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Place dossier plate
SheetIL-ROCHELLE-IL · Rochelle, IL 9,477 pop · income 40th pct · 13 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Rochelle
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Rochelle on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sabana Grande… · lowest
21,746
Sabana Grande… · lowest
21,746 median HH income
13.7% of the leader · rank #1
Benton · near
63,368
Benton · near
63,368 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #2
Rochelle · this city
63,373
Rochelle · this city
63,373 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #3
Montezuma · near
63,375
Montezuma · near
63,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #4
Blanche · near
63,375
Blanche · near
63,375 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #5
Show Low · near
63,376
Show Low · near
63,376 median HH income
39.9% of the leader · rank #6
Oakwood · highest
158,968
Oakwood · highest
158,968 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Rochelle on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 9,477.
Rochelle ranks in the 40th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
40th
percentile, household income
28th
percentile, home value
18th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Rochelle, IL
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 9,477 residents in Rochelle, a small town within Illinois. Rochelle households earn a median of $63,373 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.4%. Rochelle's housing stock carries a median value of $153,000, and the median resident age is 37.1 years. Educational attainment runs 19.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 0 residential units were authorized in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 47.9°F with 36.6 inches of precipitation per year.
Illinois tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Illinois scores 100.0 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,063 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Illinois run around $240, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Rochelle workers runs 22.6 minutes, with 83.7% driving alone and 6.0% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 54.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Rochelle's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from climate and hazard context to schools and households to population change to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Rochelle, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Rochelle?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.9°F, with 36.6 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Illinois is 54.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 19.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 13 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Rochelle?
Within Illinois, the closest population matches are LaSalle (9,471 residents, $54,246 income); Steger (9,449 residents, $59,691 income); Itasca (9,525 residents, $111,898 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sabana Grande zona urbana, PR (9,476 residents); Lugoff, SC (9,475 residents); Oakwood, OH (9,480 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Rochelle growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +25 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+0.3%
2025 estimate
9,498
2020 estimate
9,473
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Rochelle?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 83.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.6 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.0%
Drive alone
83.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 5,092 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Rochelle?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$63,373
Home value
$153,000
Value / income
2.4×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 7.4% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Illinois average
D
City profile score · Rochelle, IL
41/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate C-
7.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$63,373
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Cost of living D
100.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Rochelle profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 50/100 (C-) · 7.4%
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,373
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 32/100 (F) · 19.3%
How does Rochelle compare to other US cities?
Rochelle measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value28% pricier than other cities
Median rent18% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Rochelle against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Illinois only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Illinois-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Rochelle near the bottom of Illinois's cities
Among the 1,336 Illinois cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Rochelle ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Rochelle only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#751 of 1,311
43rd percentile in Illinois
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,336
0th percentile in Illinois
Median Home Value
#486 of 1,315
63rd percentile in Illinois
Poverty Rate
#652 of 1,335
50th percentile in Illinois
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#607 of 1,336
54th percentile in Illinois
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Illinois only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
40th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Rochelle's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$153,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Rochelle's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,562 of 15,516
More affordable than 77% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,240 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Rochelle sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,562 of 15,516 and #3,240 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$63,373Rochelle, IL median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Rochelle, IL median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Rochelle, IL.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,477
Median Income
$63,373
Median Home Value
$153,000
Median Age
37.1
Poverty Rate
7.4%
Labor force participation
63.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.3%
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.9°F
Annual Precipitation
36.6"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Rochelle's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,473 residents
2021
9,418 residents
2022
9,391 residents
2023
9,366 residents
2024
9,499 residents
2025
9,498 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.2M
2020
1
1
0
$0.1M
2021
3
3
0
$0.6M
2022
2
2
0
$0.2M
2023
92
2
90
$3.1M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.6 minutes
Drive Alone
83.7%
Carpool
6.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
6.0%
Other
3.2%
Based on 5,092 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Illinois statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $240
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Illinois at $240 (electricity about $100 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Illinois statewide averages, not a meter reading for Rochelle. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Illinois's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Rochelle is $1,063/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Illinois statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 54.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Illinois statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Rochelle sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Rochelle compares to similar-size Illinois cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.