The “Screw Capital of the World” Boasts a Red-Hot Market Rife with Opportunity
by Carole VanSickle Ellis
In 2013, Rockford, Illinois, also known as “The Screw Capital of the World,” placed third on the Forbes list of “America’s Most Miserable Cities.” At that time, the publication blamed “a three-decade decline in the manufacturing base” in Rockford for keeping economic growth low and unemployment high (11.2%) along with some of the highest property taxes in the country. Just 12 years later, however, Rockford seems to have managed a massive swing in a more positive direction. In August 2025, Rockford ranked 9th in the country on the “Summer 2025 Housing Market Ranking” list created by the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com. The preceding spring, the city climbed all the way to third place.
“Rockford and other midwestern cities have buyer appeal due to their relative affordability, low cost of living, and resiliency to recent weather events, such as wildfires in California and hurricanes in Florida,” data analysts who worked on the list wrote. They also noted Rockford was one of only 11 markets in the 200 metro areas included in the study that boasted median home prices “low enough to be afforded by a median-earning household if they wanted to keep housing costs below 30% of their income with a 20% down payment.”
However, critics of the rankings complained the list and others like it failed to factor in the scarcity of housing in the Rockford market. At the end of July 2025, the Northwest Illinois Alliance of Realtors reported “at least 12 houses [were] being sold every single day in the Rockford area,” but warned “affordability is starting to outpace what we are used to.”
Dave Larson, a local broker, warned that August 2025 buyers faced an inventory shortage so severe that the market only had about 2½ weeks’ worth of inventory, crediting that shortage for the strong seller’s market. Earlier in the year, Lylena Estabine, a policy researcher for the Illinois Policy Institute, noted that Rockford’s population had not increased significantly since 2020, and added, “If current trends continue, Rockford might not remain a refuge of affordability for much longer.”
Opportunity in the Multifamily Sector
As is often the case in markets with a highly competitive single-family sector, Rockford’s multifamily sector is heating up, also. Although the market is “overwhelmingly dominated by single-family residences (SFRs) and a highly fragmented ownership base of small, mom-and-pop landlords,” the local multifamily market has exploded over the past two years, observed Ivo Draginov, president and co-founder of BatchData, an API-enabled, real-time real estate data platform.
“The 57% average price increase in multifamily properties between 2023 and [today] is unsustainable, but signals intense demand for rental units and yield,” he continued, noting Rockford’s SFR sector has also posted “strong and steady appreciation” with 18% year-over-year growth between 2023 and 2024 and 10% between 2024 and 2025. “This reflects a maturing and robust market rather than a speculative bubble,” Draginov concluded.
Interestingly, according to BatchData, Rockford lacks a large, institutional investor presence. In fact, the largest institutional landlord in the area owns only 85 properties. This represents opportunity for individual investors seeking to enter the market.
The city, itself, currently participates in SFR renovation projects as well through its Vacant/Foreclosing Property Ordinance, a program designed to track potential sources of blight in Rockford neighborhoods. Once a property is registered with the Rockford Community and Economic Development department, the city will monitor the status of the property, conduct inspections if necessary, and establish a line of communication between the property owner and the department. If a property appears to be veering toward blight, the city works to find a buyer who will fix it up.
Local investors like Brett Marinelli, who recently purchased a century-old property that has been empty for 19 years through the program, told local news station Fox 39 he plans to remodel the property and rent it out.
“It is going to be a two-family property, so there will be tenants living on the first floor and the second floor,” he said. “They are going to be very proud of the property.”
The city’s residential property inspector, Brandon Kruse, said the Vacant/Foreclosing Property Ordinance program is important because it attracts additional investment to the area when homes in a neighborhood are well maintained.
“It is hard to want to invest in your property when you live next door to [a vacant or blighted house],” he said. “[Getting] these properties into someone’s hands that is going to do something with the property…makes you take pride more in your neighborhood…and do the same thing on your properties.”
Low Inventory Represents a Challenge, Chance for Growth
Perhaps the biggest hurdle for Rockford property owners and business owners currently is the low inventory available in the market. With 90% of local businesses retaining or increasing staff size and 95% reporting to the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) they plan to do the same in the coming year, the demand for housing is only going to become more intense. Angela Larson, CEO of the GRCC, reported the biggest challenge for most businesses is finding skilled workers.
While new employees coming into the area from other parts of the country are likely to find the local market still relatively affordable, rising home prices (21% in 2024) may begin to price out new residents and existing ones.
Currently, U.S. News & World Report ranks Rockford as the 18th-best place in Illinois to live largely due to housing affordability. The publication reported housing costs in Rockford are more than $200,000 less than the national average. However, the analysts warned at the time, “the affordability of housing in the Rockford region is offset somewhat by high property taxes.”
High property taxes are a longstanding issue for Illinois property owners; the state tends to post property tax rates more than double the national average.
However, Rockford mayor Tom McNamara does appear to be cognizant of the problem, and he has taken actions to reduce rates from 3.31% in 2017 to 1.93% in 2025. “More cities in Illinois should seek to be like Rockford,” wrote Estabine in May of this year. “Rockford is proof for other cities that small, permanent savings and creative innovations…can compound over time.”
SIDEBAR 1
By the Numbers
60 // Distance (in miles) between Rockford, Illinois, and Chicago, Illinois
70 // Travel time (in minutes) from Rockford to Milwaukee
80% // Rockport’s transportation infrastructure can reach 80% of the U.S. within a single day
2 // The Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) is the second-largest UPS hub in North America
6 // Number of colleges and universities in Rockford
55% // Percentage of the Rockford workforce that holds a bachelor’s degree or higher
20% // Rockford’s cost of living
SIDEBAR 2
Why Rockford is “The Screw Capital of the World”
Although the nickname is certainly not one that would make every resident proud, Rockford, Illinois, is known as “The Screw Capital of the World” or “Screw City” for reasons that are probably different than what most would assume at first glance. Just for starters, the nickname is entirely “PG.”
Rockford’s location between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River made it an ideal location for industrial development, and the city quickly gained a reputation for producing heavy machinery, hardware, and tools in the mid- and late-1800s. By the 1960s, Rockford was the fifth-largest producer of fasteners in the nation and supplied precision-made screws and other machine parts that were essential to fulfilling wartime contracts during both World Wars and the subsequent Cold War.
Today, Rockford remains a manufacturing community, but it has diversified into aerospace supply, healthcare, automotive manufacturing, and logistics and distribution. According to the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, nearly one in every five employees in Rockford is employed in advanced manufacturing, and “Rockford’s aerospace industry supports every stage of the supply chain, with products and services for Boeing, Airbus, Blue Origin, and the U.S. Department of Defense.”
