Photo: SpokaneWilly · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockford has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
78 jobs are based in Rockford, and 196 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Rockford; the top destination outside it is Spokane (32%, 20 miles). At 27 minutes each way, commutes from Rockford run about the Washington average.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rockford by day and by night
On a workday 191 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 73 people come in from elsewhere.
About 510 people are in Rockford on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Rockford work
Where Rockford clocks in
32% of workers
18% of workers
5% 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.
What Rockford’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rockford, 2014 → 2024: 99 → 78. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rockford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 27 minutes from Rockford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rockford workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 215 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Short hops and long hauls from Rockford
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Rockford: questions
What is the median household income in Rockford?
$73,661 (±$11,413) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rockford?
4.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rockford?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rockford work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spokane (32%, 20 mi), Spokane Valley (18%, 15 mi), Seattle (5%, 244 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Rockford without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rockford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rockford
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.