Rockford vs Sparta

A side-by-side comparison of Rockford and Sparta: population, income, housing, and more.

Rockford and Sparta are places in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rockford has the higher population (6,162 vs 4,260 in Sparta). Rockford has the higher median household income ($100,156 vs $55,474 in Sparta). Rockford has the higher median home value ($294,800 vs $190,100 in Sparta).

Population, income & housing

	Rockford	Sparta
Population	6,162	4,260
Median age	40.9 yrs	33.7 yrs
Median household income	$100,156	$55,474
Median home value	$294,800	$190,100
Median gross rent	$1,088	$954
Housing units	2,761	1,834
Homeownership rate	72.5%	69.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.9%	20.9%
Unemployment rate	8.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rockford	Sparta
Population	6,254 → 6,162 (-1.5%)	4,354 → 4,260 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$64,920 → $100,156 (+54.3%)	$44,471 → $55,474 (+24.7%)
Median home value	$187,600 → $294,800 (+57.1%)	$119,700 → $190,100 (+58.8%)
Median gross rent	$837 → $1,088 (+30.0%)	$764 → $954 (+24.9%)

Rockford

Population

6,2546,162

Median household income

$64,920$100,156

Median home value

$187,600$294,800

Median gross rent

$837$1,088

Sparta

Population

4,3544,260

Median household income

$44,471$55,474

Median home value

$119,700$190,100

Median gross rent

$764$954

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rockford	Sparta
Under 5	5.6%	7.0%
5 to 17	18.3%	16.1%
18 to 24	7.2%	10.9%
25 to 34	10.8%	17.3%
35 to 44	15.6%	11.0%
45 to 54	13.6%	10.5%
55 to 64	14.2%	10.8%
65 to 74	10.5%	11.0%
75 and over	4.2%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rockford	Sparta
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	91.5%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rockford	Sparta
No high school diploma	6.3%	6.6%
High school graduate	18.5%	36.5%
Some college or associate's	28.3%	35.9%
Bachelor's degree	31.3%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	15.6%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rockford	Sparta
Drove alone	72.7%	79.3%
Carpooled	5.6%	3.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.5%	13.7%
Other means	0.5%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rockford	Sparta
1-unit, detached	68.1%	66.9%
1-unit, attached	11.0%	9.1%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	6.7%
20 or more units	4.6%	8.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Rockford	Sparta
Poverty rate	4.9%	11.3%
Average household size	2.30	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	22	27
Median year structure built	1991	1965