† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles; 2004 predates the ACS and is extrapolated. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003.
——
D+60R+60
5 counties by 2024 margin · County returns · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupRockfordIllinoisUnited States
German25.1%16.1%12.5%
Irish12.5%10.6%9.4%
English9.4%6.9%9.5%
Italian6.0%5.4%4.8%
Swedish5.5%1.5%—
Polish4.0%6.0%2.2%
American3.1%3.3%5.3%
Norwegian2.3%——
Mexican12.0%14.4%11.3%
Puerto Rican1.0%1.7%1.8%
Cuban0.2%0.2%0.7%
Spaniard0.2%——
Salvadoran0.2%—0.7%
African American†8.1%12.1%9.9%
African0.2%0.5%0.5%
Asian Indian0.3%2.1%1.4%
Laotian0.3%——
Filipino0.3%1.0%0.9%
Chinese0.2%1.0%1.3%
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
Rockford
Illinois
United States
Median age
40.7
39.1
39.1
Age 18–24
8.2%
9.1%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
19.1%
16.9%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
Rockford
Illinois
United States
Median household income
$69,936
$83,390
$84,427
Poverty rate
13.7%
11.8%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
24.1%
37.9%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
Rockford
Illinois
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
13.2%
24.1%
22.3%
Spanish
9.5%
14.0%
13.6%
Religious landscape
Measure
Rockford
Illinois
United States
Catholic
24.2%
24.2%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
17.0%
11.7%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
45.7%
49.2%
51.5%
Mainline Protestant
8.4%
5.3%
5.2%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
Rockford, Illinois
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
−21.5%
1896
−37.9%
1900
−36.0%
1904
−49.9%
1908
−37.8%
1912
+4.2%
1916
−36.4%
1920
−64.4%
1924
−56.0%
1928
−52.3%
1932
−13.1%
1936
−5.2%
1940
−19.3%
1944
−19.8%
1948
−17.3%
1952
−29.6%
1956
−34.8%
1960
−20.9%
1964
+3.0%
1968
−20.6%
1972
−30.0%
1976
−15.0%
1980
−24.0%
1984
−26.7%
1988
−16.8%
1992
+0.5%
1996
−2.7%
2000
−7.4%
2004
−7.9%
2008
+7.6%
2012
+0.0%
2016
−7.8%
2020
−6.2%
2024
−8.7%
DemocraticRepublican
34 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
R
44.8%Harris93,367
53.4%Trump111,407
1.8%
R+8.7
R+2.4
R+7.2
208,510
R
45.4%Biden99,488
51.6%Trump113,143
3.0%
R+6.2
D+1.6
R+10.7
219,209
R
42.4%Clinton86,045
50.2%Trump101,953
7.4%
R+7.8
R+7.8
R+9.9
203,081
D
48.9%Obama98,231
48.9%Romney98,227
2.1%
D+0.01
R+7.6
R+3.9
200,681
D
53.0%Obama111,734
45.3%McCain95,600
1.7%
D+7.6
D+15.5
D+0.4
210,961
R
45.7%Kerry92,373
53.6%Bush108,351
0.8%
R+7.9
R+0.5
R+5.4
202,253
R
44.8%Gore80,308
52.1%Bush93,542
3.1%
R+7.4
R+4.7
R+7.9
179,419
R
43.7%Clinton71,414
46.3%Dole75,766
10.0%
R+2.7
R+3.1
R+11.2
163,561
D
40.1%Clinton73,353
39.6%Bush72,475
20.3%
D+0.5
D+17.3
R+5.1
183,024
R
41.3%Dukakis67,223
58.1%Bush94,511
0.6%
R+16.8
D+9.9
R+9.0
162,707
R
36.4%Mondale63,791
63.1%Reagan110,657
0.6%
R+26.7
R+2.7
R+8.5
175,439
R
28.6%Carter48,991
52.6%Reagan90,207
18.8%
R+24.0
R+9.1
R+14.3
171,400
R
41.5%Carter66,588
56.5%Ford90,631
2.0%
R+15.0
D+15.1
R+17.0
160,479
R
34.9%McGovern55,003
64.9%Nixon102,417
0.2%
R+30.0
R+9.5
R+6.9
157,813
R
36.4%Humphrey55,669
56.9%Nixon87,169
6.7%
R+20.6
R+23.6
R+19.9
153,096
D
51.5%Johnson77,614
48.5%Goldwater73,100
0.0%
D+3.0
D+23.9
R+19.6
150,714
R
39.5%Kennedy61,438
60.4%Nixon94,026
0.1%
R+20.9
D+13.9
R+21.1
155,662
R
32.6%Stevenson45,493
67.4%Eisenhower94,130
0.1%
R+34.8
R+5.2
R+19.4
139,759
R
35.1%Stevenson48,797
64.7%Eisenhower89,834
0.1%
R+29.6
R+12.3
