Rockford IL good or bad

[burrrrr]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

You guys are "sheltered". Sure Rockford could be and many years ago was better. But all these posts making it sound like Flint, East St. Louis or Gary are quite frankly, ridiculous.

It's not impossible that Rockford is on it's way there if they aren't careful. Gary wasn't always like that, things can change, drastically.

[Fraksure]

We are looking to move to the area from central Az. My wife wants to move closer to her kids in the burbs of Chicago. Unfortunately our budget only allows us to move about 1.5 hrs away. We have looked and liked a few homes in Rockford online. We are retired so schools aren't an issue. Most homes we like are on the far East and north sides. There are a few homes south of 20 around Alpine that we like as well. How is the New Milford area? Also the Rockford U. area?

[LSA Longtimer]

You may find Lake Summerset of interest .. we're 90 minutes to O'hare.
www.lakesummerset.com ( my real estate website )
or
Lake Summerset | ( the associations' web page )

Don

[CtrlEsc]

Rockford was the 5th most violent city in the US with a population under 200,000 this year.
That's down from the two previous years (#3 in 2014 and #2 in 2015.)


That being said...
If you stay on the North East side, you are mostly fine. Thousands of Rockford citizens go out each morning and come back home at night. I have family and friends there. They work and go to school each day in Rockford but they stick to the NE side.


I90 makes Chicago an easy in-and-out trip.


You may want to consider rural Boone County. There are some nice homes east of Shaw Rd and north of US20. You could also try SE of Belvidere in the country.


Being able to resell your home may be difficult because the Rockford metro area is experiencing a downturn like most of the US.


New Milford is "ok". There is a lot of low income housing down that way but it's quieter than the west side of Rockford.


Stillman Valley might be an option. It's farther west (and south), but it's rural and quiet. That puts you on IL72 which is a nice leisurely drive into the 'burbs.


For access to the south burbs, you might look into Shabbona, IL on US30. I haven't been down that way in forever, but it had a nice park and camping area near it. It's rural but a short drive to DeKalb for groceries.