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Where am ILOCATED

Rockford, IL Metro Area

The Rockford, IL metro area is made up of 2 counties in Illinois: Winnebago and Boone. About 337,242 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 0.5% fewer than in April 2020.

Boone County, centralWinnebago County, centralRockford
2 counties in Illinois
Population, July 2025
337,242 0.5% fewer than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2, both central
Land area
794 sq mi (2,056 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
State
Illinois
Combined statistical area
Rockford-Freeport-Rochelle, IL
CBSA code
40420
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Rockford, IL metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Winnebago CountyCentral283,67484.1%
Boone CountyCentral53,56815.9%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Rockford147,521 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Rockford-Freeport-Rochelle, IL combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 2 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Rochelle, IL Micro Area51,399 people
  2. Freeport, IL Micro Area43,220 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Rochelle, IL Micro Area24 mi south
  2. Freeport, IL Micro Area29 mi west
  3. Janesville-Beloit, WI Metro Area30 mi north
  4. Whitewater-Elkhorn, WI Micro Area43 mi northeast
  5. Madison, WI Metro Area60 mi north
  6. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN Metro Area77 mi east

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