R+18.8
138,836
R
40.9%Truman44,659
58.2%Dewey63,537
0.9%
R+17.3
D+2.5
R+21.8
109,136
R
39.9%Roosevelt46,510
59.7%Dewey69,570
0.4%
R+19.8
R+0.5
R+27.3
116,595
R
40.1%Roosevelt50,087
59.4%Willkie74,119
0.5%
R+19.3
R+14.0
R+29.2
124,831
R
45.8%Roosevelt52,771
51.1%Landon58,805
3.1%
R+5.2
D+7.9
R+29.5
115,131
R
41.8%Roosevelt43,272
55.0%Hoover56,865
3.2%
R+13.1
D+39.1
R+30.9
103,471
R
23.5%Smith21,801
75.8%Hoover70,261
0.7%
R+52.3
D+3.7
R+34.8
92,690
R
11.6%Davis8,986
67.6%Coolidge52,300
20.8%
R+56.0
D+8.4
R+30.8
77,350
R
15.5%Cox10,058
79.9%Harding51,806
4.6%
R+64.4
R+27.9
R+38.2
64,859
R
29.2%Wilson20,166
65.6%Hughes45,318
5.2%
R+36.4
R+40.6
R+39.6
69,061
O
26.7%Wilson10,411
22.4%Taft8,761
50.9%
Roosevelt +24.2
D+42.0
R+15.3
39,028
R
27.6%Bryan10,731
65.4%Taft25,432
7.0%
R+37.8
D+12.1
R+28.2
38,899
R
20.7%Parker7,567
70.6%Roosevelt25,798
8.6%
R+49.9
R+13.9
R+30.2
36,524
R
30.3%Bryan11,884
66.3%McKinley26,014
3.4%
R+36.0
D+1.9
R+28.5
39,232
R
29.9%Bryan11,491
67.8%McKinley26,088
2.4%
R+37.9
R+16.4
R+31.9
38,484
R
36.3%Cleveland11,853
57.7%Harrison18,874
6.0%
R+21.5
—
R+23.1
32,686
voter registration
Registered voters
Total registered voters, over time
Registered voters
Voter registration in Rockford
Year
Total registered
2016
219,102
2018
223,670
2020
217,079
2022
230,666
2024
240,008
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+509 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −39,169 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Rockford in Rockford: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
−4,046
2012
−4,767
2013
−3,258
2014
−4,586
2015
−4,316
2016
−3,107
2017
−3,404
2018
−2,542
2019
−2,584
2021
−2,079
2022
−2,966
2023
−1,789
2024
−234
2025
+509
The Rockford DMA anchors Illinois's northwest corner, blending deindustrialized Winnebago County precincts with rural collar communities that have shifted markedly toward Republican margins over the past decade.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 7.6 points in 2008 and a Republican high of 64.4 points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the market moved 2.4 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 8.7 points.
A population of 465,654, a 69% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $69,936 describe the market. The market's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Green Bay-Appleton and Wausau-Rhinelander.
Akashic
Political twins — media markets
The media markets whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Rockford, Illinois. Akashic. https://akashic.app/dma/610/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, Rockford, Illinois voted Republican by 8.7 points (R+8.7), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 208,510 votes cast, 93,367 went Democratic and 111,407 went Republican.
When did Rockford, Illinois last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Rockford, Illinois voted Democratic was 2012.
How many people live in Rockford, Illinois?
Rockford, Illinois has a population of 465,654 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Rockford, Illinois?
Median household income in Rockford, Illinois is $69,936 — below the national median of $80,734. The Illinois state median is $83,390.
What is the political history of Rockford, Illinois?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Rockford, Illinois from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 4 went Democratic and 29 went Republican.
