Rock Falls vs Thornton

A side-by-side comparison of Rock Falls and Thornton: population, income, housing, and more.

Rock Falls and Thornton are places in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Thornton has the higher population (534 vs 125 in Rock Falls). Thornton has the higher median household income ($66,979 vs $66,875 in Rock Falls). Rock Falls has the higher median home value ($156,300 vs $99,000 in Thornton).

Population, income & housing

	Rock Falls	Thornton
Population	125	534
Median age	39.3 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$66,875	$66,979
Median home value	$156,300	$99,000
Median gross rent	$967	$775
Housing units	66	246
Homeownership rate	78.7%	86.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.4%	19.9%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rock Falls	Thornton
Population	136 → 125 (-8.1%)	411 → 534 (+29.9%)
Median household income	$43,125 → $66,875 (+55.1%)	$48,542 → $66,979 (+38.0%)
Median home value	$137,500 → $156,300 (+13.7%)	$69,600 → $99,000 (+42.2%)
Median gross rent	$595 → $967 (+62.5%)	$541 → $775 (+43.3%)

Rock Falls

Population

136125

Median household income

$43,125$66,875

Median home value

$137,500$156,300

Median gross rent

$595$967

Thornton

Population

411534

Median household income

$48,542$66,979

Median home value

$69,600$99,000

Median gross rent

$541$775

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rock Falls	Thornton
Under 5	9.6%	8.8%
5 to 17	18.4%	13.5%
18 to 24	16.0%	10.9%
25 to 34	2.4%	18.5%
35 to 44	13.6%	10.1%
45 to 54	11.2%	7.1%
55 to 64	12.0%	11.0%
65 to 74	5.6%	5.2%
75 and over	11.2%	14.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rock Falls	Thornton
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	90.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	7.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rock Falls	Thornton
No high school diploma	0.0%	4.8%
High school graduate	32.9%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	43.4%
Bachelor's degree	21.4%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.0%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rock Falls	Thornton
Drove alone	83.1%	72.4%
Carpooled	7.7%	15.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.2%	5.6%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rock Falls	Thornton
1-unit, detached	100.0%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Rock Falls	Thornton
Poverty rate	11.2%	6.6%
Average household size	2.66	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	18	24
Median year structure built	1956	1955