. Rochester Township beats the Illinois average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 15% of Rochester Township adults report frequent mental distress.
| Rochester Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 19% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rochester Township | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.6% | 15.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.8% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.8% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its B is the best School Grade on its borders; Capital Township (C−) is next.
Its public schools are run by Rochester CUSD 3A. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Rochester High School, with 692 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Elem EC-1 SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–1 | Grades PK–1 | 402 | – |
| Rochester High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 692 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IL on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 2,560 working residents takes 21.6 minutes, against 27.8 across Illinois. Jobs based here grew from 790 in 2013 to 1,120.
2% of residents live below the poverty line in Rochester Township. Since 2013, Rochester Township has added 330 jobs, to 1,120 in 2023. The average trip to work in Rochester Township is 22 minutes.
| Rochester Township | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $115,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 17% | 11% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rochester Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 19° and about 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1994, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Rochester Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1.1 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Rochester Community Park, at 62 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rochester Community Park | — | 62 |
| 2. Wanless Park | — | 16 |
| 3. North Park | — | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
3 within 15 miles of the center of Rochester Township
About 4 of every 100 Rochester Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
Village in Illinois, United States
Rochester is a village and suburb of Springfield in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rochester had a population of 3,863. The village was settled in 1819, and is located in Rochester Township. Rochester is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Rochester Township.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Woodside Township (B) comes closest. Woodside Township next door grades lower for schools (C− to Rochester Township’s B) and higher for cost of living (B+ to C+).
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Township | #330 | B+ | C+ | — | B | A |
| Capital Township | #580 | C | B | — | C− | B− |
| Springfield | #702 | D | B | D− | C− | C+ |
| Cotton Hill Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cooper Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Woodside Township | #372 | B | B+ | — | C− | B+ |
Rochester Township, Capital Township and Woodside Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Cotton Hill Township and Cooper Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Rochester Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Rochester Township grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #330 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A for health and B for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
