Work & commute · Rock Falls

Work & commute in Rock Falls, IL

Most working residents leave Rock Falls for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Sterling (24%), Sterling (9%) and Dixon (7%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

366 of 3,625 working residents

Typical commute

8 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

16 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,259 Rock Falls residents head out of town to work, 366 work right here, and 1,581 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Rock Falls.

3,259live here, work elsewhere

366live and work here

1,581work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Rock Falls goes to work

Sterling1.9 mi away

24%872

Rock Falls (in town)right here

10%366

Sterling2.9 mi away

9%335

Dixon12.2 mi away

7%250

Montmorency4.5 mi away

2%72

Hopkins6.2 mi away

2%70

Chicago103.6 mi away

2%69

Morrison14 mi away

2%60

Rock Island50.6 mi away

1%51

Coloma0.2 mi away

1%46

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%1,434

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Rock Falls commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

50%

15%

13%

22%

50%Under 10 mi

15%10–24 mi

13%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Rock Falls is a commuter town

0.54jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.54 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Rock Falls are

1,947 jobs are based in Rock Falls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rock Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Rock Falls

1,947 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less22%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month40%

Jobs Rock Falls residents hold

3,625 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)29%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month51%

−5%

Jobs based in Rock Falls, 2013 → 2023: 2,058 → 1,947. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.