Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rockton is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A overall, 152nd among Illinois's 767 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools rank ahead of 90% of Illinois towns. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $119K. A typical home there costs about $298K, 4.4 years of the Rockford metro’s $68K median household income. 12% of the land in Rockton is conserved, above both the Illinois town median (3.6%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Rockton has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Macktown Historic District and Rockton Historic District.
Where Rockton beats most towns.
Where Rockton’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 Rockton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 949 in 1880, 7,863 in 2020. The archive holds 15 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 5 maps from 1918 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rockton, 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 Rockton.
Rockton has less no health insurance than most of Illinois, has home values climbing faster than Illinois’s and is safe by national standards but not by Illinois’s.
7.2 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. Rockton’s trail density is 1.0 miles per square mile, above both Illinois’ towns (0.3) and U.S. towns (0.4). The biggest park or preserve is Millrace Isle Forest Preserve, at 133 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Macktown County Forest Preserve | 0.7 mi | 126 |
| 2. Millrace Isle Forest Preserve | — | 133 |
| 3. Rockton Athletic Fields | — | 67 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents leave Rockton for work: only 6% work in town. 5.5% of Rockton residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Rockford (23%), Beloit (9%) and Loves Park (6%).
| Rockton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $119,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.5% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6% | 8.4% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Illinois is no health insurance: 6.2% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 9.9% statewide. Against the 5,877 U.S. towns with household incomes like Rockton’s, it is less healthy than 60%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Rockton beats the Illinois average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 19% of adults binge drink in Rockton.
| Rockton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 35% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 19% |
| What stands out | Rockton | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 15.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 12.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 54% of Illinois’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 8 reported in 2025, 1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Rockton has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 13° and about 38 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Rockton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Children under 18 are 26% of residents (22% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 19% of residents (23% statewide). 38% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 38% across Illinois.
| Rockton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 19% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 26% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 39.4 years | 40.7 years | 40.5 years |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.6 points. Across Illinois, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Rockton | IL | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.2% | 11.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.9% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9% | 13.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.4% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.7% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.5% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.9% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.9% | 7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.5% | 9.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25% | 25.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.6% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.6% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.6% | 22.6% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.7% | 15.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Home values rose 47% in five years, to about $298K, against 30% across Illinois.
Typical home values rose 8.3% in the year to September 2026. Rockton’s median rent is $914 a month.
| Rockton | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $914 a month | $1,129 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rockton. Close and well known come first.
31 mi MuseumIllinois Railway Museum
12 mi Stadium & arenaBMO Center
38 mi TheatreAlpine Valley Music Theatre
11 mi GardenAnderson Japanese Gardens
39 mi TheatreEgyptian Theatre, DeKalb
32 mi TheatreWoodstock Opera HouseIllinois Railway Museum: The original uploader was Slambo at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · BMO Center: SimLibrarian, CC0 · Alpine Valley Music Theatre: chad davis, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Anderson Japanese Gardens: M. Readey, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Egyptian Theatre, DeKalb: Andy McMurray, CC BY 2.5 · Woodstock Opera House: HrAtsuo, CC0
5 within 15 miles of the center of Rockton
About 4 of every 100 Rockton residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
3 places in Rockton on the National Register of Historic Places.
Village in Illinois, United States
Rockton is a village in Winnebago County, Illinois. It is located in the Rock River Valley and is part of the Rockford metropolitan area. The population was 7,863 at the time of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Rockton.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Roscoe (B+) comes closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockton | #152 | A | B− | B+ | A | B+ |
| Roscoe | #314 | B+ | C− | B+ | A | A− |
| South Beloit | #428 | B | B | B− | A− | B− |
| Rockton Township | #320 | B+ | B− | — | A | B+ |
| Roscoe Township | #315 | B+ | C− | — | A | B+ |
| Owen Township | #762 | D− | C | — | D | D− |
Rockton Township, Roscoe Township and Owen Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Rockton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Rockton grades A overall, better than 87% of U.S. towns and #152 of 767 in Illinois. It grades B+ for health, B+ for safety and A for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
