While Rockford, Ill., continues to be known for manufacturing, it also has community gardens, including one of top Japanese gardens in the United States, and about 20 golf courses within a 30-mile radius of the center of the city. Golf Digest named Rockford the number one golf city for public access golf in a city of its size, according to the Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce. The Quad-City region of Scott, Rock Island and Henry counties ranks 128. Rockford scores lower than the Quad-City region in eight of nine categories. In the cost of living category, the Quad-City region scores 72.81, which means it has a lower cost of living than Rockford, which scores 56.10.
Ratings depend on what the person doing the rating determines is important.
Rockford ranks particularly low in education, ranking 15.29 on a scale of 100 for the national average, compared with 78.47 for the Quad-Cities. The city is in the midst of settling a desegregation lawsuit that tends to overshadow some of the good things that are happening in the region, civic and business leaders say. But they're not getting defensive, they're getting proactive. Just last month, more than 150 representatives from the four-county Rock River Valley region huddled at the Rockford League of Women Voters' ninth annual State of the Community event to establish top goals, said Gloria Lundin, the president of the Rockford Community Foundation. Christopher Gates of the Denver-based National Civic League also helped participants explore ways to build cooperative communities and to groom leaders in the 21st century.