AC repair data for Rockford: what the federal numbers say

Name: AC repair local data for Rockford
Creator: Rock River Cooling Desk

Free local data for AC repair work in Rockford, taken from federal sources and last pulled October 30, 2026. It covers the Rockford, IL Metro Area, starting with records that bear on AC repair work directly, then the homes and the local trade.

Hot days and warm nights in Rockford

The Chicago Rockford International Airport weather station, about 5 miles from central Rockford, recorded an average of 18.8 days a year at 90°F or hotter from 2016 to 2025, compared with 14.4 a year from 1961 to 1990. The hottest year by this count was 2012, with 49 such days. Days of 95°F or more are rare here: 2.3 a year on average over the last 30 years.

The low stayed at 70°F or warmer on an average of 12.8 nights a year from 2016 to 2025, against 8.6 a year from 1961 to 1990.

The highest temperature in the station's record was 105°F, first reached on July 7, 2012.

Days reaching 90°F or hotter at the Chicago Rockford International Airport weather station

Decade	Days 90°F or hotter, per year	Nights 70°F or warmer, per year
1950s	21.6	8.8
1960s	11.6	5.0
1970s	13.4	8.9
1980s	18.3	11.5
1990s	12.3	7.5
2000s	13.1	6.6
2010s	17.8	12.0

Daily maximum and minimum temperatures from NOAA GHCN-Daily station USW00094822 (Chicago Rockford International Airport), complete years 1951 to 2025. Years with fewer than 330 valid readings are left out. Station moves and instrument changes are not adjusted for, so compare decades with some care. Decade rows need at least 8 complete years.

Heat advisories and warnings issued for Rockford

From 2005 to 2025 the National Weather Service issued 38 heat advisories and 7 excessive or extreme heat warnings for the Winnebago forecast zone, which covers Rockford. Together they were in effect on 65 days, about 3.1 a year.

The last five years (2021 to 2025) averaged 4.0 heat-alert days a year, against 1.8 in 2005 to 2009. The most was 8 days in 2011.

In 2026, up to the end of October, there were 7 heat alerts covering 10 days.

Days with a heat advisory or heat warning in effect in the Winnebago forecast zone

NWS VTEC alert records (watches, warnings, advisories) from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive, for forecast zone ILZ003 (Winnebago), the zone containing the city centre. Counts are alerts issued, not measured heat, and each forecast office sets its own heat criteria, which have changed over time. Excessive Heat Warnings were renamed Extreme Heat Warnings in 2025; both are counted as warnings. A day counts when any alert was in effect during it (times shifted 6 hours from UTC).

How homes around Rockford are cooled, and what cooling costs

Across Boone County and Winnebago County, the ResStock modelled estimate is that 77.6% of occupied homes cool with central air conditioning, 2.9% with a heat pump, 16.4% with room or window units, and 3.1% have no cooling equipment. Statewide in Illinois the central air share is 70.3%; across the US it is 53.7%.

In the model, a home with cooling equipment in these counties uses about 2,177 kWh of electricity a year to cool (compressor plus fans and pumps), against 2,632 kWh statewide and 3,652 kWh for the US. At the average residential electricity price from September 2025 to August 2026, 19.1 cents per kWh in Illinois, that comes to about $415 a year per cooled home, compared with $502 across Illinois and $659 for the US at the US average of 18.1 cents per kWh.

Average residential electricity price in Illinois, by year

Modelled measure	Metro counties	Illinois	United States
Central air conditioning	77.6%	70.3%	53.7%
Heat pump	2.9%	3.2%	16.3%
Room or window units	16.4%	21.7%	19.8%
No cooling equipment	3.1%	4.9%	10.2%
Cooling electricity per cooled home	2,177 kWh	2,632 kWh	3,652 kWh
Yearly cost to cool at recent prices	$415	$502	$659

Modelled estimate: NREL ResStock 2024 release 2 baseline, 549 simulated dwellings in these counties, weighted to occupied homes and run with 2018 actual weather. Equipment shares are calibrated to surveys, not counted. Cost = modelled cooling kWh times the EIA average residential retail price for the county's state (simple mean of the latest 12 monthly values, the most recent months preliminary).

The housing here

The year-built mix is the closest public proxy for cooling load: it says how many systems are original or long past replacement. In the Rockford, IL Metro Area, 22,848 of 145,293 homes (15.7%) were built before 1940, and 49,517 (34.1%) before 1960. Nationally the shares are 11.7% and 25.6%. The median home across the metro is worth $171,300, against $332,700 nationally. 31.9% of households rent. Heating fuel splits 82.7% gas and 12.5% electric.

Area	Homes	Median year built	Built before 1940	Built before 1960	Renters	Gas heat	Electric heat	Median value
Rockford, IL Metro Area	145,293	1973	15.7%	34.1%	31.9%	82.7%	12.5%	$171,300
Winnebago County, Illinois	125,002	1971	15.5%	35.5%	34.1%	83.5%	12.6%	$164,500
Boone County, Illinois	20,291	1986	17.4%	25.5%	18.2%	78.2%	12.2%	$216,900
Rockford (city)	67,423	1963	22.4%	46.5%	45.1%	82.4%	14.8%	$129,000
Illinois	5,457,452	1971	20.2%	37.8%	32.9%	75.3%	18.6%	$263,300
United States	143,775,355	1980	11.7%	25.6%	34.8%	46.5%	41.3%	$332,700

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024. Counties shown are the main ones in the metro (2 in all).

The local market

County Business Patterns counts 97 plumbing and HVAC contractors across the Rockford, IL Metro Area, 7.16 for every ten thousand households. That is roughly one for every 1,397 households. The Census counts locations rather than companies, so a one-truck operator and a national chain's branch each count once. That Census code covers plumbing and heating and cooling together, so it counts more establishments than the trade alone.

Home prices

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's house price index for Rockford, IL is up 7.7% over the latest year (through 2025). Over five years it is up 66.9%, and over ten it is up 98.1%. The index follows repeat sales of the same houses, so it measures how prices moved, not what any one home sells for this month.

What the trade pays

HVAC and refrigeration mechanics and installers (SOC 49-9021) in Rockford, IL earned a mean of $37.00 an hour ($76,950 a year) in May 2025, against $31.14 an hour ($64,780) nationally, about 19% above the national mean. The median is $36.09 an hour here and $29.33 nationally. BLS estimates 190 people hold that job in Rockford, IL.

These are wages paid to workers, not prices charged to customers; a customer's bill also has to cover the vehicle and the insurance.

Where these numbers come from

The American Community Survey is a sample, so every housing figure carries a margin of error, and it is widest for small areas. Where a source suppresses a cell to protect individual businesses or because the sample is too thin, we leave it blank rather than estimate it. Rock River Cooling Desk reads these files and does not edit them.