Rock Falls, Illinois.
Typical home $122,244 (-0.2% in a year), asking rent $825 . Sterling, IL metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$337 (+110%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $303 -0%
- $122,547$122,244 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $31,476 +35%
- $90,768$122,244 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Rock Falls$642
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Rock Falls, IL fell 0.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Rock Falls, Whiteside County, Illinois
Rock Falls is a city of 8,789 people in Whiteside County. Half its households earn more than $49,600 a year and half less, against $67,500 across Whiteside County; 26% of its people live below the poverty line. 67% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 33% are rented. Unemployment in Whiteside County was 3.8% in August 2026, and the county had 4.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Rock Falls is a small city in Whiteside County, Illinois, with a median age somewhat younger than many towns its size. Incomes here run well below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than you might expect, while most homes are lived in by their owners. Typical home values and rents are modest, and winters are cold and snowy, with warm summers and a fair amount of rain through the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in transport, warehouses and utilities. The largest workplaces in town include Rock Falls ESD 13 Schools, Rock Falls Twp HSD Schools and Walmart. Few adults hold a four-year degree, most people have a short trip to work, and across Whiteside County there were fewer jobs last year than the year before.
Things to do. Sinnissippi Mounds, an archaeological site, lies in or beside town. A longer drive away are White Pines Forest State Park, a protected area, and the John Deere House and Shop, a museum. The Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home, also a longer drive away, is another protected place to visit.
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- 3,797households
- 13%of adults have a degree
- 26%below the poverty line
- 16 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Whiteside County had 20,285 jobs in 2025, 4.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 29° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 64°. About 31 inches of snow and 41 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Dixon 1W weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rock Falls
- Rock Falls ESD 13School district148FTE
- Rock Falls Twp HSD 301School district109FTE
- WalmartDiscount department stores102
- Dohrn Transfer Company99
- First Student95
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services65
- East Coloma - Nelson CESD 20School district30FTE
- Samuel, Son & Co. USAClosures, metal, stamping27
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 436 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Rock Falls’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Whiteside County and the Sterling, IL metro.
Rock Falls home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Rock Falls$122,244
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 7 Rock Falls listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Rock Falls14.19%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Rock Falls40
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Rock Falls16
Zip codes with a Rock Falls address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Rock Falls — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.