Rockford, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Rockford, Illinois, shaded from 680 ft on the south side to 930 ft on the east side
Elevation
930 ft 280 m860 ft 265 m830 ft 255 m770 ft 235 m710 ft 215 m680 ft 210 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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How to use this mapviews, tools and data
Elevation
Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
Satellite
A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
3D
Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
Click or tap anywhere
The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
Measure
Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Rockford sits at about 790 ft (240 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
790 ft 240 m
most residents: 730–870 ft
Lowest
680 ft 210 m
on the south side
Highest
930 ft 280 m
on the east side
Average
780 ft 240 m
all land inside city limits

Rockford spans about 250 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
790 ft240 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the east side
930 ft280 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the south side
680 ft210 m
Town center
USGS map point for Rockford
720 ft220 m
Airport (RFD)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
742 ft226 m
Average of all land780 ft240 m

Elevation profile, west to east

12 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Rockford, Illinois, shaded from 680 ft on the south side to 930 ft on the east side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
City in Winnebago and Ogle counties, Illinois, United States
Population
147,486 2024 est.
Land area
65.6 sq mi + 1.0 sq mi water
Density
2,249 per sq mi
Coordinates
42.2711° N, 89.0940° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Rock River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Chicago/Rockford International (RFD) 742 ft
ZIP codes 9
61020 61101 61102 61103 61104 61107 61108 61109 61114
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WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Winnebago880 ft
  2. Winnebago Township870 ft
  3. Loves Park820 ft
  4. Cherry Valley Township820 ft
  5. Cherry Valley790 ft
  6. Rockford790 ft
  7. Rockford Township780 ft
  8. New Milford780 ft
  9. Owen Township770 ft
  10. Harlem Township750 ft
  11. Machesney Park730 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Lookout Point830 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census city limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
  • Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (FAA airport elevation, NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
  • Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones. All public domain.